Sir Bradley Wiggins wants a first World Championship time-trial crown on Wednesday to put an end to German Tony Martin’s two-year dominance of the much-anticipated event on Italian soil.
Olympic gold medallist and 2012 Tour de France champion Wiggins, who has had an injury-plagued season but triumphed in the Tour of Britain on Sunday, arrived in Florence by private jet a day later.
Wiggins said he would draw on the experience of going straight from the 2012 Tour, where he became the first Briton to win cycling’s biggest event, to the Olympics where his focus was on the time-trial on the outskirts of London.
“From Monday morning, my thoughts turn to the world championships,” said the Englishman.
“It was a bit like last year’s Olympics when you win the Tour [de France] one day then the next you’re thinking of the Olympics. I’ve got a job to do on Wednesday to win the time trial.”
Double world time-trial gold medallist Martin, seeking his third straight title on the back of anchoring his Omega Pharma-QuickStep teammates to team time-trial victory by 0.81 seconds on Sunday, believes Wiggins’ late arrival will be a disadvantage for his rival in the 56.8-kilometre race.
“I was really wondering about Bradley. He rode the whole Tour of Britain until Sunday. If he comes to the race in top-form on Wednesday, chapeau [hats-off]! That is not an easy thing to do,” he told journalists.
Wiggins and Martin have rarely raced each other since the London Olympics when the Englishman beat the German by 42 seconds to claim gold, while four-time champion Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland and Taylor Phinney of the USA will be hot on their heels.
Cancellara beat Martin in the Tour of Spain time trial but insists others are favourites on the Tuscan roads.
“My rivals perhaps have got an advantage on me but I’m not racing against them but against the clock. And that’s what I’m good at,” Cancellara told Italian agency ANSA.
However with a recent victory against both the Swiss and the American at the Tour of Poland time-trial, Wiggins will see Martin as his main rival.
Fellow Briton and former world champion Chris Boardman is confident Wiggins can recover from a disappointing year and claim a first rainbow jersey.
“At the Tour of Britain he looked better and looked in the right frame of mind. The world championship time trial has come at the right time,” he told the BBC.
Image courtesy of RAI Sports via YouTube, with thanks.
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