Bradley Wiggins (Sky) proved that he is ready for the world championships when he crushed the opposition in the 16,1km stage 3 time trial of the Tour of Britain. His teammate Ian Stannard (Sky) made it a good day for the big home team by finishing 2nd, 37 seconds behind, and those two riders now also occupy the same positions on GC.

Bradley Wiggins has made the world time trial championships his big goal in the second half of the season and today he proved that he is ready to go for glory in Florence next week. In his last big time trial test ahead of the big day, he took a hugely convincing win on the third stage of the Tour of Britain.

Wiggins was the 12th last rider to start the race and he powered around the course in the Knowsley Safari Park in a time of 19.54 and was the only rider to get below the 20-minute mark. Having done several recon rides on the course, he knew exactly how to take the corners in the rainy conditions and combined with his immense power on the long straights that was enough to give him the win.

2 minutes before Wiggins, his teammate Ian Stannard had started his ride and the Brit proved that Sky have several cards to play in their home race He crossed the line in a time that was 5 seconds faster than the one set by Jack Bauer (Garmin) who had been way faster than anyone else at that point. Stannard was knocked out of the hot seat by his captain but held onto 2nd and so made it a 1-2 for the home team. Bauer took 3rd ahead of Martin Elmiger (IAM) who continued his recent trend of riding good time trials.

British champion Alex Dowsett (Movistar) was expected to be Wiggins' big challenger but the Movistar rider never found his usual rhythm and finished a disappointing 5th. David Lopez (Sky) completed an outstanding day for Sky by finishing 6th.

Two climbers made surprisingly good performances as Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani) who long held the lead, and Sergio Pardilla (MTN Qhubeka) finished 8th and 9th respectively. Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Daniel Martin (Garmin) both limited their losses to less than 2 minutes and are ready to strike in the hillier stages.

As expected, race leader Gerald Ciolek had no chance of defending his jersey and he finished 34th to slip back on GC. Instead, Wiggins is the new leader of the race that he has red-circled as a clear target, and he is 37 seconds ahead of teammate Stannard.

This offers Sky several tactical options on tomorrow's 4th stage which is the hilliest so far. The category 3 Pen-y-Pass is located just 9,3km from the finish and from there, it's a high-speed descent to the finish in Llanberis.

Starting at 14.15 CEST you can follow both that stage and the Belgian one-day race GP de Wallonie on CyclingQuotes.com/live.

A crucial stage

The 16,1km time trial in Knowsley Safari Park was set to be one of the most decisive of the Tour of Britain and expected to give a first idea of who's going to win this year's edition of the race. For the third day in a row, the race was held in rainy and cold conditions.

Jonathan Mould (UK Youth) was the first rider down the ramp and his time of 22.19 allowed him to enjoy some time in the hot seat. He was knocked into second by recent Tour de l'Avenir winner Adam Yates (Great Britain) who lowered the mark by 5 seconds.

Edmondson shows Sky's intentions

The first rider to get below the 22-minute mark was Anthony Delaplace (Sojasun) whose time of 21.56 was the best until Joshua Edmondson showed Sky's intentions by setting a time of 21.38. The Brit stayed in the hot seat for a little while and wasn't beaten until Iljo Keisse (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) went 4 seconds better.

Keisse was beaten by yesterday's runner-up Sam Bennett (An Post) who was 3 seconds faster than the Belgian track specialist, but he didn't get much time to enjoy his lead as British talent Owain Doull knocked him out of the hot seat. The Brit stayed provisional leader until Pirazzi produced a hugely surprising ride, the Italian beating the youngster by a massive 11 seconds.

Cavendish into 2nd

Pirazzi held off challenges from strong time trialists like Thomas Löfkvist (IAM) and David Le Lay (Sojasun) while Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) please his home crowd by moving into the provisional 2nd. Nairo Quintana proved that he is ready for the worlds by moving into the provisional 5th.

Bauer stormed around the course in a time that was a massive 40 seconds faster than Pirazzi's while Alexander Wetterhall (NetApp) narrowly beat the Italian Bardiani rider to move into the provisional 2nd. By now all eyes were on Dowsett, but the Brit disappointed by finishing in a time that was 14 seconds slower than Bauer's.

Stannard in the hot seat

Lopez put Sky back in the spotlight by setting the 3rd best time and from now Sky dominated the race. A few minutes later, Stannard powered across the line to lower the mark by 5 seconds.

The former British road race champion only enjoyed his stay in the hot seat for less than 2 minutes until his team leader had beaten him convincingly. Wiggins crushed his rivals and now faced a not too nervous wait to see if he would win the stage.

Ciolek loses the jersey

Daniel Martin limited his losses to 1.42 while Elmiger did a very good ride to take 4th. The final rider to make it into the top 10 was Pardilla whose time was good enough for a surprise 9th.

All eyes were now on Ciolek who clearly didn't give it his all but did the race some honour by finishing a solid 34th to hand over his jersey to Wiggins.

Result:

1. Bradley Wiggins 19.54

2. Ian Stannard +0.37

3. Jack Bauer +0.42

4. Martin Elmiger +0.54

5. Alex Dowsett +0.56

6. David Lopez +1.16

7. Alexander Wetterhall +1.20

8. Stefano Pirazzi +1.22

9. Sergio Pardilla +1.25

10. Mark Cavendish +1.26

General classification:

1. Bradley Wiggins 11.25.54

2. Ian Stannard +0.37

3. Martin Elmiger +0.47

4. Jack Bauer +0.55

5. Alex Dowsett +0.57

6. David Lopez +1.17

7. Michal Golas +1.18

8. Sergio Pardilla +1.18

9. Gerald Ciolek +1.21

10. Alexander Wetterhall +1.21

Points classification:

1. Gerald Ciolek 28

2. Jack Bauer 23

3. Martin Elmiger 21

4. Marco Coledan 21

5. Michal Golas 16

Mountains classification:

1. Angel Madrazo 18

2. Sean Downey 16

3. Anthony Delaplace 15

4. Michael Northey 14

5. Kristian House 12

Sprints classification:

1. Nicola Boem 11

2. Angel Madrazo 10

3. Christophe Laborie 7

4. Aaron Gate 7

5. Mathew Cronshaw 7

Youth classification:

1. Simon Yates 11.27.17

2. Jacob Rathe +0.41

3. Alistair Slater +0.52

4. Thomas Moses +1.11

5. Owain Doull +5.45

Teams classification:

1. Sky 34.19.37

2. IAM +2.03

3. Movistar +2.11

4. Omega Pharma-Quick Step +2.16

5. Garmin-Sharp +2.22