Countdown to Rio: Summer sports week in review
September 29, 2014 12:30 pm
Sir Bradley Wiggins admitted completing an historic treble at his last Road World Championships had been the ideal way to end a difficult season.
The 34-year old added a rainbow jersey on the road to his Olympic and British titles after beating three-time champion Tony Martin by 26.23 seconds over a hilly 47.1km course in Ponferrada on Wednesday.
Wiggins, who missed out on selection for this summer’s Tour de France, finished second behind Martin in both 2011 and 2013.
But he got the better of him in Spain, becoming the first British rider since Chris Boardman in 1994 to win world time trial gold.
“I knew I had the legs coming into it and once I saw the course I realised that if I was ever going to beat Tony again it was on a course like this,” said Wiggins, who reiterated his intention not to compete at future road championships as he turns his attentions to the track for the 2016 Rio Olympic Games.
“It has been an up and down year with not riding the Tour but I want to dedicate this to my family for putting up with me when I was at home during July.
“This is my last world time trial championship and I’ve finished with a gold medal.
“To add the world title to the British and Olympic titles, along with the pursuit world titles - I’ve got the set.”
It proved to be a disappointing outing for road race specialists Lizzie Armitstead and Ben Swift however as they failed to make the podium in either the women or men’s contest.
Armitstead had to settle for seventh as France’s Pauline Ferrand-Prevot timed her final sprint to perfection to take victory.
While in Sunday’s men’s race, Swift was five places lower with Poland’s Michal Kwiatkowski making a decisive break with less than 10km to go –Swift’s teammate Peter Kennaugh finishing 82nd.
There was better news for Liam Phillips however who became the first British man to be crowned UCI BMX Supercross World Cup champion in Chula Vista.
Phillips was leading the series going into the final event before a crash in the quarter-finals jeopardised his chances but when Australia’s Anthony Dean was also involved in a collision in the semi-finals the Briton was mathematically guaranteed the crown.
Phillips tweeted: "Super happy to win the 2014 @UCI_BMX_SX overall title!"
Back on English soil, Jess Varnish and Callum Skinner were the stand out performers at the British National Track Cycling Championships in Manchester with four golds each.
Varnish successfully retained her sprint, team sprint, 500m time trial and keirin titles from last year while Skinner was victorious in the team sprint, sprint, keirin and 1km time trial.
In tennis, Andy Murray took his first title since he won the Wimbledon crown in 2013 as he defeated Tommy Robredo in the final of the Shenzhen Open 5-7, 7-6, 6-1.
But England’s men and women both missed out on promotion at the European Table Tennis Team Championships in Lisbon.
The women were edged out 3-2 by Greece in their divisional quarter-final before eventually finishing in 21st.
While the men lost 3-1 to Belgium in their last-eight tie, although beat Turkey 3-1 in the final game for 23rd place.
In the women’s competition, Wales finished 26th and Scotland 31st while in the men’s draw, Wales and Scotland were 34th and 35th.
Elsewhere Olympic women’s pairs champion Katherine Grainger announced her return to rowing training, indicating she is considering a bid to compete at Rio 2016.
Although one athlete who won’t be in action in the forthcoming season is skeleton world champion Shelley Rudman who announced she is expecting her second child.
© Sportsbeat 2014
