Tony Martin won the World Championships time trial in Copenhagen on Wednesday, beating Bradley Wiggins and the king, four-time winner, Fabian Cancellara.
"It's a wonderful feeling," he told Cycling Weekly. "For the moment, I don't realise I have it. I think I need some hours on my own."
Germany's Martin was the clear winner today with over a minute on Wiggins and Swiss and defending champion, Cancellara. He led through all the time checks, covering the two 23.2-kilometre circuits (46.4km) in 53 minutes and 43.85 seconds.
After finishing with a bronze medal the last two years, he finally has gold. He agreed that it was a perfect ride.
"It was a really good race," he added. "In the last K I was going slow, trying not to take too much risk because I knew I had time, I was not allowed to crash."
Martin is the third German to win the Worlds time trial - an event which was added in 1994, when British rider Chris Boardman won. Martin pulled on the rainbow jersey in front of a roaring crowd, which doubled in size compared to the women's event yesterday. They cheered most of the day, which only saw a few showers.
He said that he was happy it stayed dry, especially being concerned about the cobblestones leading past the royal family's palace.
"It's a wonderful feeling" to put on the rainbow jersey," he explained. "For the moment, I don't really realise I have it on. I think I need some hours on my own."
Martin won every time trial he competed in this season with HTC-Highroad, barring only the German championships, where he was second to Bert Grabsch and the Tour of Romandy, where he placed fifth behind winner David Zabriskie.
Next year, he races for Belgian team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step.
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