Tony Martin has named reigning Tour de France champion Chris Froome as his favourite for this summer’s Olympic Games time trial. Martin and Froome were on the podium in London four years ago with the German taking silver ahead of Froome’s bronze. Bradley Wiggins won the event.
Back then the course was somewhat flat in comparison to the course in Rio, with only a few undulations to deal with. In Rio de Janeiro later this year, the riders will face a much more challenging prospect with two loops of a hilly course. Martin is no slouch on a climb however, perhaps more so after his disappointment in the time trial at the World Championships last year, he knows that he is up against it and taking home a medal will be a victory within itself.
“I think that the podium will be different from the Olympics to the Worlds. My big favourite is Froome for the Olympics, Dumoulin and hopefully me,” Martin told the press at an Etixx-QuickStep training camp in Calpe, Spain.
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“It’s hard to say because it isn’t really a classic time trial. It’s more for climbers. There are a few guys who can really go for the medals.”
For Martin, it is the World Championships in Qatar this October, that provides him with his best opportunity of a title. A victory there would be his fourth, putting him equal with Fabian Cancellara for the number of time trial world titles. Cancellara is yet to decide if he will ride the time trial at the Worlds in his final season but he could be in competition with Martin for the title.
Martin believes that there is a big number of riders that could walk away with the title but he has some extra motivation after missing out so drastically in Richmond four months ago.
“First of all I want to show that I’m back in the Worlds after losing so hard last year. We’ve changed a lot and I really want to show that I’m back in business,” said Martin. “For the Worlds, there are guys like Dumoulin, Cancellara, Malori was strong last year, and me. I think it’s more open in the last years.”
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