On This Day in 2014: Bradley Wiggins becomes a world champion on the road

The 2012 Tour de France winner stormed to time trial victory in Ponferrada, Spain.

Bradley Wiggins won the men’s individual time trial (John Giles/PA) (PA Archive)

On this day in 2014, Sir Bradley Wiggins won gold in the men’s time trial at the Road World Championships in Spain.

Wiggins, who won gold in the equivalent event at the 2012 Olympics having also won the Tour de France that year, clocked 56 minutes 25.52 seconds for the 47.1-kilometre route in Ponferrada to win by an emphatic margin of 26.23secs.

German rider Tony Martin placed second, completing the event in 56mins 51.75secs, while the Netherlands’ Tom Dumoulin finished in 57:06.16 to take bronze.

The win meant it was Britain’s first gold in the event in 20 years, when Chris Boardman won the inaugural edition of the road time trial.

“I paced it perfectly,” Wiggins told the UCI afterwards.

“I still had gas in the final. Even on the last descent, I knew I was ahead, but I was pushing all the way.

“I don’t know what to say. I knew coming into it that I had the legs.

Wiggins also won the Men’s Individual Time Trial at London 2012 (Adam Davy/PA) (PA Archive)

“Once I saw the course I knew if I was ever going to beat Tony it would be here.”

Wiggins went on to win his fifth Olympic gold medal at Rio 2016 on the track in the team pursuit before retiring from cycling in 2016.