Image 1 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) stretches before the start (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 2 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) glances to his right to check the times in the home straight: there are no race radios during the championships. (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com) Image 3 of 72 Mick Rogers (Australia) puts in a solid effort. (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 4 of 72 Regae or Reggie... a St Kitts Nevis rider on a hill (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 5 of 72 Raivis Belohvosciks was clad in a golden skinsuit for Latvia (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 6 of 72 Four titles indeed for Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 7 of 72 Tony Martin (Germany) gives everything as he sprints for the line (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 8 of 72 David Millar (Great Britain) recovers after catching his breath. (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 9 of 72 Great Britain's David Millar collapsed on ground after the time trial (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 10 of 72 Sylvain Chavanel (France) enjoys joke with rider from St Kitts Nevis (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 11 of 72 Fabian Cancellara discusses the time trial with his coach in final part of warmup (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 12 of 72 Germans Tony Martin and Bert Grabsch warm up (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 13 of 72 That's enough flashes for four wins. (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 14 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) reminds us that this is number four in a row. (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 15 of 72 Gustav Larsson (Sweden) looks very cool warming up (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 16 of 72 Richie Porte (Australia) (Image credit: kathryn Watt) Image 17 of 72 Richie Porte (Australia) finished just shy of the medals in fourth place. (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 18 of 72 Australia's Richie Porte en route to a fourth place finish. (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 19 of 72 David Millar (Great Britain) would earn a silver medal for his efforts in the time trial. (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 20 of 72 Tony Martin (Germany) finished the day in third place. (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 21 of 72 Ah, I needed that: David Millar from Great Britain takes a well earned drink after his silver medal ride in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 22 of 72 Vladimir Gusev from Russia crosses the line to complete his 45.6km ride against the clock. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 23 of 72 Tejay Van Garderen from the USA finished in 24th place for the men's elite time trial in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 24 of 72 Vladimir Gusev from Russia finished thirteenth in the time-trial. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 25 of 72 Alex Rasmussen (Denmark) approaches the line (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 26 of 72 Sylvain Chavanel from France corners into the home straight in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 27 of 72 Fabian Cancellara smiles on the podium (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 28 of 72 David Millar (Great Britain) was exhausted after his ride (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 29 of 72 Flat out. David Millar gave it everything at the Worlds TT. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 30 of 72 Fabian Cancellara with another gold for his collection. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 31 of 72 Time lord. Fabian Cancellara in typical pose. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 32 of 72 Nicolas Vogondy from France finshed the 45.6kms in a time of 1:01:48 to finish in 15th place. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 33 of 72 Spain's Luis Leon Sanchez powers to the line in Geelong to finish in seventh place. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 34 of 72 Australian Michael Rogers gives his all at the finish to come in fifth place. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 35 of 72 A huge crowd lined the streets in Geelong to see 'Spartacus' aka Fabian Cancellara from Switzerland power to victory in the time trial. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 36 of 72 Richie Porte from Australia is headed for big things after his performances in Europe this year and finished just out of the medals here in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 37 of 72 Germany's Tony Martin rides to the bronze medal in Geelong despite a puncture in his front wheel on the first lap. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 38 of 72 An exhausted David Millar from Great Britian is attended to after collapsing at the finish in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 39 of 72 Koos Moerenhout from the Netherlands hits the line in sixth place in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 40 of 72 Fabian Cancellara from Switzerland glances to his right to check the times in the home straight, there are no race radios during the championships. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 41 of 72 Richie Porte from Australia heads towards fourth place in the time-trial in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 42 of 72 David Millar from Great Britain rode superbly to finish with the sliver medal in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 43 of 72 Canadian Svein Tuft crosses the line in 26th place for the World Championship time trial in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 44 of 72 Bert Grabsch from Germany hits the line to finish the time trial in eleventh place. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 45 of 72 (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 46 of 72 Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain) was 7th in the time trial (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 47 of 72 Richie Porte (Australia) was close to a medal before his home fans (Image credit: Bettini Photo) Image 48 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) in the the rainbow jersey. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 49 of 72 Fabian Cancellara accepts the congratulations of Vittorio Adorni on the podium. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 50 of 72 The medallists (l-r): David Millar (Great Britian), Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), and Tony Martin (Germany) at the post-race press conference with event Media Director Dave Culbert. (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 51 of 72 (Image credit: Shane Goss) Image 52 of 72 Kanstantin Siutsou (Belarus) out on the Worlds TT course (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 53 of 72 Fabian Cancellara on the podium after the time trial (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 54 of 72 David Millar (Great Britain) on the podium with his silver medal (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 55 of 72 Four times the glory. Fabian Cancellara takes another rainbow jersey. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 56 of 72 Never in doubt. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) powers to his fourth elite title (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 57 of 72 Janez Brajkovic (Slovenia) could only manage 20th place (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 58 of 72 David Millar (Great Britain) during his silver medal-winning ride (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 59 of 72 Tony Martin (Germany) took bronze in the Worlds TT. (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 60 of 72 Tony Martin (Germany) en route to bronze (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 61 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) was never going to be beaten (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 62 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) pressing home for gold (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 63 of 72 Michael Rogers (HTC-Columbia) had plenty of home support (Image credit: Luca Bettini) Image 64 of 72 Awesome foursome: Cancellara seals his fourth world title (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 65 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 66 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) powers to his fourth title (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 67 of 72 Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) in full flight (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 68 of 72 Millar, Cancellara and Martin on the podium (Image credit: Riccardo Scanferla) Image 69 of 72 Golden Fabian: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland) on the podium after winning gold by more than a minute in the men's elite time-trial. (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com) Image 70 of 72 That's four for me folks: Fabian 'Spartacus' Cancellara makes it four world time-trial championships in Geelong. (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com) Image 71 of 72 Michael Rogers (Australia) corners into the home straight in Geelong and heads towards fifth place in the time-trial. (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com) Image 72 of 72 Time-trial podium (L-R): David Millar (Great Britain), Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland), and Tony Martin (Germany). (Image credit: Shane Goss/licoricegallery.com)

Swiss star Fabian Cancellara became the first four-time men's world champion in the elite ranks on Thursday with a thoroughly dominant performance. Cancellara finished over a minute ahead of Great Britain's David Millar, with Tony Martin (Germany) pulling off an impressive bronze medal ride despite puncturing.

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The elite men had to cover two laps of a 22.8 kilometre circuit that included two climbs per lap and a difficult descent. Unlike the U23 Men and elite women, however, they did not face rain and gusting wind.

The riders were sent off in four waves, with Jose Ivan Gutierrez (Spain) setting the top time in the first group. His stay in the hot seat lasted until halfway through the second wave, when Maciej Bodnar (Poland) knocked nearly 42 seconds off the leading time.

Bodnar's time would be good enough for ninth, but faster riders were starting in the third wave, with one of the local Australian favourites, Michael Rogers, last to start in the group. Rogers came close to breaking the one hour mark, and would take the hot seat until the final five riders started to come in. He would eventually finish a solid fifth.

In the final wave, some of the top contenders struggled, including 2008 world champion Bert Grabsch (Germany) and Canada's Svein Tuft. Koos Moerenhout (Netherlands) came close to Rogers, and David Zabriskie finished eighth, despite almost missing his start when the U.S. team showed up for the bike check barely a minute before his start. The American was getting visibly agitated as the clock ticked down to 20 seconds and no bike appeared. He finally got clipped in with about 10 seconds to go.

Millar was fifth from the end, and he started very strongly, setting the fastest opening split, 6.5 seconds ahead of Cancellara. He continued to ride strongly through the rest of the race and become the first rider to crack the one hour mark with a finishing time of 59:11.94.

The Olympic sliver medalist, Gustav Larsson (Sweden) followed, but was never in contention. Tony Martin was next, and was only ten seconds back until a front-wheel puncture late in the first lap slowed him. An impressive final eight-kilometre run saw him pull back 20 seconds on Millar, and move into third. He finished less than ten seconds down on the British rider, so the flat may have meant the difference between bronze and silver.

Martin displaced Australian Richie Porte for the final podium spot, as the pair of young riders battled back and forth, each finishing a shade under the hour. However, the battle for the gold medal was over halfway through the first lap, as the defending world champion pegged back Millar's lead and then inexorably began to pull away.

After 14.7 kilometres he was one second up on Millar, after a full lap it was 11seconds, then 24 seconds, 44 seconds and, finally, over a minute. Once again, Spartacus had decisively answered the question of who is the top man in the race of truth.

The hardest-earned rainbow jersey

"Yeah, I am really happy," Cancellara said afterwards. "I think this might be the hardest one of all the four [wins]. To come here and not be 100% was difficult, but since the Vuelta I started to be really focused on everything I could in order to be 100% for this day and to do whatever I could, which was a 100% performance. This was a really, really hard parcours that, from the beginning, I didn't really expect would be so hard.

"I've learnt a lot from the other years that when people say, 'it looks like this, or that' [that] only when you see it for real you can then say how it really is. Tony [Martin] said before that he also expected a different parcours, so it was the same for everybody, and I did what I had to do, which was to ride 100% perfect. I did a great tactic in not riding too fast in the beginning, because I knew in the end it would be really really hard with the wind and these two climbs.

"It is never easy. People think you can ride with one leg and win easily always, but it is never easy to win bike races. Even when people expect that 'any way, Cancellara is going to win' it is never true. There are always riders that keep going and trying and become a star, and beat me and I have seen also when I came here I have not the same power inside my body. When you win three times already and you come close to four times I had to find another motivation. Today, this motivation was to make history. That was actually the big strength that kept me focused on it. My season is already perfect with the spring and the Tour and now with this victory today. But you can have ups and downs - nobody is perfect - sometimes you can have a bad day. That is part of a human being.

"This was the hardest for sure. I was pretty nervous yesterday, the other day, and this morning, because I have high ambitions on my own and expectations of my own," Cancellara said. "I wasn't 100% for these conditions but sometimes it is not so important to be 100%. To be 100% and make mistakes or not be 100% and make things right from the focus. I pulled out of the Vuelta to focus on this and relax at home before coming to Australia. It is a long travel and takes many days to recover from this jetlag. I think I am getting over that now, and I am really happy to have done what I did today."

For his part, David Millar was content with silver, commenting, "Congratulations to Fabian first. There is no doubt he is a phenomenon. But I came here hoping to get on the podium and that's what I did, so it is a lovely feeling to be actually achieve the objective I was aiming for.

"I felt good. I felt great on the first lap. My tactic was the opposite of Fabian's, it was to attack the first lap and then hang on for dear life. And that's basically what I did. I felt great and even at the first lap with the three climbs, by the end of the last climb I was coming up that the first time and I thought, 'Oh god this is going to hurt the next time round', and it did. It was very hard and I think we can safely say that in the road race that is going to be a hard climb. We suffered enormously just going up it twice. It is a hard course.

"I went a bit slow through a couple of corners, especially on the descent, but I am very happy with my ride. My power was good, everything was good. Unfortunately, I just need to be going faster and stronger to beat Fabian. And corner faster. But I am pleased with my ride and there is nothing I would change about it."



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