Team Sky duo Bradley
Wiggins and Chris Froome currently occupy the top two places in the overall
Tour de France standings. Chris Froome
cleared the air that he will be riding to orders to help ensure that his team
leader becomes the first British rider to win the Tour de France.
Although that sounds like the last word on the
matter, it is entirely dependent on this week's events. Elsewhere in the
interview Froome indicated the extent of his ambition and his desire to be
treated as a potential Tour winner sooner rather than later. Team Sky's
strategy this month, which has roots going back four years, is to maximise
Wiggins's talents and minimise his weaknesses in order to put him on the top
step of the podium in Paris next Sunday.
Wiggins is currently 2min 5sec ahead of Froome,
who sits just behind him in the general classification, and the Sky leader can
expect to take a further two minutes out of his principal rivals – Cadel Evans
and Vincenzo Nibali – in next Saturday's penultimate stage, a 53.5km time trial
in which the final order will be determined before the ceremonial procession
into Paris.
After finishing second in last year's Vuelta an
Espana, a race he might have won but for Sky's tactical confusion, and
attracting interest from other top teams, Froome signed a new – and very
lucrative – four-year contract with the British outfit. For the moment Sky are
perfectly placed with their leader and his first lieutenant at the top of the
standings heading into the final week.
Bradley Wiggins,
Britain’s Tour de France leader, was christened “Le Gentleman” by the French
media on Sunday after the race came under attack from saboteurs and Wiggins
slowed the peloton in order to help a key rival. The yellow-jersey group, about 50 strong, had just
crested the main climb of the day, the Mur de Pegure, when reigning champion
Cadel Evans experienced the first of three rapid punctures as unidentified
spectators scattered the road with tacks. This was an extraordinarily reckless
action given that it took place just before a descent on which riders would
reach almost 70mph.
Wiggins,
riding alongside one of his leading rivals, Vincenzo Nibali, immediately
ordered the peloton to slow down, initially because he felt that Evans deserved
a chance to regain contact, but also with the growing and scary realisation
that other riders were similarly suffering punctures at an alarming rate.
Then
Wiggins himself suffered a mechanical failure and had to change bikes, and was
quickly paced back to the bunch which slowed to a crawl before the organisers
officially neutralised racing, allowing Evans and others to comfortably regain
contact before the end of the stage. Those ahead in the break were allowed to
race on, with Luis Leon Sanchez claiming the win.
After the
race, team directors reported that 30 of the key group had suffered punctures,
or had arrived at the finish with tacks in their tyres. Four Tour cars and
three motorbikes also either had punctures or tacks embedded in their wheels.
