“As he won it several times before, he could skip it if he feels that he’s got no chance of getting any better than a silver medal.”
Italian time trial champion Marco Pinotti has said that he believes that today’s Vuelta a España time trial is a dry run for the world championships and that if Fabian Cancellara finishes behind Tony Martin, that the Swiss rider should consider concentrating on the road race in Florence.
Cancellara is a four time winner of the world TT title, but was beaten by Martin in 2011 and didn’t take part last year when the German won his second rainbow jersey.
He was previously seen as the best time trial rider in the world, but now Martin has taken over that mantle. According to Pinotti, unless Cancellara can take time out of Martin today, he may be better concentrating his energy elsewhere at the worlds.
“As it comes the day after the rest day, the effort is more similar to the world championship as it often is at stage races. This is an important test,” he said at the start of today’s TT stage of the Vuelta.
“The world championship is twenty kilometres longer. It’s a mental game too. Except for Bradley Wiggins and Taylor Phinney, the favourites for the world’s title are here.
“Two years ago, Tony Martin took the leadership over from Cancellara at the Vuelta before he became the world champion. Now, Tony looks serene and quiet but Fabian is not. In the past few days, Fabian has showed that he is strong in the climbs but should this test be favourable to Tony again, he might as well not ride the ITT at the World’s and focus on the road race instead.
“As he won it several times before, he could skip it if he feels that he’s got no chance of getting any better than a silver medal.”
Cancellara is reportedly undecided about which race he will focus most on at the worlds. He said earlier this year that he wanted to win the road race title for the first time, although the very hilly nature of the course may make that goal complicated for him.
Pinotti is fully focussed on the time trial in Florence. He looked like he could have been heading for a bronze medal last year but crashed out. He has been training hard in order to be in prime condition for the worlds, and wants to try to put in a good ride today.
However he accepts that the hilly nature of the course means that the GC riders could also be on the podium here.
“It’s not a time trial for specialists. The first part is a real hill. If I ride like at the Tour of Poland [where he placed fourth – ed.], it can turn to my advantage. The true specialists here are Tony Martin, Fabian Cancellara and Lieuwe Westra. We have the world championship in mind but the sensations count more than the actual result of today’s stage.”