Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain ended a three-year domination of German powerhouse Tony Martin in the World Championship individual time trial on Wednesday, leaving no doubts about being the strongest rider on the 47-kilometer long course. The three-time World Champion gracefully settled for silver medal, while a rising star of the discipline, Tom Dumoulin of the Netherlands, completed the podium

Several events at this year’s World Championships held in Ponferrada have been disrupted by rain, but it wasn’t a case today as elite men’s best time trialists could battle each other in equally favourable weather conditions.

Even though Tony Martin entered the event carrying the weight of being everyone’s clear favourite, there were some doubts about German’s condition ignited by the three-time World Champion himself. Thus, a fierce, two-man battle for a title was expected to be fought between Martin and Wiggins and indeed the duo distanced the rest of the strong field halfway through a testy 47-kilometer long course around Ponferrada.

The 29-year old German clocked the best time at the first split, but since that point Wiggins has been growing stronger and stronger, never losing ground to his strongest opponent. In the end, the Olympic champion from London stopped the clock in a time of 56:25:52, edging Martin by a massive 26 seconds. This way, The 34-year old Briton achieved one of his ultimate goals as road cyclist and announced that it was his last appearance in the World Championships.

Tom Dumoulin along with Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus), Rohan Dennis (Australia), Adriano Malori (Italy) and Jesse Sergent (New Zealand) were all expected to battle for the last podium spot, and the former three riders certainly lived up to such expectations, even though their final fate was changing from one intermediate check to another and remained uncertain until crossing the finish line in the World Championships host city.

The latter part of this year’s course was regarded more demanding than in previous editions of the event, and thus, apart from a disposition of the day, the right pacing was the most important factor in Wednesday’s event. It was almost certain that at least one from podium contenders will overestimate his forces before entering the final, difficult lap around Ponferrada and it was certainly a case for the 24-year old Australian.

Dennis rode impressively in the first part of the course and after first two intermediate checks it seemed that the battle for podium spots was down to only three riders: Wiggins, Martin and the 24-year old Australian. The latter started to lose ground very quickly following the second time split, though, as he clearly overestimated his forces, and eventually had to settled for fifth after riding impressively in all time trials this season.

World Championships ITT perennial podium contender, Kiryienka, appeared to be Dennis’ closest rival as he rode at a steady, high pace and edged the Australian by over 6 second on the third intermediate check, but it was eventually Tom Dumoulin to take the bronze medal.

The 23-year old Dutchman started the race relatively slowly, losing almost 17 seconds to Martin at first time check, but despite a young age the Giant-Shimano rider paced himself perfectly on the difficult course to beat the Belarusian by over seven seconds at the finish.

Pliuschin best among early starters

Even though decent time trialist in likes of Tobias Ludvigsson (Sweden) Tanel Kangert (Estonia) or Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kazahstan) or Jerome Coppel (France) were all among the early starters, it was Macedonian Alexandr Pliuschin of Macedonia who set the best time on the first intermediate check.

Oliveira flies through the course

While the Astana duo Kangert and Dyachenko started very poorly, Nelson Oliveira certainly rode a time trial of his life, narrowly losing to the Macedonian at the first split. The Portuguese managed to further up the pace to clock best times at all following intermediate checks and at the finish line which only strongest six podium contenders were able to beat.

Portuguese domination

Even more surprisingly, the second Portuguese rider on the 47-kilometer long course, Tiago Machado, was the first cyclist capable to threaten the lead of his countryman, and even though he eventually fell short, the duo was occupying a virtual podium for much longer than it could have been extected.

Quaade crashes

The Danish time trialist was the only rider to hit the deck in the event, crashing in the first corner only 400 meters from the start. Quaade managed to remount his bike and eventually finished the race one minute down on Oliveira, what has to be considered a strong performance.

Chavanel starts strongly

Renowned French time trialist started his trial in a truly impressive manner, beating Kristof Vandewalle by a massive 13 seconds at first time check. It appeared that the IAM Cycling rider will be in contention for a podium spot, but he eventually faded while negotiating a difficult final lap around Ponferrada.

Martin best at first intermediate check

While such podium contenders as Jesse Sergent, Adriano Malori and Tom Dumoulin started off the pace, remaining favourites were all successfully beating each others times at first time split. It was reigning champion Tony Martin, though, who set the best time, improving on Wiggins’ result by 4.44.

Wiggins ups the pace
A trio consisting of Wiggins, Martin and Dennis seemed to be riding away from other title contenders in the middle part of the course, but it was the Briton who clearly upped his pace and clocked the best time on the second intermediate check.

Dennis fades

The young Australian rode impressively in the first part of the course, but didn’t save enough energy for the final lap around Ponferrada and it appeared that the battle for bronze was to be fought between him and consistent Kiryienka.

In the same time, just as expected Wiggins and Martin were riding away from the rest of the field, with the former extending his advantage over the three-time World Champion with every kilometer.

Dumoulin impresses

The 23-year old Dutchman disappointed with a very slow start, but apparently he paced himself perfectly and rode the final lap very strongly, to edge Kiryienka and Dennis on the finish line by 7 and 17 seconds respectively. As Wiggins and Martin were the last riders remaining on the course, Dumoulin could have been sure of finishing the event on the podium.

Martin falls short

Wiggins’ advantage over Martin on the second part of the course was never threatened, and as the gap increased to almost 30 seconds when the Briton was speeding down the final descent to the finish time it was absolutely sure, that only some disaster could save the day for the powerful German.

World Championships ITT results:

1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) 56:25.52

2. Tony Martin (Ger) +26.23

3. Tom Dumoulin (Ned) +40.64

4. Vasil Kiryienka (Blr) +47.92

5. Rohan Dennis (Aus) +57.74

6. Adriano Malori (Ita) +1:11.62

7. Nelson Oliveira (Po) +1:21.63

8. Anton Vorobyev (Rus) +1:29.66

9. Jan Barta (Cze) +1:43.41

10. Jonathan Castroviejo (Esp) +1:44.20