Starting at 13:30 local Beijing time / 7:30 European time (CEST) / and 1:30 (USA ET) the men will go flat out for about one hour to see who will lay claim to the Individual Time Trial title for another Olympic season.

This edition’s TT will be no flat-and-fast drag race as it uses the same difficult final circuit from the road race this past weekend. Two laps of the hilly 23.8km loop will determine who stands above the rest, and of course the now infamous heat, humidity, and pollution could certainly come into play as much as the road itself. Recall the 11km long climb is not that difficult in terms of steepness (averaging only around 4%) but there are some short sections at around 10%, and temperatures were around 90F and 90% humidity for the road race.

Most pundits believe that Swiss rider and World TT champion Fabian Cancellara is the man to beat come Wednesday. The man they call 'Spartacus' showed great form in the road race, bridging up solo to the winning escape group and nabbing a bronze medal in the process. But the course is also a solid one for a who’s who of recent cycling success, including Astana’s Alberto Contador (Spain) and Levi Leipheimer (USA), as well as riders like Cadel Evans and Michael Rogers (Australia), and Denis Menchov (Russia).

Among the most admired performances on Saturday's road race was the impressive attack in the final kilometres by Swiss rider Fabian Cancellara that earned him the bronze medal. Cancellara is confident about his chances in the time trial: "I am not worried about being tired. I think my rivals have realised that I'm in very good form. And when you've already won a medal at the Games, it takes the pressure off."

Alberto Contador did not finish Saturday's road race but worked hard until the final lap for gold medal winner Samul Sanchez. Contador said: "We are so glad, we all worked so hard for it. Our original strategy was that Alejandro Valverde or Oscar Freire would be our leaders, but Samul Sanchez proved that he was riding well. I am really excited not only for the five of us, but all of Spain. It is incredible what he has accomplished for our country, especially after such a magnificient sports year. Spanish riders have won a lot of important races. We won this year already the Tour, the Giro and the points classification in the Tour. Now the Olympics as well. And the year is not even over."

The winner of this years Giro d'Italia cintinued: "I had some stomach problems and I felt that I could not be useful any more for my team-mates. That’s why I decided not to suffer any further and to compromise the rest of the season. It must have been something I ate. I hope to recuperate well enough to do a good time trial on Wednesday and hopefully bring another Gold back for Spain."

For the time trial, Alberto Contador is more optimistic. "I have worked on my TT bike and we have modified some things, although the position was already very good. I don't have the rhythm of the riders coming from the Tour, like Cancellara, Schumacher or Evans, but I believe that I can be at a great level. I don’t exclude the possibility of winning a medal, but I prefer not to talk about it. Regardless, I will fight for it. It will be hard. Beside the Tour riders, there are top time-trialists such as Michael Rogers and Levi Leipheimer."

After the Olympic Games, from which he returns on August 14th, Alberto Contador will concentrate on the Vuelta a España, his big objective of the 2008 season. "Certainly I will have done everything that is necessary to arrive there in the best shape."

Milram's Christian Knees will be in front of his television at home, cheering for a number of riders.

"The time trial in the Olympic Games is always a very exciting competition," the 27-year old said. "I absolutely see Stefan Schumacher as one of the favorites for a gold medal in the event. Even if you can't compare this time trial to those in the Tour de France, where they were part of a stage race, I think that Schumi will show his qualities as a time trialist. Bert Grabsch's chances are not bad either. He is an absolute specialist in this discipline and I hope that he will prove that in Beijing. In my eyes, both are good for a medal. Otherwise, the time trial World champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland is naturally the favorite for gold. He has showed that he is is in good form right now with his bronze medal in the road race."

But he is also wishing good luck to his Slovakian teammate Matej Jurco. "Matej became Slovakian national time trial champion the end of June, and so he has an outside chance. I am certainly crossing my fingers for him."

A big question about the race concerns the weather in Beijing. The results of many a time trial have been affected by sudden showers. "A big factor will surely be the weather. For the women's race on Sunday, there was hard rain and it had cooled off a lot, while for the men on Saturday it was very hot and extremely humid. Those are the things that make a big difference in the race against the clock."