Sir Bradley Wiggins speaks of rainbow jersey hopes as Worlds loom

Sir Bradley Wiggins believes he has a chance of winning the rainbow jersey in the time trial at the UCI Road World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, next Wednesday – and while the Olympic champion acknowledges that Tony Martin, seeking a fourth successive title, is the man to beat, he thinks the course may give him an edge over the German .

It was his strength against the clock that in 2012 helped Wiggins become the first British rider to win the Tour de France, taking several minutes out of his rivals as he won both individual time trials during the race.

Ten days after the Tour finished, the 34-year-old won Olympic gold in the discipline in London, with Martin runner-up, and this year he has regained the British national title and also won last Sunday’s short time trial stage of the Tour of Britain to secure third place on the overall podium.

On Sunday, the first day of the world championships, he will join his Team Sky colleagues in the team trial, open only to trade teams, but his focus is firmly on Wednesday, when he believes the 47.1km course will give him an advantage over his rivals.

He told the Team Sky website: “The London time trial showed me that I’ve got all the bands of intensity covered.

“Time trialling is quite a linear thing and if that top-end’s there in an effort like that you only have to scale your power down a little bit to achieve a ride that’s sustainable over one hour, like we’ll be doing in Ponferrada.

“It was a good yardstick for me, and was reassuring ahead of the Worlds.”

Last year in Tuscany, Wiggins finished seconf behind Martin and ahead of third-placed Fabian Cancellara pf Switzerland, so far the only man to have won the title four times, but the British rider believes Wednesday’s route, which in the final third of the parcours has two climbs and a winding descent, will benefit him.

“This year’s course probably suits me a little bit better than it did against Tony last year, and there’s also an element of the unknown with where he’s at right now,” he explained.

“Tony’s been so dominant all year and this race will be about whether he’s sustained that form. He won the time trial at the Vuelta but he didn’t look as convincing there as he did at the Tour.

“It’s one of those things though, it’s so unknown. I thought I’d be closer to him last year but he put 42 seconds into me, so you can’t predict what other riders are going to do.

“I feel with the form I’m in though, I should be in the ball park, and we’ll see where we are on the day. In the back of your mind you build yourself up mentally and I’m telling myself there is a chance I could win it,” he added.