It was the fourth event on the cycling schedule and was held on 11 April.

The first time trial competition was the only time that Olympic time trials were held over the distance of one-third of a kilometre; when the event returned to the programme at the 1928 Summer Olympics the distance was set at one kilometre.

Paul Masson of France was the most significant cyclist in the small field, having won a "major international race" in 1894.

The time trial race was once around the track, or one-third of a kilometre.

Masson won his third race of the day, with Schmal and Nikolopoulos tying for second place and having to compete in a race-off for the second position.