"I felt last year that I was short of racing when it came down to the worlds," Wiggins told the Guardian newspaper.
Wiggins has only competed at the Vuelta once previously, in 2011. The Brit chose to ride the Spanish grand tour after he was forced out of the Tour de France with a broken collarbone. Wiggins went on to finish third, but he was beaten by his domestique at the time Chris Froome, who finished second.
According to the newspaper, Wiggins believes that the best possible preparation for the World Championships will be to emulate three-time champion Tony Martin.
The British rider will be aiming for his first gold medal in the individual time trial, in Ponferrada, and to beat Martin for only the second time. Wiggins hoped that it would be last year, deliberately putting on weight to increase his chances against his more specialised rivals.
Compared with previous years, Wiggins’ 2013 racing schedule was pretty light. Injury prevented him from taking part in the Tour de France and he only began his build-up at the Tour of Poland. He won the final day time trial and went on to win the overall classification at the Tour of Britain, a month later.
Wiggins looked to be in the ascendancy, however, he was beaten, for the second time, by Martin. He said that the effort involved in taking the silver medal "left him with sore legs for a week.”
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This season, he will attempt a much busier race programme. Wiggins has begun his season at the Mallorca Challenge this week. He will also ride the Ruta del Sol, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo. In April, he will take on his first big target of the year at Paris-Roubaix, before heading out to the US for the Tour of California. Wiggins is also hopeful that he will return to Sky’s Tour de France team, in July.
If Wiggins was to take gold, he would be only the second British rider to do so in the event. Chris Boardman won the inaugural title in 1994. David Millar claimed victory in 2003, but it was later removed from his palmarès, after it was discovered that he’d taken EPO.
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