I have to admit that I was way off on my predictions for the men's time trial this past Wednesday. Only one of my top 3 made it on the podium while the other two, including my gold medal prediction, didn't even contend.

Levi Leipheimer came through with a much deserved bronze medal for the States while Swiss Fabian Cancellara proved again that he IS the best time trialist in the world. A surprising ride from Swedan's Gustav Larsson helped secure silver for him. My pick for gold, Kim Kirchen came in 23rd, over 4 minutes back while Cadel Evans put in a strong 5th place considering the injury he suffered at the end of the Tour.

For those of you that missed Levi (and the American gold medal winner in the women's time trial, Kristen Armstrong) on the Today Show this morning, here's the link to the clip on MSN. Don't mind the 30 second commercial at the beginning.

Cyclists cruise to medal stand

It's been a few days since Spain's Samuel Sanchez won the men's road race over silver medalist, Italy's Davide Rebellin and Bronze medalist, the surprising climber, Fabian Cancellara. Much of the same field will now contest the time trial on Wednesday over the same hilly circuit course that caused trouble for many riders. The men will tackle the circuit twice for a total of 47km.

Many of the contenders for the time trial will be the same as the road race. But as we saw there, the race will probably be a bit more unpredictable than we'd like. The two most obvious gold medal favorites are German Stefan Schumacher and the big Swiss, Fabian Cancellara. Typically, I wouldn't put Cancellara as one of the favorites because this course is much too hilly but he showed great form during the road race and beat many of the other climbers to take 3rd place. For Schumacher, he must show that he can be successful in the smog of Beijing. If the road race was any indication, he may not perform up to par.

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Italian time trial specialist Marzio Bruseghin (Lampre) was a surprise winner in today's 10th stage. He managed to hold off the Astana strong men by 8 seconds over Spain's Alberto Contador and 20 seconds over German Andreas Klöden. American Levi Leipheimer finished 9th, at 1:01, giving Astana 3 riders in the top 10 today. This is total domination!

Russian Denis Menchov (Rabobank) finally showed his good form today and gave notice that he is in contention as well. All of the pure climbers lost their customary couple of minutes except for Gilberto Simoni (Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni). What's up with this guy? Isn't he suppose to be 50? He lost less than a minute to all of the contenders and is poised to shine once again in the high mountains.

As expected, the GC was shaken up today. Thanks to his long breakaway, Italian Giovanni Visconti (Quick Step) kept the pink jersey while Contador and Klöden moved up to 4th and 6th respectively.

If the riders were hoping for a respite tomorrow, they are not going to get one. Stage 11 will be a mountainous stage as it winds through and ends in Marco Pantani's hometown.

Top 10 Results for Stage 10
1 Marzio Bruseghin (Ita) Lampre..................................56.41
2 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana.......................0.08
3 Andreas Klöden (Ger) Astana.....................................0.20
4 Marco Pinotti (Ita) Team High Road............................0.36
5 Paolo Savoldelli (Ita) LPR Brakes.................................0.44
6 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank..................................0.46
7 Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas.....................................0.54
8 Gustav Erik Larsson (Swe) Team CSC...........................0.59
9 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Astana....................................1.01
10 Gilberto Simoni (Ita) Serramenti PVC Diquigiovanni......1.02

See the complete results here.