Bradley Wiggins, The First Brit to Win the Tour de France

Bradley Wiggins of the British Sky team created history yesterday (Sunday the 22 July 2012) by becoming the first British winner of theTour de France.  Wiggins who came a surprise 4 th in the event in 2010 but crashed out early in last year’s race, had set the 2012 event as his big chance with a course that played to his strengths he went in as the favourite and from day one he didn’t disappoint.

Bradley Wiggins First British Rider to Win The Tour de France

 

On paper and going into the event it was thought of as a  two-man battle between Wiggins and defending champion Australian Cadel Evans. However Bradley took the ascendance from the prologue in Liège where his second place behind Fabian Cancellera was more than enough to mean Cadel was left chasing.  And Cadel did fight for nearly two weeks but it was a losing battle and the Australian eventually finished way off the pace.

 

That left  Wiggins teammate Chris Froome as his closest rival, and despite a few surges in the mountains and some twitter cat fighting from the spouses the super domestic played an excellent support role to his captain. Froome  finish second overall to match his best grand tour ride of second place in the Tour of Spain last year. Froome was 3:21 in arrears to Wiggin’s at Paris the difference between the two men in the TT’s .

 

Vincenzo Nibali, was third overall, but had made a great race of it attacking in the mountains at every opportunity, but he found it tough-going against such a well drilled Sky machine and on the time-trial-friendly parcours.  However he did became the first Italian to step onto the podium since Ivan Basso in 2005. His team mate Peter Sagan also had a great tour winning 3 stages and easily winning the Green Jersey as best sprinter.

 

The Polka Dot jersey went to Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of the French Eurocar team to give the host nation plenty to cheer about.

 

Mark Cavendish who had a very quiet tour in the first couple of weeks (by his standards) looked to be on course for the olympic road race, he was clearly the fastest sprinter in the last couple of days winning both Friday and Sunday’s stages, who would bet against him if next Sundays event comes to a bunch finish?

 

And despite being ravaged by injury and bad luck, Team Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda managed to keep the British flag flying and salvage some pride when David Millar won a stage.

Seven stage wins and the overall on GC for the British who would of thought that even 2 years ago?

Castelli sponsored Garmin Sharp Pulling out all the Stops for Tour de France TT

The final round in this years Tour de France before the finish in Paris. What will come out of this 53.5 km time trial on rather flattish terrain – all of which will be really tough?

Three weeks into the race, 53.5 km are a long way to go in a time trial. This is where the likes ofDavid Millar and David Zabriskie, of the Garmin-Sharp-Barracuda Team get to show their worth as true TT specialists. Both are among the few riders in the world who can turn big gears consistently over a long distance.

WHAT GARMINS SPEED SPECIALISTS WILL BE WEARING:
Everything that we have learned about cheating the wind has been poured into these products. Like our signature Body Paint bibshort, the BodyPaint Speed Suit is engineered around the same principle of using a single, seamless piece of fabric to construct the fastest and best-fitting time-trialing advantage possible.

The Aero Race Shoe Covers have been cut to reduce the drag around the shoe and lower ankle. Their cuffs come up quite high (to the bottom of the calf) in order to increase the aero benefits. At the rear an aero mesh insert has been added to aid in the separation of smooth air. The Aero Race glove is form fitting and long in the cuff for great aerodynamics on the part of your body that slices the wind first.

Ready for the race of truth: Tour Stage 19, Bonneval to Chartres: 53.5km Time Trial.

Bradley Wiggins, A Town Called Paris tribute song

Tour de France Weekend Review

Friday saw the fourth British stage win when David Millar of the Garmin Sharp Team took the honours in a breakaway sprint.

Stage 13 saw strong winds and a steep but small climb destroy the hopes of some of the sprinters but on the line it came down to the two most prolific stars of the 2 weeks so far with Peter Sagan just being pipped to the line by  Andre Greipel in a photo finish

Stage 14 saw controversy with the staged sabotaged resulting in the main field rolling in together over 18 min down on the winner following over 30 punctures caused by tacks thrown on the road. However upfront that man again Peter Sagan took another podium spot beaten this time by Luis Leon Sanchez . Sagan might not be the fastest sprinter but he’s a fighter and deserves his green jersey.

Stage 11 Tour de France video

It was an epic battle on the climbs of stage 11 enjoy the (french) video as for the second day running Eurocar claim the victory.

 

Tour de France Stage 10 Voeckler Heroics As French Get Second Stage Win

Thomas Voeckler, was the star of the day, as he produced another of his heroic rides in the high mountains to gain not only the Polka Dot jersey of best climber but also held on in an agonising slow motion sprint to hold off the remaining 3 riders from the early break-away. And a fast charging Jens Voigt who made the catch on the days final descent but had nothing left in the closing 1000m

“I’m 33 years old and this is my 10th tour, so I fully appreciate what is happening to me. I knew that the King of the Mountains jersey was possible, but I wanted to win the stage,” said Voeckler. “No one would help me push on the climbs, they just sat on my wheel. That annoyed me, but it also inspired me. Coming into the finish, I waited for my moment and then went. When I crossed that line, I felt such a rush. My knees hurt, everything hurts, but I couldn’t give up.”

In the race for yellow it seemed Sky and Bradley Wiggins where in control all day, although Nibali did managed to escape on the technical descent of the Grand Colombier, and when he linked up with Peter Sagan (who had gone very early in order to defend his green jersey at the intermediate sprint) it looked like a tour defining moment especially as the gap quickly grew to over a minute  but Sky slowly pulled them back. Cadel then tried an attack on the short final climb and led the yellow jersey group over the line but he failed to gain even a second and at the end of the day the top 5 places and time gaps remained unchanged.

Tour de France Rest Day; More Funny Cycling Moments

The rest day at the Tour always brings controversy and media speculation, So here is a selection of  cycling humour courtesy as always from YouTube..

Wiggins Shows No Mercy; Stage 9 Tour de France 2012

Race leader Bradley Wiggins won the first TT of the 2012 Tour de France in a time of 51:24 over the 41.5km course. It was maybe a small surprise  to some that Bradley dominated so strongly, but an even bigger surprise was that his team mate and mountain super domestique Chris Froome was a stunning second overall  at 35 seconds. The result has moved Froome up to third in the general classification and strengthened Wiggins’s grip on yellow.

Defending champion Cadel Evans lost time at every time check point and  finishing 6th, on the day down 1:43 . Vincenzo Nibali the other main GC contender, who started the day in third place overall,  now lies 4th .

“I’m just really pleased with how I put the day together, mentally, too. The noise when I rolled off the ramp was incredible and not letting that phase me and not going out too hard. So I’m just really satisfied with how I put the whole day together an that’s what I’ve been focusing. So at the moment it’s just relief and pride in myself for doing that,” Wiggins said.

“When I get back tonight, that when you start thinking about the context of how it fits into the whole Tour and everything. Numbers are being thrown around, you got this on Cadel, this on him but at the moment it’s a lot to take in.”

It would seem Sky are in an excellent position, there may well be still  two weeks of racing to go, but it already seems to be Wiggin’ s race to lose. And even if the worst should befall the englishman, having Chris Froome sat in 3rd position and the fact he can climb and time trial with the best in the world leaves Sky in a very envious position.

 

Tour de France Weekend Round Up

Stage 6

The big news of Stage 6 was a crash approx 25km from the finish which affected about half the peleton. Worst affected was Garmin Sharp most of the team coming down and Giro winner and GC hope Ryder Hesjedal eventually retiring to his injuries. The stage was won by new sprint sensation and Green jersey wearer Peter Sagan.

Stage 7

The hills started today and for the first time the GC was reshaped. Sky rider Chris  Froome took the stage after mashelling Bradley Wiggins to the sumit, Bradley took Yellow with Cadel Evans now in Second spot and Vincenzo Nibali in 3rd..

Stage 8

A hard day with 7 categorised climbs saw a home win for the youngest rider in the tour Frenchman Thibaut Pinot of FDJ won the stage following a lone break, Cadel Evans bought home the lead group 26 seconds back but failed to gain any time on Bradley Wiggins who retains his lead.

Tour De France Stage 5 Greipel Wins, Cav struggles, Sagen Crashes

Andre Greipel won the bunch sprint on stage five for his second consecutive stage win. He took advantage of a flat and fast run-in and a hard working team, then paced his sprint perfectly to pass  Matthew Goss on the line, third place went to JJ Haedo.

“I’m happy because I won another stage in the Tour ” “There was a bit of a crash and I was behind it at 3k to go, but Greg Henderson was waiting for me. The Lotto Belisol train was working perfectly today. It was a hard sprint, I think it was one of the hardest sprints I’ve ever done.”

So again we saw a crash in the final 3km  with points leader Peter Sagan  crashing heavily as he hit a downed bike in front of him.

Team Sky looked to have learn’t a lesson from yesterdays run in placing the full team at the front looking to set up Mark Cavendish but despite not being troubled by the days crash Mark (who may of been suffering for his crash yesterday) Never looked in contention and despite being on Greipel’s wheel lost ground in the final meters crossing the line in 4th place.