Cancellara climbed back on his bike but the lead group was out of sight, along with any hope of a medal. Alexandre Vinokourov outsprinted Rigoberto Uran to claim gold and Cancellara limped home in 106th with heavy bruising, his hopes of defending the time trial title won in China four years earlier also severely dented. Four days later, the injured rider finished seventh against the clock in Hampton Court.

“I was ready to rumble,” recalls Cancellara during a Q&A held at the Sigma Sport store on the conclusion of our ride. “I came fast because I was leading but it was a tricky corner. The braking issue I had at that time, that was my mistake – a huge mistake – and it cost me a medal or two. I don’t know if I’d have won but the way we were racing with the Swiss national team was perfect up until that moment.”

Now he has retired, Cancellara is philosophical of the challenges which shaped his career. The low points of 16 years as a professional cyclist help to provide the firepower which resulted in the regular highs most pros only dream of.

“Not everything is possible,” he says. “Of course, I’d love to have won everything, but it’s just not possible. I lost something [in London] but I also won something back. Those down moments made me stronger.”

“I lost something [in London] but I also won something back. Those down moments made me stronger”

Having turned professional with the Mapei team in 2001, Cancellara established himself as the finest time trial riders of his generation, winning his first Tour de France prologue as a 23-year-old in 2004. That victory also saw Cancellara pull on the yellow jersey for the first time and, having also worn the maillot jaune in five subsequent Tours (2007, 2009, 2010, 2012 and 2015), ended his career as the rider to have led the race longest without winning the overall title.

Cancellara is now unequivocal in his description of the Tour – “a circus, it’s too big” – and it was in the Spring Classics where he won most fans. Cancellara’s nickname, Spartacus, was first touted by a Fassa Bortolo team-mate, the Italian Roberto Petito, in 2004 as a result of his imposing physique and style on the bike, but Cancellara’s gladitorial rides on the cobbles ensured it stuck throughout his career. Cancellara’s first Roubaix win came in 2006, before he did the double for the first time in 2010. Two more triumphs followed in 2013, of course, before a third Flanders win in 2014.

Cancellara was initially unsure of his form and set an early target of top five in the Rio time trial. “I felt if everything was good then that would have been an amazing result,” he says. “But as the days passed before I left Switzerland to go to Rio, the more ready I felt. I said if I can get a medal then it’d be fantastic, but of course, on the inside – deep, deep, deep inside – I was aiming for the big one.”

Chris Froome and Tom Dumoulin started the hilly 54.5km time trial as favourites, but Cancellara defied pre-race predictions to beat the Dutchman by 47 seconds, with Froome, the bronze medallist in London four years earlier, another 15 seconds back.

“I was in my own world, my own tunnel, and at the end of the tunnel was a gold medal”

“I was in my own world, my own tunnel, and at the end of the tunnel was a gold medal,” says Cancellara, whose life as a professional cyclist was over. “On August 1st, when I left my family in Switzerland, I said if I win a gold medal, it’s over. At the finish line after we saw that I won, the first thing I said to the coach was, ‘let’s call [Trek president] John Burke, it’s over, the president has to know, I don’t do any more bicycle races’.”

Does he miss it? “No,” Cancellara answers emphatically. Straight to the point, one word is enough. He was ready to retire and has no regrets, not from London, not from the World Championships (Cancellara finished in the top ten of the road race three times, including fourth in 2011). However, the cobbled Classics, and Flanders in particular, will always be special to him.

Retirement hasn’t brought the quiet life, though. Cancellara continues to work as an ambassador for Trek, the company which designed the Domane for his assault on the cobbles, and now Gore. He has also launched a series of amateur events, dubbed Chasing Cancellara, and has partnered with the TriStar triathlon series, which places a greater emphasis on cycling than is typical in the sport. Cancellara has insisted on taking an active role in the events. “I don’t just want to be a face,” he says, and speaks of encouraging all levels of rider to take part.

“I have less time than I had before as an athlete, that’s the truth,” adds Cancellara. Time-management aside, life away from the peloton has brought other challenges, too. “I’m 90kg now,” he says.

That’s little surprise given Cancellara’s frame and the fact he is no longer riding between 25,000 and 30,000 kilometres a year. Instead, he has learnt to “eat differently” while also enjoying the fruits of retirement. “I don’t want to change too much clothing in my closet, because that’s expensive,” he jokes, “but in the end, I’m ok. I feel good. I’m not a pro anymore so I can live differently and I don’t have to sacrifice all the time.”

Cancellara may not have to make the sacrifices of a professional athlete anymore – training, time away from home, living out of a suitcase, watching his weight – but he still rides regularly. Cancellara is a still cyclist at heart – one who has enjoyed a career at the very top of the sport –  but now he rides for the very same reasons as you and I.

“The bike has given me so much during my career and it will still give me so much now after my career”

“I still have the same passion as I did before, when I started as a professional,” he says. “My passion became my work but that passion never disappeared. With the bike you can do so much. It cleans my brain, I’m free and I get so much out of riding my bike, mentally and physically. The bike has given me so much during my career and it will still give me so much now after my career.”