With Fabian Cancellara and Taylor Phinney being the notable absentees, the world’s greatest time triallists will all be on the start line of the most important time trial of the year. For everyone who specializes in the unique discipline, the World Championships is a real highlight that gives them a shot at one of the most coveted jerseys in cycling. Tony Martin is gunning for a record-breaking fourth consecutive win, Bradley Wiggins hopes to fill an obvious gap on his palmares and young guns Adriano Malori and Tom Dumoulin want to prove that they now belong to the real elite and the fierce competition will only add more prestige to an already highly prestigious event.

 

Time trialing has always been a natural part of cycling and is the sport in its purest format. Road races are often complicated affairs where team tactics, drafting and gambling are almost as important as pure strength. In a time trial there's nowhere to hide. Finding the fastest rider on a given course comes down to power, an ability to concentrate and ride to the maximum for an extended period of time and the right gauge of one's effort.

 

Time trials have always played a crucial role in stage races and the world has had its highly prestigious one-day TTs, with the Grand Prix des Nations being the most notable example. With this long history, it's a mystery that individual time trialing wasn't included in the world championships until 1994 when Chris Boardman won the first rainbow stripes in Catania. Since then it has been an important part of the global event and has only gained added prestige as time has gone by.

 

While all riders dream of participating in the road race at some point of their career, the time trial remains an exclusive event for the riders that specialize in the discipline. There's room for the lesser-known riders from some of the smaller cycling nations but otherwise it's a race for people that really love the pure and punishing discipline.

 

The winner's list tells the story about an event that has attracted the finest time trialists in the world. Boardman, Miguel Indurain, Alex Zülle, Laurent Jalabert, Abraham Olano, Jan Ullrich (twice), Serhiy Honchar, Santiago Botero, Michael Rogers (three times), Fabian Cancellara (four times), Bert Grabsch and Tony Martin (three times) are the only riders to have worn the coveted rainbow jersey and there's no room for any kind of lucky, unexpected winner on this highly prestigious list.

 

It remains a clear intention for the organizers that the title belongs to one of the great specialists. While there have been hilly courses in the past - just recall the difficult 2012 route in Limburg that included the famous Cauberg - the course designers have always stayed away from any kind of excessive climbing.

 

This year the organizers played with the idea of changing the script by hosting a very hard time trial that would have opened the race to a completely new group of riders and closed it for many of the pure specialists. The race was set to finish at the top of a difficult climb, making it a mix of a usual and a mountain time trial. For logistical reasons, however, the idea was abandoned and instead the organizers have designed a course that is a lot more traditional and even though it has a tough final part, it should be mostly suited to the specialists.

 

A World Championships time trial is completely different from the usual TTs that the riders do in stage races. Due to its distance, it is not comparable to the ones that feature in the weeklong or shorter stage races throughout the year. Only the grand tours have time trials of a similar length but in those races, they usually come after more than a week of hard racing, meaning that recovery plays a massive role. The World Championships offer the riders a unique chance to do a long TT without having to worry about the accumulated fatigue of stage racing.

 

This usually changes the outcome compared to the usual time trials. The long distance closes the door for some riders who are better suited to the shorter courses. Adriano Malori is usually close to the best in the short, flat time trials but when the races become too long, he has a hard time keeping up with the very best. Furthermore, the grand tour time trials are usually dominated by GC riders who have a better recovery than most specialists. In this race, everyone is fresh and this means that the stage race specialists have a harder time living up to their usual strong performances.

 

Finally, the race comes at the end of a very long season which means that fatigue and freshness play a key role. While many riders have prepared specifically for the event and made it a very big goal, everyone can feel the effects of a long season. This adds an extra element of unpredictability to the race.

 

Last Tony Martin equaled Michael Rogers’ achievement of winning the rainbow jersey thrice in a row when he won one of the most highly anticipated versions of the race ever. Seen as the ultimate clash of the titans, the race was expected to be a close battle between Martin, Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara, with Taylor Phinney being the strong outsider. In the end, it turned out to be less exciting than expected as Martin quickly showed that he was in a class of his own, distancing Wiggins by a massive 46 seconds. The battle for second, however, was a close one as Wiggins finished strongly to narrowly beat Cancellara by just 2 seconds. This year Martin will be back as he aims at making it four in a row while Wiggins will again try to fill the gap in his palmares. Cancellara will focus fully on the road race, meaning that the door is open for another rider to step onto the podium alongside the two giants.

 

The course

As said, the World Championships time trial usually takes place on a relatively flat course and after the organizers abandoned the original idea of having an uphill finish, the holder of the rainbow jersey will again be found in a rather traditional race.

 

The 2012 course was a very difficult one with several climbs and descents that broke the riders' monotony. The organizers decided to send the riders up many of the climbs that characterize the Limburg province and as it was the case in the road races and the team time trials, the top of the famous Cauberg was located just 1km from the finish line.

 

Last year’s course was almost completely flat and at 57.9km, it was unusually long. Together with the 2011 route in Copenhagen, it stands out as the one most suited to specialists in recent years.

 

This year’s course is a mixed affair as it offers long flat stretches, a bit of climbing and a technical final descent that will test the versatility of the riders. It can be split into two parts, with the first one suiting the specialists and the finale being much hillier. However, the main part of the course remains flat and straight and so it should mostly favour the specialists.

 

At just 47.1km, it is significantly shorter than last year’s brutally long one. For the first time since 2011, it will start and finish in the host city. The riders will take off from the city of Ponferrada and the first 15km will be identical to the opening part of the team time trial. Right after the start, there are a few turns but the first 9km mainly follow a long, slightly descending road to the city of Dehesas. From there, the riders head in a northwesterly direction towards the city of Carracedelo and even though there are a few turns along the way, the roads are mainly straight and flat. After 12.2km, the riders will get the first chance to see how they are doing when the first time check is taken.

 

Having reached Carracedo, the riders will deviate from the team time trial course by continuing along slightly ascending, straight road to the city of Cacabelos. Here they turn right as they head to Camponaraya where the second time check is taken after 23.2km of racing. From here they continue in a sourtherly direction to hit the main road back to Ponferrada where they will rejoin the team time trial course after a little less than 30km of racing.

 

As in the team time trial, the riders will follow the long, straight slightly ascending road that culminates with the 1.8km, 5% climb that featured at the end of the collective. This time, however, they won’t head down the descent to the finish in Ponferrada. Instead, the will continue along a slightly ascending road until they hit the road race circuit after 35.2km of racing where the third and final time check is taken.

 

The riders will end their race by doing the final 11.9km of the road race circuit. Right from the start, they go up the Confederacion climb (5.2km, 3.3%, max 8.7%) which has it steepest sections near the bottom while the final 2.2km have a gradient of less than 2%. Its descent will test the riders’ technical abilities and leads directly to the bottom of the Mirador climb (1.14km, 5.5%, max. 10.7%). The first 200m are very steep with a 10% gradient but the final part is much easier at 3-6%.

 

The summit comes with around 5km to go and they mainly consist of a fast non-technical descent. The final two kilometres in Ponferrada are flat and apart from a few roundabouts, they offer no technical challenges. With 600m to go, the riders make the final right-hand turn onto the finishing straight.

 

Many riders had the chance to check part of the course in Sunday's team time trial and will offer them the chance to preview the road race circuit too.

 

 

The weather

The first days at the World Championships have been marked by bad weather and rain but things are set to improve for the men’s battle against the clock. While rain is forecasted for the night, it should be dry by the time the race starts. It will be a rather cloudy day but there is a chance that the sun will break through. The temperature will reach a maximum of 20 degrees.

 

There will be a light wind from an easterly direction which means that the riders will first have a tailwind and then a headwind until the riders hit the finishing circuit. There will be a cross-headwind on the first climb and a cross-tailwind on the second ascent and on the descent and flat run-in back to the finish. The conditions should be pretty similar for both the early and late starters.

 

The favourites

Last year’s time trial was seen as the ultimate battle between the three giants that have dominated time trialing in the last few years: Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin. With Wiggins and Martin having focused fully on the race for a long time and Cancellara having beaten Martin in the Vuelta TT, all was set for a close battle but the excitement was taken out of the race already from the very start. Martin proved that he was in a class of his own and Wiggins and Cancellara had to battle it out for second.

 

This year the event is less anticipated. Cancellara has decided to skip the event to focus on the road race while Martin has proved to be in outstanding time trialing condition for most of the year. Even though Wiggins has again fully committed himself to the race, it seems to be a common perception that Martin will be very hard to beat.

 

Compared to last year, the course is a bit trickier. The two late climbs and the technical descent mean that more versatile skills are required. Nonetheless, the main part of the course is predominantly flat and as it was the case in the team time trial, the race will mainly be decided on the long, flat straights that characterize the early part of the race.

 

A rolling course is definitely no disadvantage for Martin who has excelled on difficult routes several times in the past. In fact, most of the time trials he has won in 2014 have been rather hilly and this year he has rediscovered the climbing legs that allowed him to win the 2011 Paris-Nice. Furthermore, he is an excellent descender and this mix of flats, climbs and a tricky descent seems to be a perfect fit for the reigning world champion.

 

It is very hard to look beyond Martin as the main favourite for the event. The German has the chance to become the first rider ever to win the event four years in a row and he has again prepared his assault at the title carefully. He has followed his usual post-Tour schedule by doing the first two weeks of the Vuelta to rebuild his condition and then focus fully on the two time trials at the Worlds.

 

After his dominance in 2013, Martin got his 2014 season off to a very poor start. In the early part of the year, he was beaten in three time trials and his first win arrived unusually late, in the Vuelta al Pais Vasco in the beginning of March. Since then he has been virtually unbeatable and he has won every time trial he has done since a near-crash on a descent saw him lose the Tour de Romandie time trial by less than a second in early May.

 

Martin is an excellent time trialist on most courses but he really excels in the long ones where his engine makes a big difference. It is no wonder that he has a great track record in the grand tours and has been impossible to beat in the World Championships since he took his first rainbow jersey.

 

Martin’s results may have been great in 2014 but he may not have been as dominant as he was 12 months ago. Back then, he had that surprising defeat against Cancellara in the Vuelta but otherwise he was in a class of his own. This year his winning margins have been rather small, most recently in the Vuelta where he only managed to beat Uran by 15 seconds. After the team time trial, he admitted that he was not feeling at 100% and it may be a bit harder for him to impose the same kind of dominance as he did in Florence.

 

That race, however, proved that Martin is currently in a class of his own and he seems to be able to beat everyone even when he is not fully fit. With this race being a big goal, he is definitely not far off the mark and so it will take an outstanding performance to break his stranglehold on the event. There is no doubt that Martin is the major favourite for this year’s World Championships.

 

The only rider that can potentially beat him is Bradley Wiggins. The past two years have been strange for the talented Brit who has had constantly changing objectives and done surprisingly little racing. Nonetheless, he has shown glimpses of his class, with his silver medal ride in Florence being one of his best results.

 

Wiggins started his year slowly before he built conditions for the classics, ending his spring campaign with a great performance in Paris-Roubaix. He went back to stage racing mode and lost a lot of weight to take a dominant victory in the Tour of California. Having missed out on selection for the Tour de France, he turned his attention to the track for the Commonwealth Games before he started to focus on the Worlds. Most recently, he tried to defend his title in the Tour of Britain but a harder course made it impossible for him as he had mostly been doing training for the time trial.

 

The British race had a short time trial in London on the final day and here Wiggins proved that he is ready. On the 8.8km course, he distanced Sylvain Chavanel by 8 seconds which is no mean feat, given the Frenchman’s excellent condition. After the race, he set an optimistic tone, telling several media that he feels ready for the Worlds and that he has a chance to beat Martin.

 

Last year Wiggins was far off the mark but one should not forget that the Brit was by far the best time trialist in 2012. Back then, he crushed the opposition in both Tour de France TTs and he easily beat Martin at the Olympics. This year he has done very little time trialing but he has mostly been doing really well. He was third in Tirreno at a time when he was far from his best condition and completely lacked motivation in the Tour de Suisse but in California and London he did very impressive rides.

 

It seems that Wiggins is no longer at the level he was in 2012 but he is not too far off the mark. He knows how to prepare for specific events and when he claims to be ready, there is no reason to believe that he is not close to his best condition. Whether it will be enough to beat Martin remains to be seen but he is the only rider who can realistically hope to deny the German another gold medal.

 

This year Tom Dumoulin has stepped up his level massively. Having long been known as a big talent, he has progressively improved and now he belongs to the real elite. Already in March, he finished fifth behind Malori, Cancellara, Wiggins and Martin but his best results have come later in the year. He has finished second behind Martin no less than four times, including in stage 20 of the Tour de France, and has won time trials in the Criterium International, Eneco Tour and Tour of Alberta as well as the Dutch championships.

 

Dumoulin has proved that it won’t take long for him to be at the level of the very best and this year he is likely to continue his progression by taking his first Worlds medal. He showed outstanding condition in Canada where only a poor team tactic prevented him from winning the Tour of Alberta and where only an excellent Simon Gerrans denied him the win in the GP Quebec. He climbed excellently in Montreal and doesn’t seem to be fatigued at this point of the season.

 

Compared to another upcoming time trialist like Adriano Malori, Dumoulin has the advantage that he seems to shine in long races. His big engine allows him to keep going for the duration of a Worlds TT and this mixed course should suit him well. He has only missed the top 3 in a two time trials this year and there is a big chance that he will start what could become a long string of Worlds medals by claiming a bronze medal behind Martin and Wiggins in Wednesday’s race.

 

Vasil Kiryienka rarely shines in time trials during the year as he mainly works as a tireless domestique in the stage races. However, he has developed into some kind of a Worlds specialist and has been in medal contention twice in a row. In 2102, he took a surprise bronze in Limburg while he finished just off the podium in 2013.

 

Like last year Kiryienka has prepared the Worlds by riding the Vuelta and he seems to come out of the Spanish race in excellent condition. He rode strongly for Chris Froome on the climbs and crowned his domestique performances with a 7th place in the first time trial and a 4th place in the final time trial that was way too short and technical to suit him well.

 

What really showed how strong he is, is his performance in the Worlds TTT. Having been reduced to four riders very early, Sky were hugely reliant on Wiggins and Kiryienka. The pair did most of the work and even though they were up against very strong teams with several riders, they managed to secure the British team a fourth place.

 

Kiryienka excels in very long time trials and this non-technical course with a few climbs and some flat sections should suit him well. The Belarusian will be highly motivated for what will be one of his personal season highlights and history shows that he is always a contender at this time of the year.

 

Adriano Malori beat all the biggest specialists in Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year and a few weeks ago he added the win in the final Vuelta time trial to his palmares. That day he may have been helped by the rain but his performances in the last two years have proved that he is one of the very best on short, flat courses.

 

Malori has had a harder time in longer time trials and last year he admitted to CyclingQuotes that the Worlds was an important test for him to see how he goes up against the best on the really long courses. By taking 8th, he did well but the performance also showed that while he is one of the very best on distances on 10-20km, he still needs to improve in the grand tour and Worlds time trials which are usually a lot longer.

 

Malori climbed outstandingly in the Vuelta and is clearly in great condition. Speaking to CyclingQuotes on the eve of the team time trial, he said that he feels a lot stronger than two years ago and he earned lots of praise for his performance in the TTT where Movistar ended 6th. He may not yet be strong enough to take a medal at the Worlds but this year he is likely to break into the top 5.

 

Tom Dumoulin has had a lot of second places but Rohan Dennis has taken even more. The Australian has been runner-up in time trials no less than 5 times and has repeatedly proved that he is not far off the very best. His big breakthrough on the professional scene came at the 2013 Dauphiné where he finished second behind Martin and even beat Chris Froome who was very close to his Tour de France-winning condition.

 

This year he is yet to win a time trial but his many podium places have been very impressive and show that he is consistently strong. Most recently, he finished third in the final stage of the Vuelta and if it hadn’t been for late rain, he may have won the stage as he had the fastest split time. The result signals that he came out of the race in good condition after a slow start and he played a key role in BMC’s TTT win.

 

Dennis would probably have benefited from a hillier course but he has done really well on completely flat courses too. In fact, the Ponferrada route’s mix of everything may suit him well. Being one of the in-form riders and having been one of the most consistent time trialists all year, Dennis should be in medal contention.

 

Sylvain Chavanel is one of the in-form riders at the moment. He took an impressive win in the GP Plouay where he was part of a strong group that escaped in the finale. Just a few days earlier, he had crushed the opposition in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes time trial, relegating a classy time trialist like Sven Tuft into second by a massive 44 seconds. Since then he has confirmed his good form in the Tour of Britain where he was unable to follow the best on the climbs but ended the race well by finishing second behind Wiggins in the time trial.

 

For many years, Chavanel was a solid time trialist but after he solved his back problems he has stepped up his level. The strong Frenchman is now one of the very best, having won TTs in De Panne and Eneco Tour. This year he has done fewer time trials but a third place in Belgium and an 8th place in the Tour de France proves that he is still one of the best. Chavanel has a great engine that allows him to do well on long distances and this course should suit him well. For some reason, he has never been too strong at the Worlds but this year he seems to be a lot fresher after having missed most of the classics season due to illness. 2014 could be the year when he finally lives up to his potential in the most important time trial of the year.

 

Svein Tuft grew to fame when he claimed the silver medal at the 2008 Worlds but after joining the WorldTour he had a hard time living up to his promises. After joining Orica-GreenEDGE he found back his best legs and in 2012 he seemed to be one of the very best.

 

In 2013 and 2014 he has had a harder time in the individual time trials but has developed into a key rider for the Orica-GreenEDGE team time trial squad. A few weeks ago, however, he did well in the Tour du Poitou-Charentes where he finished second behind Chavanel and when CyclingQuotes talked to him after the team time trial, he was extremely confident. Describing his build-up as fantastic, he claimed to be feeling very strong and regards the time trial as an important test.

 

Tuft is a real specialist who excels in stand-alone time trials that are not part of stage races and he is very strong on long courses. The final part may be a bit too hilly to suit him perfectly and he would definitely have preferred a flatter course. However, the Canadian has proved that he has the level to mix it up with the best and as he seems to be close to his best form, he should be up there.

 

Another rider that has been time trialing excellently in 2014 is Jesse Sergent. The Kiwi recently finished in the top 10 in both Vuelta time trials and most notably took second on the final day. Earlier this yearhe was an outstanding third behind Froome and Martin on a very hilly course in Romandie, proving that he is not only a rider for the flat TTs. Furthermore, he has done some very good long time trials, indicating that he is able to cope with the distance of a World Championships.

 

He claimed to be a bit tired at the end of the Vuelta but his performances suggest that he is still riding pretty strongly. He rode strongly in the team time trial for Trek and was one of the main powerhouses that made the team finish their race very strongly. Having improved his level massively, Sergent should produce a good ride on Wednesday.

 

Jan Barta has been in the top 3 in almost all time trials he has done and was hugely disappointed when he could only manage 4th in the Tour of Britain TT. However, the Czech rode strongly in the British race to finish in the top 10 overall and nothing suggests that he is slowing down.

 

Barta’s best performance came at the Tour de France where he was an outstanding third in the final time trial. That performance again underlines the fact that he does best on long, rolling courses and so Wednesday’s race should suit him well. The Czech just seems to be getting stronger and stronger and as he is obviously riding well, he could create another surprise.

 

Finally, Tejay van Garderen deserves a mention. The American was a very strong time trialist a few years ago and finished fourth at the 2012 World Championships. This year he has improved his climbing massively but unfortunately it seems to have had a negative effect on his time trialing. He still managed to finish 6th in the Tour de France TT and recently won the USA Pro Challenge TT. That stage, however, was more of a mountain time trial that suited him a lot better than the course in Ponferrada.

 

Van Garderen is obviously riding very strongly as he was part of the winning BMC team in the team time trial but on this kind of course, he may have a hard time against the heavier guys. However, van Garderen still seems to be pretty fresh at this point of the season and he has expressed confidence in his own chances. It will be very hard for him to finish on the podium but he could definitely produce a good ride.

 

***** Tony Martin

**** Bradley Wiggins, Tom Dumoulin

*** Vasil Kiryienka, Adriano Malori, Rohan Dennis

** Sylvain Chavanel, Svein Tuft, Jesse Sergent, Jan Barta, Tejay van Garderen

* Kristof Vandewalle, Alex Dowsett, Dario Cataldo, Jerome Coppel, Anton Vorobyev