Nicolas Roche closed his Olympic campaign in Tokyo with a 28th-place finish in the men’s individual time trial on Wednesday, the 37-year-old clocking 1:01:23.13 over an undulating course around the lower slopes of Mount Fuji.

That brought Roche home a little over six minutes behind gold medallist Primoz Roglic of Slovenia, who bounced back from his Tour de France disappointment to rout the field by more than a minute, taking glory in 55:04.19. Dutch cyclist Tom Dumoulin took silver with Australia’s Rohan Dennis winning bronze.

“That was a tough one today,” said Roche. “I definitely left it all on the road but obviously against a lot of the top of the world specialists, I’m a lot slower than most of them but I gave it 100pc.”

At what is likely his last Olympics, Roche paid tribute to those who facilitated him on the journey to Tokyo. “Thanks to the staff and Cycling Ireland’s team commitment for being behind me at these Games. I gave it everything I could. It’s been an amazing experience to get my fourth Games. I’m extremely proud.”

Last weekend, Roche contested the men’s road race, sacrificing his own chance to work for Irish team-mates Eddie Dunbar and Dan Martin. The Sunweb rider will now return to Europe to race in San Sebastian, Spain, next weekend before contesting the Tour of Poland from 9-15 August.