The 24-year-old rider was looking to strengthen his claim for his country’s sole berth in the Rio 2016 men’s road race and produced a strong display on the 45 kilometre course on Oshima Island.

Cheung was able to thrive on the relatively flat course, despite facing a stiff sea breeze, to cross the finishing line in a time of 1 hour and 15sec.

The podium proved to be fiercely contested with Kyrgyzstan’s Eugen Wacker, a four-time winner, eventually having to settle for fifth position despite ending just 17 seconds adrift of Cheung's time.

Ultimately the Hong Kong rider's triumph was confirmed, with South Korea’s Choe Hyeong Min and Iran’s Haghi Alireza completing the podium by finishing seven and 10 seconds off the pace of the eventual winner respectively.

Cheung's triumph saw him eclipse the best performance of a Hong Kong rider at the event, with the previous best coming from three-time Asian Games men’s road race champion Wong Kam-po, who finished third back in 2001.

Meanwhile, the women’s time trial title was claimed by Japan’s Mayuko Hagiwara after she produced a time of 32min 35sec to improve on her silver medal from 2014.

Hagiwara, who rides for the British based team Wiggle High5 Pro Cycling, ended just 0.12 seconds clear of South Korea’s Ju Mi Lee.

The podium was completed by Hong Kong’s Yao Pang, who completed the 22km course in 34:05.

“I am happy today to get the result of champion of Asia in the TT,” said Hagiwara.

“And I’m happy I could get back the race feeling a bit today.

“The road race is most important for the qualification system for Rio because if the rider wins the road race, the rider can take one spot in the Olympics to race for their own country.”