Wiggins wins British time trial title

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Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) powered his third British national time trial title in a rain soaked Wales on Thursday evening. The reigning Olympic champion blew away the rest of the field to beat fellow Sky teammate Geraint Thomas by more than a minute, with defending champion Alex Dowsett (Movistar) finishing in third.

"To wear this jersey in Europe is always a privilege and it will probably be my last British Time Trial Championships," Wiggins said after he had been up to collect his new jersey. "To win it and perhaps never come back is kind of a nice way to end it all and add it to the Olympics and try and win the worlds at the end of the year and try to get the set.

"This is probably the best championships they've had in terms of the field and the standards of the way that the event has been organised. We had full closed roads and that’s never happened before."

It was a late start for the men, who got under way at 6:30. They would follow the same lumpy course as the women had earlier that day, taking it on twice. While the women were able to complete their event in almost entirely dry conditions, the men had no such luck. The skies opened mid-afternoon and only continued to rain harder as the men’s event went on.

The Isle of Man’s Mark Christian (Team Raleigh) set the early pace with a time of 58:12, but that wasn’t going to stand up to scrutiny when the big contenders came through. Luke Rowe (Team Sky) was the first of the WorldTour riders to ride down the ramp and was the first rider to drop underneath the 57-minute mark.

David Millar’s day ended early when he was caught by Thomas before they had completed the first lap. The Garmin-Sharp rider had been suffering with a cough prior to the event and decided to climb off.

Wiggins was in commanding form from the start, and was the only rider to complete the opening 21-kilometre lap in under 27 minutes. Despite the roads being slick with the rain that was now hammering it down on fans and riders alike, he continued to push. He eventually rolled home in a blistering time of 53:56.

At last season’s Tour of Britain, he told the press that he would have rather end up in hospital than not win. It proved to be much the same approach for the Sky rider in Wales. "I said to my wife before I started, I wonder where the nearest hospital is. I thought it might be in Newport and she said it was a University hospital so there would be good staff there. It was one of them today, I had full commitment off the ramp. Especially with that first corner, that set the tone for the rest of the ride."

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