Bradley Wiggins wins time trial at Tour of Poland

Sir Bradley Wiggins signalled a return to form with a hugely impressive win in the 37km time trial at the Tour of Poland.

The Brit, who won the Tour de France and Olympic time trial in 2012, recorded a time of 46 minutes and 36 seconds.

He smashed his nearest rival Fabian Cancellara, a four-time world time trial champion, by 56 seconds.

It was the final stage of the week-long race.

The Tour of Poland, now in its 70th year, had been the Team Sky rider's first competitive action since he withdrew part way through the Giro d'Italia in May.

He was unable to defend his Tour de France title, won by Team Sky's Chris Froome, because of a knee injury but his performance in his specialist discipline showed he was back to his best on an undulating course as he recorded his first win of the 2013 season.

"It was a fantastic performance," said Team Sky sports director Dan Hunt. "It was a real lesson in how to time trial. We went out this morning and researched the course and it was obvious that it suited Brad.

"The climbs suited him, the descents suited him and then it was a flying, rolling run-in into Krakow. He absolutely smashed it."

Wiggins is next due to compete in the Eneco Tour in Holland, from 12-18 August. He will then race in the Tour of Britain (15-22 September) with his main focus being the individual time trial at the Road World Championships on 25 September, which are being held in Florence in Italy.

In Poland he was performing mainly domestique duties for Team Sky team-mate Sergio Henao, who was third last year, but finished fifth after the seven stages this time around.

The Netherlands' Pieter Weening, of Orica Greenedge, was the overall winner after a superb time trial. He was 27 seconds behind leader Christophe Riblon before the start of the final stage but overhauled that deficit to win by 13 seconds.

Results of stage seven from Wieliczka to Krakow, 37 km

1. Bradley Wiggins (Britain / Team Sky) 46:36"

2. Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland / RadioShack) +56"

3. Taylor Phinney (U.S. / BMC Racing) +1:14"

4. Marco Pinotti (Italy / BMC Racing) +1:20"

5. Kristof Vandewalle (Belgium / Omega Pharma - Quick-Step) +1:40"

6. Pieter Weening (Netherlands / Orica) +1:44"

7. Jon Izagirre (Spain / Euskaltel) +2:05"

8. Dominik Nerz (Germany / BMC Racing) +2:13"

9. Sergey Chernetsky (Russia / Katusha) +2:15"

10. Rafal Majka (Poland / Saxo - Tinkoff) +2:17"

Final General Classification:

1. Pieter Weening (Orica-GreenEdge)

2. Jon Izaguirre (Euskaltel-Euskadi) at 13"

3. Christophe Riblon (AG2R La Mondiale) at 16"

4. Rafal Majka (Saxo-Tinkoff) at 26"

5. Sergio Henao (Sky Procycling) at 51"

6. Eros Capecchi (Movistar)

7. Domenico Pozzovivo (AG2R La Mondiale)

8. Ivan Basso (Cannondale)

9. Tanel Kangert (Astana)

10. Chris Anker Sörensen (Saxo-Tinkoff)