Martin aims for Olympic time trial podium

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Tony Martin (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) has his sights set on a medal in the 2012 London Olympics time trial. While Martin says that “gold is definitely possible,” he sees Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins (Sky) as the top favourite.

The German is still recovering from a broken bone in his hand, which happened in a crash in the Tour's first stage. He stayed in the race, suffering through the stage 9 time trial and then abandoned on the rest day.

Martin has been able to train well since then, even if the pain is still there. “It is still torture, but possible,” he told sport.t-online.de. He doesn't expect it to be a major obstacle. "When I'm on the start ramp, I will surely have other things in my head other than my hand. The injury won't really hold me back."

Now he is on his way to London, where he will ride both the road race and the time trial, with his eye on the latter. "Gold is possible," he said, but "it would be presumptuous to look only for gold. The podium is my primary goal."

Another obstacle to the gold medal is Wiggins. "He was so super humanly strong in the Tour de France. I think that he will also triumph in London."

Martin's next chance at a title comes mid-September at the World Championships in Valkenburg, Netherlands. "I want to defend my title there."