The favourites for the Elite Individual Time Trial at the UCI World Championships are Fabian Cancellara, Tony Martin, and Sir Bradley Wiggins. Otherwise known as Spartacus, Der Panzerwagen, and umm, Wiggo. Join us for live updates from 10.30pm AEST.
The anticipation has been building for months. The skinsuits, aero helmets and enormous chainrings are ready for action.
The course is 57.9km long, nearly pancake flat, and has almost no technical challenges. This will be a contest decided on power output.
Cancellara is the master, a three-time world champion in this event. He has had one of his best seasons for years, dominating the Classics, winning Paris-Roubaix for the third time, his second Tour of Flanders, and E3 Harelbeke.
This season he won the individual time trials at the Vuelta a Espana and the Tour of Austria, and is Swiss national champion.
Cancellara’s form in the Vuelta was ominous, and he appears to be again peaking at the right time for this race.
If Cancellara is the master, then Martin is not far behind him in this discipline. He is the reigning world champion, having won this title in 2011 and 2012.
Fresh from leading his Omega Pharma-Quickstep team to gold in the team time trial on Sunday, Martin’s biggest win of the year is probably stage 11 of the Tour de France.
Martin rode strongly in the Vuelta, finishing second to Cancellara in the time trial, but producing one of the most brilliant rides of the Vuelta in Stage 6, nearly stealing the stage with an astonishing solo effort.
Wiggins is the Olympic champion, defeated Cancellara in the time trial at the Tour of Poland (over a much hillier course) and has spent the latter half of this season focusing on his time trialling ability.
In fact, Wiggins’ chances are the biggest unknown quantity here – the damp squib of his poor early season form, disappointing Giro and missing the Tour seems to have dried out, and the confident Wiggins has re-emerged.
Of course, winning the Tour of Britain overall last week on the back of a decisive time trial victory gives him some reason to be confident. His preparation has been laser-focused on this event.
Beyond these three, the other main favourites include Taylor Phinney (USA), Alex Dowsett (GBR), Adriano Malori (ITA), Sylvain Chavanel (FRA), Jonathan Castroviejo (ESP) and Bert Grabsch (GER).
Australia is represented by Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis.
Porte is well known as a strong time triallist, but perhaps a level below the absolute best – he was fourth in the first ITT at the Tour de France, seventh at the Dauphine and Tour de Romandie, fourth at Pais Vasco, and first at both the Criterium International and Paris-Nice.
Dennis has been one of the revelations of the season, his first at World Tour level.
Dennis won a silver medal at the U23 world ITT championships in 2012, an Olympic silver medal in the team pursuit on the track, and his step up to the top ranks this year with Garmin-Sharp has been super impressive.
His second place in the ITT at the Dauphiné (behind Martin, but ahead of Chris Froome, Castroviejo, and Porte) followed third in the time trial at the Tour of California.
His overall win at the Tour of Alberta was another fantastic result, and a strong performance today would lock him in as one of the top neo-pros in the peloton.
Both Porte and Dennis are in with an outside chance of a medal, but I can’t go past the big three at the top.
We’ll be live-blogging as soon as TV coverage starts at 10.30pm AEST, so come back and join in the discussion.
Tim Renowden
Expert
That's all from me - thanks for reading and good night!
Tim Renowden
Expert
Well done to Rohan Dennis for a very strong performance in his first senior world championships. Richie Porte also a solid performance. It will be fascinating to see how Porte in particular performs in the road race. Cancellara has said he feels he can win the road race, so another chance for him perhaps on Sunday.
Tim Renowden
Expert
So the podium went as predicted, and Tony Martin wins his third consecutive world time trial championship. Top 10: 1. Martin 2. Wiggins 3. Cancellara 4. Kiryienka 5. Phinney 6. Quaade 7. Pinotti 8. Malori 9. Larsson 10. Siutsou
Tim Renowden
Expert
Sorry for the delay, my broadband connection dropped out at the worst possible moment! Tony Martin dominated the race to win by a massive 46"! Wiggins overhauled a fading Cancellara to grab the silver on the line. Rohan Dennis 12th Richie Porte 17th
Tim Renowden
Expert
Tony Martin wins! Wiggins second Cancellara third.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Wiggins finishes 1st - 39" ahead of Kiryienka
Tim Renowden
Expert
Malori is 4th. Phinney next to finish, who is in Wiggins' sights. He's still 2nd fastest!
Tim Renowden
Expert
Can Cancellara find a couple of seconds in the final kilometres? Can Wiggins hold him off?
Tim Renowden
Expert
Porte finishes in 12th.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Tony Martin is 42" in the lead, but WIGGINS HAS GONE AHEAD OF CANCELLARA!!
Tim Renowden
Expert
Chavanel finishes 16th. Wiggins now just 1 second behind Cancellara.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Cancellara is out of the saddle sprinting to get it up to speed as he races along the river. He looks desperate.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Castroviejo of Spain finishes 9th.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Cancellara has 3" on Wiggins. Cancellara is using the whole road as he rides through the centre of Florence.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Pinotti crosses the line in 3rd - very good ride!
Tim Renowden
Expert
Wiggins only 4" behind Cancellara according to GPS. Martin still 32" in front of Cancellara.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Kiryienka goes a massive 1'10" faster than Quaade! Absolutely mashing a huge gear all the way to the line.
Tim Renowden
Expert
Real arm wrestle between Wiggo and Spartacus. Or leg wrestle. Professional cyclists arm wrestling probably wouldn't be that exciting.
Tim Renowden
Expert
6". 7".
Tim Renowden
Expert
5"