Cancellara unconcerned by Poland time trial defeat

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Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Leopard) may have suffered defeat to Bradley Wiggins in the final time trial of the Tour of Poland, but the Swiss rider was happy to have clocked up another week of work as he builds towards his great objective of the second half of the season – the world championships in Florence.

Cancellara finished in second place, 56 seconds down on Wiggins, and admitted afterwards that he had suffered on the 37-kilometre course from Wieliczka to Krakow, particularly on the undulating opening section.

“I didn’t really have the greatest feelings on the bike. I felt quite tired after this tough week of racing,” Cancellara said afterwards, according to his team website. “It was very hard and then of course doing the time trial at the very end is never easy. I did what I had to do.

“From what I felt before the race and during, the results were actually ok. The parcours wasn’t perfect for me. It was very hard, up and down a lot but the second half was more to my liking.”

Cancellara praised the stylish performance of Wiggins, who claimed his first victory since winning gold in the Olympic Games time trial last year. “Wiggins looked comfortable yesterday; he didn’t look like he suffered too much,” Cancellara said. “A minute is a lot of time to lose but considering the course, I’m not too unhappy about it.”

Cancellara opted to forgo the Tour de France for the first time since 2006 in a bid to ensure the best possible preparation for the world championships, where his primary target will be the road race rather than the time trial, which he has already won on four occasions.

The 32-year-old instead raced the Tour of Austria in July, winning the individual time trial, and will continue his Worlds build-up at the Vuelta a España.

“I keep in mind where I am in my training right now,” he said. “I was sick before I came here and then this was a very hard week so I think I did good work and this is a good foundation.”