Dutch road cycling star Annemiek van Vleuten is the Olympic gold medallist in the time trial.

"I'm No.1, right?" van Vleuten said with a broad grin, moments after Wednesday's medal-winning ride.

As Australian Grace Brown finished seven seconds away from the bronze medal in fourth and compatriot Sarah Gigante took 11th, van Vleuten emphatically claimed her elusive Olympic title.

On Sunday, van Vleuten raised her arms in triumph at the end of the road race, only to be told she had won silver as Austrian Anna Kiesenhofer had finished one minute 15 seconds seconds ahead of her.

Five years ago, van Vleuten was on her way to the gold medal in the road race when she had an horrific fall on the last descent, suffering severe concussion and three spinal fractures.

Her win was also a welcome tonic for the powerful Dutch cycling team, which until Wednesday had endured a wretched Tokyo Games.

They were the main casualties of the ignorance in the main bunch about Kiesenhofer at the end of the women's road race.

Then medal fancy Mathieu van der Poel crashed early in the mountain bike race and BMX rider Niek Kimmann hurt his knee when he crashed into a race official during training.

On Tuesday, race officials apologised to the Dutch after security pulled Anna van der Breggen off her bike during course recon for the time trial.

She won bronze at the Fuji International Speedway on Wednesday behind van Vleuten, with Swiss Marlen Reusser taking silver.

Brown had a nervous wait after her ride, as the fifth-last competitor to start the 22.1km course.

Only van Vleuten's 30 minutes 13.49 seconds had bettered her time of 31.22.22, meaning she might be on the podium.

But first Reusser posted 31:09:96 and then van der Breggen, the last rider to start as the reigning world time trial champion, crossed the line in 31:15:12.

"I got every little bit out of myself and nothing left to spare, so I'm happy with myself despite being so close to a medal," Brown said.

Gigante again showed she is a rising star with her 11th-placed time of 33:01:60.

It was a particularly solid performance from Gigante given she broke her leg, collarbone and elbow three months ago in a crash.

The Dutch winner has strong Australian connections, having ridden for five years with professional team Mitchelton-Scott before switching this season to Movistar.

The 38-year-old was back competing only weeks after her Rio disaster and has shone since, winning the 2017 and '18 world time trial championships as well as the 2019 world road race title.

Australian Associated Press