Wiggins All Smiles, And Feeling Confident
by Justin Davis
PAU, France, July 17, 2012 (AFP) – For Bradley Wiggins, legendary climbs
like the Tourmalet or the Aubisque don’t have names: they are simply stretches
of uphill road standing between him and an historic Tour de France victory
Sunday.
Wiggins, the stand-out stage racer for the past year, will take a 2min
05sec lead over Sky teammate Chris Froome into the last two climbing stages of
the race when it resumes on Wednesday.
With Italian Vincenzo Nibali in third at 2:23 and defending champion Cadel
Evans of Australia even further off the pace, a British one-two on the Champs
Elysees now looks likely.
First, however, comes two tough days in the Pyrenees.
On stage 16 the peloton tackles the Col d’Aubisque, the Col du Tourmalet,
the Col d’Aspin and the Col de Peyresourde on the way to a downhill finish in
Bagneres-de-Luchon.
Stage 17 begins in Bagneres-de-Luchon and takes in four climbs including
the 11.7 km hike over the Port de Bales, before finishing with a 15.4 km
ascension to Peyragudes.
For Wiggins, who grew up idolising Spaniard Miguel Indurain — the first
rider to win the race five times consecutively — all notions of romance have
to be shelved as he concentrates on the job at hand.
“It doesn’t matter what the climb is called. It’s just a name at the end of
the day,” he said on the race’s second rest day Tuesday.
“At this stage of the Tour, whatever they put in front of you… ultimately
it boils down to the same thing — if you haven’t got it physically you’re
going to get dropped on a day like yesterday.”
While some in the race will be hoping for Wiggins to come under attack from
Evans, Nibali and a few others, he is not about to change Team Sky’s winning
formula so far for Wednesday’s epic.
“I don’t think it’s any more difficult than any other stage we’ve done to
this stage,” said Wiggins.
“We could sit here all day talking about scenarios… but we just see how
it plays out on the road ultimately.
“Ultimately, it’s about going out there tomorrow and averaging 400 watts
(of power) for whatever climb, climb after climb, and re-hydrating, and
re-fuelling on the bike and that’s what ultimately wins you bike races.”
Sky’s impressive pace-setting in the mountains has effectively left Evans
and Nibali struggling to sustain the rare attacks they have thrown at the
Briton.
Not surprisingly, Wiggins says he has nothing to fear.
“I don’t really fear anything. It’s just a case of going out and doing the
performance. What is there to fear? At the end of the day it’s just a bike
race,” he said.
“We’ll go out there, do what we’ve done every day this year and whatever
happens, happens.”
Having dropped to fourth overall at 3:19, Evans — an historic champion
last year after twice finishing runner-up — appears to have conceded defeat.
“They ride a continuous tempo that’s leaving the climbers pretty empty when
they get to the final. It’s making it difficult to do stuff,” he said.
As he prepares to start his ninth day in yellow on Wednesday, Wiggins had a
word of encouragement for his rival.
“He’s not given up once. He fights until the end of the line. And that’s
something to be admired,” added the Englishman.
“A lesser man would have thrown in the towel, climbed off because he wasn’t
going to win. He’s remained dignified and ever day he’s gone out there as
though he’s still leading this race.”
