In the time trial Wiggins beat World
Champion Tony Martin (Germany) by 42 seconds after trailing at the
first time check, but that was expected as Wiggins gets much better
as time trials go on and Martin is still recovering from his injuries
both in the early season and in his stage 1 crash at the Tour de
France.
Further down the standings, Tour de
France runner up (and Wiggins teammate) Chris Froome (Great Britain)
took the bronze over Taylor Phinney (United States). For Phinney, the
result was his second 4th of the Olympics. While a
disappointment for him to not medal, he is only 22 and will have many
chances over the coming year in both the Olympics and World
Championships.
As for defending champion Fabian
Cancellara (Switzerland), he finished 7th while obviously
uncomfortable on his bike after his crash in the road race on
Saturday. Still, he gave a good effort as he was 3rd at
the first time check and 4th and the other two before
fading at the end.
For Wiggins, the win caps one of the
greatest seasons in road cycling history. Nobody had managed to win
the week-long stage races of Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie and the
Criterium du Dauphine in the same season. It got better after that
with his Tour de France win (the crown jewel of the wins) and then he
added the cherry on top with his time trial victory today.
In addition, Wiggins became the most
decorated British Olympic athlete ever with his 7th career
Olympic medal (three gold). The previous medals all came on the track
with a bronze in 2000, a gold, a silver and a bronze in 2004 and two
golds in 2008.
Next up for Wiggins is a possible run
at the World Time Trial Championship in September. He was second to
Martin last year. Beyond that, it is likely that he will being
prepping for next season as he is unlikely to race the Vuelta a
Espana and there are no major targets other than the Time Trial
Championship that suit his abilities until next year.
Sorry no pictures today, I was on time check duty on the course today.
No comments:
Post a Comment