The Spanish fiesta continued in the shadow of the Great Wall of China today as Samuel Sanchez took the gold medal in the Olympic men's road race.

The 30 year old from Oviedo out sprinted five of his rivals in a frenetic finale to the 245 kilometre race to ensure that Spanish sport continued its purple patch, following earlier successes in the European Championships, Giro d'Italia, Wimbledon and Tour de France.

The decisive action came in the final three laps of the gruelling six and a half hour race, when a 23 rider breakaway, that included Sanchez's compatriot, Tour de France champion Carlos Sastre, was reeled in after an unlikely Russian-American alliance drove a successful pursuit.

Once caught, Sastre then set to work defending the interests of fellow Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, climbing at high speed through the hairpins on the second to last lap, before a series of accelerations from Tourrunner-up, Cadel Evans of Australia, finally broke up the front group as they entered the closing 20 kilometres.

But when Andy Schleck of Luxembourg counter-attacked on the final climb of the race, only Sanchez and Davide Rebellin of Italy could respond.

The trio sped clear of pursuers Michael Rogers of Australia and Alexander Kolobnev of Russia and, with two kilometres remaining, seemed to have victory in their sights, until demon descender and world time trial champion, Fabien Cancellara, of Switzerland, dropped out of the gloom shrouding the race route and led the pair back to the leaders.

But the Swiss's turn of speed was not enough to take him to the gold medal and as they rode under the Great Wall for the final time, Sanchez comfortably sprinted clear of Rebellin and Cancellara to claim the Olympic title, with the Italian taking silver and the Swiss, the outstanding favourite for the men's time trial, taking bronze.

"I can't believe I've won the gold medal," Sanchez said. "The heat and humidity were extreme. There were only five of us on the team and we were all at the front working as a unit. It's like a victory for all of us."

Team GB could take satisfaction in the performance of Ben Swift, who survived until the penultimate lap. His team mates however found the humid conditions hard going. The senior members of the four man team, Roger Hammond and Steve Cummings, wilted in the heat, although Cummings' decision to withdraw was partly influenced by his participation in next week's men's time trial.

Yet, with London 2012 in mind, the experience will have stood both Swift and earlier retiree, teenager Jonathan Bellis, in good stead. "From the start I wasn't feeling good," the 19 year old Bellis said. "I knew on the climb that it wasn't going to happen because I was struggling with my breathing all the way up it."

"It was pretty tough," he said. "Today was the hottest day since we've been here. It was warm and humid and it was difficult to breathe. There was quite a bit of pressure, but if I continue moving forward in my career I'll make it to London 2012."