Wiggins wins time trial world championship
British rider unseats Tony Martin in Ponferrada
Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) put a halt to Tony Martin's reign as world time trial champion and took his first ever world title in the elite men's event with a perfect ride on the Ponferrada course.
Wiggins was slower than Martin at the first time split but had the speed and power to gradually carve out a significant lead over the 57.1km course. He set the fastest time at the second time split and then gained more time on the climbs in the final part of the course as he stayed tucked in his aero position and pushed huge power down on the pedals on his Pinarello time trial bike.
He stopped the clock in a time of 56:25.52 to take the rainbow jersey. Martin tried to fight back, pushing his huge 58-tooth chain ring but lost further time on the climb and finished 26 seconds slower. Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) took the bronze medal, confirming his time trialing talent by finishing 40 seconds slower than Wiggins.
Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) finished fourth at 47 seconds, with Rohan Dennis (Australia) fifth at 57 seconds. Dennis started fast but faded on the late climbs, which proved decisive in shaping the final result. Andrew Talansky (USA) finished 15th in a time of 58:46, with Tejay van Garderen (USA) was 37th, 3:44 slower than Wiggins. Alex Dowsett (Great Britain) was 20th at 2:35, with Svein Tuft (Canada) 28th at 3:18.
He collapsed on the floor after his ride, struggling to understand that he was the new world time trial champion.
“I knew coming into it that I had the legs. I realised once I saw the course that if I was ever going to beat Tony then it would be on a course like this,” Wiggins explained.
“I just went through my routine. I’ve been in this situation so many times in the past and when I know that the condition is there I’m quite relaxed, I know what I have to do on the bike. I knew the difference would be made in the final, on that final loop. I paced it perfectly and still had gas in the final, even on that last descent, I heard that I was 10 seconds up and I was just pushing all the way. I didn’t want to take any risks.”
Wiggins smiled and waved on the podium as he pulled on the rainbow jersey and ended his season on a high. He impressed in the Spring Classics and won the Tour of California but then was overlooked by Team Sky for the Tour de France that started in Britain.
“It’s been an up and down year, I didn’t ride the Tour, so I want to dedicate this to my family because they’ve been there for me all summer and they had to put up with me when I was at home during July. It’s my last world time trial championship and I’ve finished with a gold medal,” he said.
Wiggins confirmed that his next major goal will be the 2015 spring Classics before attacking the Hour Record in the summer.
Full Results
# | Rider Name (Country) | Result |
---|---|---|
1 | Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) | 0:56:25.52 |
2 | Tony Martin (Germany) | 0:00:26.23 |
3 | Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands) | 0:00:40.64 |
4 | Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus) | 0:00:47.92 |
5 | Rohan Dennis (Australia) | 0:00:57.74 |
6 | Adriano Malori (Italy) | 0:01:11.62 |
7 | Nelson Filipe Santos Simoes Oliveira (Portugal) | 0:01:21.63 |
8 | Anton Vorobyev (Russian Federation) | 0:01:29.66 |
9 | Jan Barta (Czech Republic) | 0:01:43.41 |
10 | Jonathan Castroviejo Nicolas (Spain) | 0:01:44.20 |
11 | Tiago Machado (Portugal) | 0:01:52.37 |
12 | Jesse Sergent (New Zealand) | 0:01:57.02 |
13 | Rasmus Christian Quaade (Denmark) | 0:02:16.28 |
14 | Artem Ovechkin (Russian Federation) | 0:02:18.27 |
15 | Andrew Talansky (United States Of America) | 0:02:20.88 |
16 | Maciej Bodnar (Poland) | 0:02:22.28 |
17 | Sylvain Chavanel (France) | 0:02:28.39 |
18 | Silvan Dillier (Switzerland) | 0:02:30.77 |
19 | Tanel Kangert (Estonia) | 0:02:32.62 |
20 | Alex Dowsett (Great Britain) | 0:02:35.10 |
21 | Alexandr Pliuschin (Republic of Moldova) | 0:02:47.90 |
22 | Nikias Arndt (Germany) | 0:02:48.60 |
23 | Carlos Ivan Oyarzun Guinez (Chile) | 0:02:52.80 |
24 | Kristof Vandewalle (Belgium) | 0:03:06.67 |
25 | Jerome Coppel (France) | 0:03:08.64 |
26 | Alexsandr Dyachenko (Kazakhstan) | 0:03:11.21 |
27 | Riccardo Zoidl (Austria) | 0:03:15.71 |
28 | Svein Tuft (Canada) | 0:03:18.18 |
29 | Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic) | 0:03:18.47 |
30 | Dario Cataldo (Italy) | 0:03:25.26 |
31 | Pieter Serry (Belgium) | 0:03:30.13 |
32 | Mateusz Taciak (Poland) | 0:03:31.78 |
33 | Tobias Ludvigsson (Sweden) | 0:03:33.30 |
34 | Markel Irizar Aranburu (Spain) | 0:03:39.23 |
35 | Matthias Brandle (Austria) | 0:03:39.69 |
36 | Rein Taaramae (Estonia) | 0:03:40.36 |
37 | Tejay Van Garderen (United States Of America) | 0:03:44.16 |
38 | Daniil Fominykh (Kazakhstan) | 0:03:48.05 |
39 | Ignatas Konovalovas (Lithuania) | 0:03:49.51 |
40 | Kristijan Koren (Slovenia) | 0:03:50.32 |
41 | Nicolas Roche (Ireland) | 0:03:50.39 |
42 | Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus) | 0:03:52.16 |
43 | Andriy Vasylyuk (Ukraine) | 0:03:54.96 |
44 | Serghei Tvetcov (Romania) | 0:03:56.62 |
45 | Vegard Breen (Norway) | 0:04:00.51 |
46 | Winner Anacona Gomez (Colombia) | 0:04:01.56 |
47 | Gatis Smukulis (Latvia) | 0:04:10.83 |
48 | Lars Teutenberg (Germany) | 0:04:12.81 |
49 | Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania) | 0:04:32.05 |
50 | Aleksejs Saramotins (Latvia) | 0:04:33.65 |
51 | Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina) | 0:05:11.23 |
52 | Andrei Nechita (Romania) | 0:05:33.44 |
53 | Lasse Norman Hansen (Denmark) | 0:05:50.45 |
54 | Reidar Bohlin Borgersen (Norway) | 0:05:58.32 |
55 | Zsolt Der (Hungary) | 0:06:27.65 |
56 | Matej Mohoric (Slovenia) | 0:06:46.48 |
57 | Gabor Fejes (Hungary) | 0:06:49.32 |
58 | Oleksandr Golovash (Ukraine) | 0:08:05.49 |
59 | Elchin Asadov (Azerbaijan) | 0:09:03.77 |
60 | Gustavo Mino (Paraguay) | 0:09:46.54 |
61 | Segundo Navarrete (Ecuador) | 0:10:48.63 |
62 | Veli Sadiki (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) | 0:13:37.86 |
63 | Gorgi Popstefanov (Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia) | 0:14:33.34 |
DNF | Alexander Gingsjo (Sweden) | Row 63 - Cell 2 |
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Stephen is the most experienced member of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. He has been Head of News at Cyclingnews since 2022, before which he held the position of European editor since 2012 and previously worked for Reuters, Shift Active Media, and CyclingWeekly, among other publications.
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