Tony Martin stormed to third consecutive world time trial championships win when he crushed the likes of Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara in Florence in September. In 2014, a fourth rainbow jersey will be his main target as he plans to follow a largely unchanged race schedule.

Tony Martin has been the dominant time trial rider since 2011 where he took over the reins from Fabian Cancellara who had been the main figure for almost a decade. With Cancellara beating Martin in the Vuelta a Espana and Bradley Wiggins dominating the time trials in the 2012 Tour de France, some people did, however, still have some doubt about his superiority.

Those doubts were firmly put to rest in Florence in September when he stormed around the flat course to convincingly beat his two main rivals into the minor placings and take his third consecutive rainbow jersey. And Martin is in no way tired of focusing on the individual, with this year's championships in Ponferrada again being his major target.

Martin will be happy to realize that the organizers of the event in Spain decided to skip their initial idea of holding the time trial on a climb. This would have turned the race into the hands of the climbers but the course that was unveiled in December, seems to suit Martin down to the ground.

To reach the Worlds in optimal condition, Martin will follow a largely unchanged race schedule as revealed by Biciclismo. He has made no secret of his desire to contest GCs in week-long stage races and the first part of his season will again be littered with that kind of events.

He will start his season at the Tour of Dubai which is likely to be decided in the opening 10km time trial, making Martin a major favourite. Next up is the Volta ao Algarve where he aims to defend last year's win.

Like last year, he will forgo the Paris-Nice which he won in 2011, as the race is reported to have no time trials. He will instead do the Tirreno-Adriatico which has an opening team time trial and ends with a flat time trial in San Benedetto del Tronto, with Martin winning both stages in 2013.

He will make an unusual appearance in the Milan-Sanremo before doing the Vuelta al Pais Vasco and the Tour de Romandie where he is likely to go for the GC. He will then have a small break before trying to take a third consecutive win in the Tour of Belgium.

He will prepare himself for the Tour de France in either the Dauphiné or the Tour de Suisse and will then defend his German time trial crown before lining up in the world's biggest race. All eyes will be on the race's only time trial which comes on the penultimate day.

Martin still hasn't decided if he will again do the Vuelta to prepare for the Worlds but with rumours suggesting that there will be two individual and one team time trial, he is tempted by the idea. That will set him up for a good performance at the Worlds where he will also try to defend his team time trial title with his Omega Pharma-Quick Step team.

Martin is currently training with his team in Spain.