Marianne Vos (Netherlands) wins the Olympic road race from Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain) and Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia)(Image credit: CJ Farquharson)
Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) cannot believe what he has done.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Rigoberto Uran (Colombia), Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) and Alexander Kristoff (Norway) on the podium.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Marianne Vos (Netherlands) leads the sprint from Elizabeth Armitstead (Great Britain) and Olga Zabelinskaya (Russia) on The Mall, from 200 metres away(Image credit: CJ Farquharson)
Elite women's time trial podium: Judith Arndt, Kristin Armstrong and Olga Zabelinskaya(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Olympic time trial champion Kristin Armstrong (USA) on the podium with her son, Lucas.(Image credit: AFP)
Tony Martin, Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Gong Jinjie and Guo Shuang set two world records but had to settle for silver(Image credit: Cycling News)
Philip Hindes after Great Britain beat France in the team sprint final(Image credit: Cycling News)
The women's team sprint podium: China (silver), Germany (gold), Australia (bronze) (Image credit: Cycling News)
Ed Clancy (Great Britain)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
The US team with Lauren Tamayo, Sarah Hammer, Dotsie Bausch and Jennie Reed(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) knows his 1km time trial result earned him the omnium gold medal.(Image credit: AFP)
Njisane Nicholas Phillip (Trinidad and Tobago) celebrates his 1/4 final round victory over Russia's Denis Dmitriev. (Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Anna Meares (Australia)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Laura Trott (Great Britain) sports the Union Jack on her fingernails.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Gregory Bauge (France)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Chris Hoy is ecstatic on winning his 6th career Olympic gold(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Laura Trott (Great Britain) celebrates her gold medal(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Sarah Hammer (United States) grimaces with her effort(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Bryan Coquard (France) won the elimination race and leads the men's omnium standings after three of six rounds.(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Georgia Gould (USA) on her way to a bronze medal(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Olympic women's mountain bike podium: Sabine Spitz (Germany), Julie Bresset (France), Georgia Gould (United States)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech) catches air out on course on his way to victory(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Elite men's Olympic mountain bike podium: Nino Schurter (Switzerland), Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech) and Marco Fontana (Italy)(Image credit: Tour of Japan)
Great Britain's team pursuit squad in action(Image credit: Cycling News)
Taylor Phinney of USA looks good for a big guy: narrow tuck, HED tri spoke and Corsair bars and Giro Selector helmet. His skinsuit doesn't look to be the same as Kristin Armstrong's as there's no textured upper arm.(Image credit: Robin Wilmott)
Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)(Image credit: Daniel Simms)
Australia's Jack Bobridge, Glenn O'Shea, Rohan Dennis and Michael Hepburn compete to win the silver medal in the London 2012 Olympic Games men's team pursuit final(Image credit: AFP)
Great Britain's gold medal-winning team pursuit squad of Dani King, Joanna Rowsell and Laura Trott(Image credit: AFP)
Sunday's closing ceremonies drew the curtain on the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and ended some of the most exciting cycling events in the sport's history.
It all began with the high expectations of the British fans for the men's road race, where Mark Cavendish had a strong and dedicated squad behind him. But Team GB were unable to control the many attacks on the Box Hill circuit, despite the overwhelming support of the crowd, and keep Cavendish in tow. In the end, Alexander Vinokourov escaped from the leading group with Rigoberto Uran (Colombia) and outsprinted the younger rider to take gold.
The women's race was similarly animated, with Marianne Vos (Netherlands) forcing the winning move and then besting home favourite Lizzy Armitstead in the sprint in the pouring rain. Her scream of joy, relief and vindication as she crossed the line is the one spine-tingling aspect which cannot be captured in our photo gallery.
Bradley Wiggins would then deliver GB's first cycling gold in the time trial, while American Kristin Armstrong took her second consecutive gold before promising that this was the absolute end of her career.
The racing then moved into the velodrome, where Great Britain set out to improve upon their dominant performance in Beijing four years earlier. Many countries thought they had gotten the number on the GB team over the past years, and the French and Australians held high hopes. But the British packed something special, and only the relegations of the women's sprint team and of Victoria Pendleton in the individual sprint kept them from exceeding their gold medal mark.
The track events were riddled with drama, from GB's "magic wheels" allegations to Philip Hindes's "dive" in the team sprint, Danish rider Lasse Norman Hansen's comeback from his scratch race crash to win the gold medal in the men's omnium, Laura Trott's single point win over USA's Sarah Hammer in the women's omnium and the Anna Meares/Victoria Pendleton showdown in the women's sprint.
The off-road events were equally thrilling, with Julie Bresset giving France its sole cycling gold medal in the women's mountain bike event with a dominant ride, and Jaroslav Kulhavy (Czech Republic) stunning the world by out-sprinting Nino Schurter to win the men's race.
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