Adriano Malori goes into the World Championships in excellent condition after he helped Alejandro Valverde finish on the podium and won the final time trial. Having now turned his attention to the races in Ponferrada, he targets a pair of top 5 results in the team and individual time trials.

2014 has been a bit of a breakthrough year for Adriano Malori. Having always been known as a strong time triallist, the Italian has stepped up his level and is now able to beat the biggest specialists in the discipline.

That’s what he did in Tirreno-Adriatico earlier this year when he won the final stage, relegating Fabian Cancellara, Bradley Wiggins and Tony Martin to the minor positions. Most recently, he won the final time trial of the Vuelta a Espana to add a grand tour stage to his palmares.

The individual time trial was not Malori’s only stage win in the Vuelta. The Italian was also part of the Movistar team that won the opening team time trial and as he has been selected for both time trials at the World Championships, he goes into the battle for the global honours with two medals within reach.

In the team time trial, he will line up alongside Andrey Amador, Alex Dowsett, Imanol Erviti, Jasha Sütterlin and Ion Izagirre, forming a very strong block of time triallists. Having just done a recon of the course, he remains upbeat about their chances.

“It will be a very fast course, maybe for teams that have heavy men for the flats,” he told CyclingQuotes in Ponferrada, “It is not so technical. The average speed could be 52-53kph, so fast.

“We have a good team, with me, Alex, Andrey. For sure, we can fight for the top 5, maybe the third place. It will be hard. In a TTT, the most important is that everybody has good legs. Luckily, all our riders have good form.”

On Wednesday, he will try to improve on last year’s 8th place in the time trial. Despite his recent victory, however, he keeps his feet firmly on the ground and doesn’t set his expectations too high.

“I hope for a top 5,” he said. “If someone like Wiggins, Martin or Dumoulin has a bad day, I could maybe fight for the podium. My main target is the top 5.”

Malori has mainly performed in shorter time trials but last year he did well at the Worlds too. This provides with him confidence when he tackled Wednesday’s race.

“I am not afraid about it [the distance],” he said. “Last year in Florence, I was 8th and I was not as strong as last year. I feel a lot stronger.”

Malori is more than just a time triallist. In the Vuelta, he was climbing better than ever and he is a past winner of the Bayern Rundfahrt. This year he targeted the overall in the Dubai Tour and the Volta ao Algarve and next year he hopes to improve his performances in stage races.

“I am lucky to be one of the best climbers among the time triallists,” he said. “This year I tried to go for short stage races twice. Next year I may try again. I only want to be better but I don’t have an actual target.”