Cancellara blasts to third Worlds time trial title

Fabian Cancellara, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

Men's time trial photo gallery by Graham Watson>>

In the end, it was no contest. Fabian Cancellara proved yet again that he is the world's greatest time triallist with a stunning victory in the World Championships in which he finished one minute and 27 seconds ahead of the rest of the field.

Second was Gustav Larsson of Sweden, third Germany's Tony Martin, with Britain's Bradley Wiggins outside the top 20.

Cancellara's performance was more than memorable. Each corner was taken perfectly, his rhythm never faltered. The Swiss rider passed no less than three riders en route to his third World Championships Time Trial title in five years.

Victorious in the Tour and Vuelta prologues this season, and the Tour of Switzerland, taking a win on the World's first visit to Switzerland since 1996 was almost an obligation for Cancellara. But he more than lived up to expections.

Even half way through the first lap, after just 9.16 kilometres, Cancellara was 18 seconds up on second fastest Tony Martin of Germany with Marco Pinotti another four seconds down.

By the end of the first lap , with an advantage of 38 seconds on Martin, the only thing that could stop Cancellara was a crash or major mechanical.

Instead Cancellara powered onwards, with Swiss flags and banners waving from all sides in the warm afternoon sunshine in anticipation of a huge popular victory. He passed Larsson at the start of the second lap, Wiggins mid-way through and Belgium's Sebastien Rosseler at the end.

Finally with 200 metres to go and the gold medal comfortably in the bag, the victory salutes began. Waving his right arm in the air, pointing again and again at the Swiss national colours on his chest, this was arguably the greatest of many great wins for the 28-year-old from Berne.

"I flew," he said simply, "many thanks to the fans for all the support I had. From Friday onwards I'll start thinking about Sunday and the road-race."

If Cancellara was able to celebrate a great win, for Wiggins this was a time trial he will surely prefer to forget.

The Londoner began reasonably enough, clocking sixth fastest at the end of the first 16.6 kilometre and just eight seconds outside the provisional medals. Cancellara was un-reachable but silver or bronze was still very possible.

But even if Cancellara passing him must have been expected, Wiggins race ended in disaster when he had a mechanical problem on the middle of the third lap. Throwing his bike down in frustration, with the GB team car delayed with the replacement, the Briton finally continued but the damage had been more than done.

At the point of his mechanical, Wiggins was only four seconds off a medal spot.

Britain's Chris Froome put in a solid ride to finish 18th.

Results

Road World Championships 2009: Men's time trial, 49.8km

1. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) in 57-55

2. Gustav Larsson (Sweden) at 1-27

3. Tony Martin (Germany) 2-30

4. Tom Zirbel (USA) 2-47

5. Marco Pinotti (Italy) 3-02

6. Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) 3-08

7. Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands) 3-11

8. Alexandre Vinokourov (Kazakhstan) 3-20

9. Ignatas Konovalovas (Lithuania) 3-33

10. Bert Grabsch (Germany) 3-37

Other

11. David McCann (Ireland) 3-40

18. Chris Froome (Great Britain) 4-34

21. Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain) 4-50

Fabian Cancellara, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

Fabian Cancellara: A worthy world champion

Chris Froome, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

Chris Froome put in a great ride to come 18th

Bradley Wiggins, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

Bradley Wiggins was on a great ride before mechanical disaster struck...

Bradley Wiggins, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

... and he was forced to use his back-up bike. But by then, the chance of a medal had evaporated

Tony Martin, Road World Championships 2009, men's time trial

Bronze medallist Tony Martin

Road World Championships 2009: Related links

News

Pooley disappointed with 11th in time trial

Ellingworth explains Cavendish withdrawal from Worlds

Dowsett happy with world-class rinde in under-23 TT

Manning praises Dowsett after Worlds TT ride

It's Cavendish or Stannard for final worlds place

Great Britain names world championships team

Millar won't ride worlds time trial despite Vuelta win

Wiggins quits Tour of Britain to focus on worlds TT

Out of sorts Cooke abandons Tour de l'Ardeche

Cavendish keen to ride worlds despite illness

Millar set to lead GB road race team at the Worlds

Brits head home to fight for worlds places

Reports

Under-23 Men Time Trial

Women's and under-23 men's time trials as they happened

Photos

Men'stime trial gallery by Graham Watson

Women's Time Trial gallery by Graham Watson

Under-23 Men Time Trial gallery by Graham Watson

External links

Road World Championships 2009 official website

Union Cycliste Internationale website

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