Having crushed the field in the ITT in the Tour de Pologne recently, Bradley Wiggins (Sky Procycling) entered the ITT in the Eneco Tour yesterday as the odds-on favourite to take another win.

In fact Wiggins did clock the best intermediate time early on, but would eventually end up fifth on the stage when all was said and done. Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) took an impressive stage win, and though Wiggins had to concede defeat, his team director believes he is still on the right course for the world time trial championship in Italy next month.

Besides being bested by Chavanel, Wiggins was also defeated by Tom Dumoulin (Argos-Shimano), Jesse Sergent (RadioShack-Leopard) and Sebastian Langeveld (Orica-GreenEDGE).

The race against the clock in the Eneco Tour was traditionally short, just over 13 kilometres. That, according to Wiggins, worked against him, as did the earlier start time.

“I’m somewhat disillusioned, but I knew after previewing the course that it would be good for guys like Taylor Phinney and Jesse Sergent,” Wiggins said according to nusport.nl. “The initial part was technical. Plus, the distance was just too short for me. And I think it could have been tougher because of my early start time, as the wind was getting calmer in the afternoon.”

In a forthright comment on what his future might hold, the 33-year-old referred to 2013 Tour de France winner Chris Froome. “With the supremacy of Chris Froome in the next five years, I would prefer to turn my attention back toward the track,” Wiggins stated.

Despite Wiggins’ failure to win the time trial yesterday, Sky director Servais Knaven still has plenty of belief in his team’s star. Knaven pointed that the short Eneco test wasn’t an true portrayal of Wiggins’ current form.

“Of course we hoped for more but at the end of the day four guys were faster,” Knaven admitted on the Team Sky website. "Brad did a good time trial. The first part was quite technical but I think across the second half of the course he was the fastest of anyone. He is on the right path towards the worlds. Step by step he will get better and there is more to come for sure.”