2011, 2012 and now 2013...Germany's Tony Martin once again proved his crushing domination of elite men's time trialling with his third straight gold medal in that category, outpowering Sir Bradley Wiggins of Great Britain and Fabian Cancellara of Switzerland for a clear victory in Toscana. In a repeat run of the 2011 Road World Championships Elite Time Trial result, just as in Denmark two years ago, once again Martin was well ahead of his two closest rivals, 46 seconds ahead of Wiggins, with Cancellara 48 seconds behind in third. Already a gold medallist in the team time trial event on Sunday, Martin punched the air with delight once again as he crossed the finishing line in Florence, and he admitted afterwards that "the hardest thing to choose was the right strategy." Martin "knew the road perfectly" "I had done 95 percent of course already in the team time trial, I knew the road perfectly. When I got an advantage of 40 seconds, the last five kilometres were pretty nice, just like Copenhagen when I knew I was going to be the World Champion." "There was a lot of pressure, but to be honest I need that pressure to do well. I work better with it. I think first time already the nicest, but for sure this win comes really close, I think silver would have been really disappointing for me." The German's third title came on the longest course of the three Worlds time trials to date that he has won, although he was marginally slower at the summit of the first 7.2 kilometre climb, the only hilly obstacle that came very early in the 56.8 kilometre course between Montecatini Terme and Firenze. Then the 28-year-old slowly but surely piled on the pressure, drawing clear first of Cancellara whilst Wiggins, after a steady start and only the sixth fastest on the climb, gradually began to build up the pace. After 24 kilometres, as the course settled into a series of straight, well-surfaced roads running across the plains of Firenze, Martin showed he was once again in command. After 24 kilometres, the German was 13 seconds up on Cancellara, 34 ahead of Vasil Kiryienka of Belarus, 38 seconds ahead of Wiggins and 55 seconds up on the USA's Taylor Phinney, whilst clocking an average speed of over 52 kmh. By the end of the course, impressively, his average speed was still just a fraction short of 53 kmh. In warm afternoon sunshine, the gaps continued to rise between Martin and the rest, as Cancellara began to drop back a little and Wiggins found a stronger and stronger rhythm. At the finish, Kanstantsin Siutsou's time of 1 hour 8 minutes and 36 seconds was good enough to keep the Belarus rider in the 'hot seat' for a lengthy period of time, but once it was beaten by Gusav Larsson of Sweden, the changes in the top spots came thick and fast. Wiggins relieved and satisfied Wiggins time of 1 hour six minutes and 22 seconds was fast enough to put him ahead of Kiryienka, and he staved off Cancellara by a small margin for silver. But the huge grin of delight as the German crossed the line confirmed that Martin, last off to start as defending champion, would once again be first on the results board. "I'm pretty relieved," said Wiggins, "and I'm satisfied with my performance, there was not a lot more that I could have done. I was very consistent throughout, and I got beaten by a better bike rider today." "I was pretty confident that I could come back and catch quite a few riders, but when I heard the margin at the first time split, I knew winning would be difficult." "I had no idea I would be so close to Bradley but I knew it would be a hard battle," said Cancellara, four times a World Time Trial Champion. "I knew it would be an hour of pain and an hour of pleasure, but either way it was less pressure. This result will help motivate me towards Sunday's road-race now."

• published: 25 Sep 2013
• views: 9716