Bradley Wiggins claimed a silver medal in the elite men's time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Tuscany as Team Sky placed three riders in the top 10. Wiggins finished 46 seconds down on winner Tony Martin (Germany) and two seconds ahead of third-placed Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland).

Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) produced a fine performance to claim fourth place, 1min 26sec down on Martin, while Kanstantsin Siutsou finished 2min 59sec down in 10th. The race had been one of the most hotly anticipated time trials in years, with Martin, Wiggins and Cancellara all travelling to Italy in prime form having all won WorldTour time trials in the build-up.

The Belarusian trio were the last three men on the course and while they waited, it was Siutsou who went about posting an early fastest time of 1hr 8min 36sec. Kiryienka later took up the Team Sky mantle by holding the fastest time at the third split point, after 42.3km, and then at the finish line with his mark of 1hr 7min 2sec.

His times were soon swept aside by the top seeds, though, as Martin and Cancellara both made ferocious starts. The pair were separated by just 0.36 seconds at the first split and with Wiggins only fourth fastest, 15 seconds back, it appeared a much-vaunted three-way battle for the rainbow jersey was already down to two.

By the second split, Martin had distanced Cancellara by 13 seconds and when that became 28 seconds by the final split, the title was effectively his and attention turned to the fight for silver. Cancellara had looked comfortable at 24km, but he saw his advantage over Wiggins halved to 12 seconds by the final split, 15.6km from home. Now holding the momentum, the Briton proceeded to erode the rest of a tiring Cancellara's lead as the pair entered Florence, and they were inseparable with just 2km remaining.

Wiggins still had reserves of energy, though, and stole ahead to claim his second world time trial silver medal

“I executed it perfectly – A to B as fast as possible. I wasn’t really aware of the checks. Rod [Ellingworth] was telling me on the radio, but with the crowds I couldn’t really hear. In the last 20 minutes I was oblivious to everything, other than the effort you are trying to get home. I was still strong in that final 20 minutes and I knew it would be close, but Tony was on a different level today. I had no idea until I finished and collapsed in the tent where I was. He has had a great season and finished it off with another world title. I love the sport and everything about it and it really is an honour to still be on the podium with those two guys. It will be something to show the kids when I am older," Wiggins said to the Sky website.