Tony Martin left no doubt over the time trial hierarchy in today's world championships when he put more than 45 seconds into fellow time trialing giants Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara on the 57,9km world championships course in Florence. Hailing the race as the best time trial ever, Omega Pharma-Quick Step technical advisor Rolf Aldag describes the win as Martin's best and sees it as a confirmation that his compatriot is the best of the best.

Rarely before has a world time trial championships been more anticipated than the one that took place in the streets of Florence earlier today. For almost a decade, Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin have dominated the time trialing scene and this year they were all on the start line in peak condition.

At the end, no one was left doubting who is the best. Martin showed that he is in a league of his own by putting more than 45 seconds into his rivals in a race that was expected to come down to a matter of a few seconds. While the battle for silver was a close one, the world champion was never in doubt.

The pre-race hype was not only created by the media. Technical advisor on Martin's Omega Pharma-Quick Step team Rolf Aldag confirmed that today's race was the ultimate test of strength between the three time trialing giants when he talked to CyclingQuotes while preparing the victory celebrations in the German camp. When Martin took his second title last year, neither Wiggins nor Cancellara were present, when Wiggins dominated the Tour de France time trials, Martin was hampered by injury, and when Wiggins took the Olympic crown last year, both Martin and Cancellara were suffering from health issues.

This time there were no such doubts. All three riders had had a near-perfect build-up and this made the win even sweeter.

"Winning is one thing, beating the best of the best is another thing," he told CyclingQuotes.com. "There are always doubts. People say: "Last year he was not there, three years ago he was not there." In the Olympics, Tony had a broken hand so he wasn't very competitive. Today we've seen the best time trial ever."

Many saw today's race as the final proof that Martin is on top of the time trialing hierarchy but Aldag never doubted the abilities of his protege.

"We didn't need that final proof," he said. "People always ask for more proof. We knew that Tony is one of the best and that's not to discuss. Credits to Cancellara and Wiggins. They have done great rides. They have been World and Olympic Champion respectively. We are just happy with today and the title. It's probably the nicest of all."

While happy for the win, Aldag was impressed by the great show that was delivered by the three best time trialists in the world

"We've seen what they are able to put out on that long distance in an individual time trial that was 700m longer than the team time trial," he said. "It was amazing to see. We are really happy that we won it. It was a fair challenge between the best three guys. It was obvious that they have been dominating the time trials for a good reason because they are simply the best."

"I think we will analyze the data. That's the good thing about time trials. In road races there are tactics: somebody is staying on your wheels and doesn't want to lead. Here you are on your own and you are responsible. You just push it really hard. It was amazing how all three guys approached it and started it."

Aldag compared today's race to Sunday's team time trial whose course only differed from today's during the final few kilometres. The wind conditions may have been more favourable today than on Sunday but it is striking that Martin's time at the third check would have put him into third behind Orica-GreenEDGE and his own Omega Pharma-Quick Step team. He beat the entire Sky team!

"At the first time check after 7km, they beat nearly every team," Aldag said. "They were somewhat like 7 seconds faster than the fastest team on Sunday [Martin was beaten by his own team but almost equal on time with Orica-GreenEDGE, Sky and BMC]. That was amazing. You see their potential and what they can really do. They all took the challenge, they all gave it their all. Like I said, we are happy but I do believe that Fabian and Wiggins are both sportsmen and they respect what Tony has done today."

With two successful title defences now in his pocket, Martin's Worlds campaign has come to an end. However, he plans to continue his 2013 season all the way to the very end. He has won the two first editions of the Tour of Beijing in impressive style - the first time by virtue of a strong time trial, the second time due to a gutsy solo attack - and is the defending champion in the Chinese event.

This year the organizers have put together an extremely hard course with a tough summit finish but as things stand, Martin will defend his title.

"It looks like he will do it again," Aldag said. "He is the defending champion. They keep making it harder and harder for him. Last year he won unexpectedly. There was no TT so he proved he could also win in a different way.  Every time he became time trial world champion, he won in Beijing so let's hope it will continue."