Report – Wiggo wins Worlds

2014_August_Prendas_Bannerr4

Great Britain’s Sir Bradley Wiggins has won the men’s World Time Trial Championship to add to the Olympic and British titles

RST Cycle Clothing & Trigon Bikes

Report – Wiggo wins Worlds

NOTE: Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

For a decade, Bradley Wiggins has had his eyes on the World Time Trial title and today, in Spain, he achieved that goal beating triple World Champion Tony Martin by 26 seconds. It was in 2005, that Bradley travelled to Spain (Madrid) with GB to have a crack at the Time Trial and he was 7th.

He was then 10th in 2007, 2nd in 2011, 2nd again in 2013 and in 2012, he was Olympic Champion for the Time Trial.

Like the Tour de France and Olympic events before it, what Wiggins focuses on, he has a bloody good crack at and more times than not, he achieves the goal. “I don’t know what to say,” Wiggins said afterwards. “I knew coming into it that I had the legs. Once I saw the course, I knew if I was ever going to beat Tony [Martin] again it was going to be in course like this.”

It was always expected that the battle was going to be between Wiggins and the German Tony Martin. At the first checkpoint, Martin’s advantage was 4.14 seconds over Wiggins. Then, at the second split, Wiggins had overtaken his rival, sitting 2.64 seconds ahead of the German. By the third checkpoint, it was clear that Wiggins had taken control, clocking a 9.64-second advantage.

“I knew the difference would be made on that final loop,” said Wiggins “On those tough climbs I paced it perfectly, and I still had gas in the final. I heard I was 10 seconds up, but I wanted to keep pushing in the final.”

Wiggins beat Martin by 26 seconds whilst the bronze went to Dutchman Tom Dumoulin, 40 seconds off the time of Wiggins. Alex Dowsett for GB was 20th.

Wiggins meanwhile, went on to say “it’s been an up-and-down year and I want to dedicate this to my family. My wife and children back home have always been there for me and had to put up with me. This was my last world time trial championships, so to finish it with a gold medal – I don’t know what to say.”

“I’ve prepared for things like this so many times in the past and when I know the form and the condition is there, I’m quite relaxed. I know what I have to do once I get out on the bike, so it’s just a case of waiting all day. The weather turned out good and I had a good team time trial on Sunday – I knew I was strong there so… job done.

“I knew the difference would be made on that final loop. I paced it perfectly and I still had gas in the final. Even on that last descent, I heard I was 10 seconds up but I was pushing all the way and not taking any risks. It was superb.

“The hour record is my next big goal now, but to add the World title to the British title and the Olympic title means I’ve got the set, so it’s very good; fantastic.”

A former teammate of Brad’s with Team GB on the track, Rob Hayles, speaking on BBC, said “Wiggins was never chasing the race – he was just 4.25 seconds down on Martin at the first time-check after 12km and, after that, he was always the fastest. It meant he was able to ride within himself and he always had the race under control”.

Wiggins is the first British rider to win the World Time Trial title since Chris Boardman in the race in 1994 when it was introduced for the first time.

Martin – “I was motivated and its hard to get beaten”

“To be honest it’s really hard to get beaten on a day like this,” Martin said. “I was motivated, I had the goal to get the gold medal again today. Nothing else counted for me. Even the silver medal doesn’t make it better for me to be honest, but I know it is still a good result”.

“I’m really disappointed, but that’s cycling, that’s sport. I’m not a machine. I know that almost everyone expected me to win, but I always said a few riders, especially Bradley, always have a big chance. I already felt tired in the team time trial. For sure it wasn’t best for the morale and preparation for today”.

“I was a little tired also today and I think that was the biggest factor. I couldn’t battle Bradley in the final of this race with my condition. Now I have to analyze and do better next year. Congratulations to Bradley as he is a great talent in this discipline and deserves to be world champion.”

Below: The splits for the top 5 riders ….

2014WorldTT Champs

1. Wiggins Bradley, Great Britain 56:2
2. Martin Tony, Germany 0:26
3. Dumoulin Tom, Holland 0:40
4. Kiryienka Vasil, Belarus 0:47
5. Dennis Rohan, Australia 00:57
6. Malori Adriano, Italy 01:11

12 Sergent Jesse, New Zealand @1:57
17 Chavanel Sylvain, France @2:28
20 Dowsett Alex, GB @2:35
28 Tuft Svein, Canada @3:18
35 Brändle Matthias, IAM Cycling @3.39
37 van Garderen Tejay, USA @3:44
41 Roche Nicolas, Ireland @ 3.50

Send your results as well as club, team & event news here

Other Results on VeloUK (including reports containing results)

Other News on VeloUK

Tags: , , ,