World Champs: Tony Martin Destroys the Field to make it two for Germany

Tony Martin destroyed the field, to take his first World Time-Trial championship, by over a minute to Bradley Wiggins in Copenhagen.

Martin went out of the blocks full steam ahead and passed two riders on the way to the finish line, including, the man who beat him to silver in 2010, David Millar. He has had a good run in to the world championships, taking the ITT in the Vuelta in a similar fashion, which many people saw as a sign of what was to come. Nothing seemed to faze the German and defied expectations, by keeping up his high pace on the second lap of the city. Many riders had made the mistake of going out to hard, before fading quickly, but Martin just went faster.

Defending champion Fabian Cancellara had to settle for third place, after a small mistake caused him some valuable seconds. The Swiss machine was riding on the limit, after seeing Martin’s astonishing time checks. Bradley Wiggins had started slow, but produced a great second lap and was closing in on Cancellara. Things all came to a head, as he exited the Royal Palace, when he misjudged the tight turn and ended up resting against the barrier. He didn’t hit the deck, but the brief stop lost him around 10 to 15 seconds.

Britain had two riders in the final group and will be please with two top-ten placings. Wiggins will have gone in to the event aiming for the podium, but silver medal position will be an added bonus. The Londoner had a measured start to the course, but ate in to the time of the other riders on the second lap. Millar crossed the line in sixth, before Cancellara moved him in to seventh. It is a big step down to the silver medal he won in Geelong, last year, but it is a placing he can be happy with after a busy last few months.

Future stars Jack Bobridge and Richie Porte finished ahead of Millar in fifth and sixth, respectively. Bobridge flew out of the blocks and set the timing screens on fire, but he didn’t stand a chance when the big boys came through. Porte was pipped as a podium possibility, but he couldn’t match the speed of the others and rode a solid time-trial. Both riders are still quite young and combine with Luke Durbridge to make a formidable Australian time-trial team of the future.

Taylor Phinney will be slightly disappointed with his 15^th place position, after all of the pre-race hype. Phinney has struggled to adjust to his first year as a professional rider, but he seems to have pinpointed the problem and we can expect more from him in 2012. Bert Grabsch probably rode the biggest gearing of the event and just missed out on a medal by just over 10 seconds. The German went around setting the fastest times early on, but he could keep it up for the second lap.

The majority of the riders will now have a small break, before the men’s road race on Sunday. The U23 will take place on Friday, with the Elite Women’s on Saturday.