Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins is the new leader of the Critérium du Dauphiné after an outstanding display in the stage three time trial.
Photo: Graham Watson
The British time trial champion was second on the stage, 11 seconds behind winner Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad), but he finished well ahead of his rivals on the general classification. Wiggins had started the day 11 seconds behind race leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) but took two minutes and seven seconds out of him on the 42.5 kilometres course around Grenoble, which will also be used for the penultimate stage of next month’s Tour de France.
It all means that Wiggins now leads the overall standings by one minute and 11 seconds from Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) halfway through the eight-day race. Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) is third, a further 10 seconds back, with Vinokourov down to fourth.
And on a day to remember for Team Sky third place on the podium went to Edvald Boasson Hagen, who finished 43 seconds behind Martin, while Geraint Thomas was seventh. That jumped him into sixth on the GC and put him second in the young rider standings while Wiggins also tops the points classification.
Bradley Wiggins speaking to Team Sky website: “It was good and I’m happy with that but it’s just ever so slightly tinged with disappointment that we didn’t win the stage. But you get greedy and I knew at the top of the last climb that I was way clear of the GC rivals and that was the priority today. I couldn’t afford to take the risk on the descent and subsequently lost the stage but took the jersey by a considerable chunk which was the goal so it was a great day really.”
“I’m obviously there to be shot at now and I’m sure they are going to have a good go at me so we’ll just do the best we can. It’s all about preparation for July and there’s still more to come but I’ll be giving it everything through to Sunday to defend it and fight to the end.”
“I’ve proved today that I’ve got the legs so we’ll just take it day by day and enjoy the day in yellow tomorrow which should arrive in a sprint. And then Friday, Saturday and Sunday it’s the real stuff. But it’s brilliant to be in this position and what a contrast to a year ago, it’s fantastic.”
Sean Yates, Team Sky Sports Director: “It was a good effort all round. Bradley produced a superb ride to take that jersey and it was nice to witness it. That’s given him real time gaps to his rivals though Cadel actually finished pretty strongly.”
“We came here for the GC with Bradley, that was the plan. We’re leading it at the moment so obviously that means we are going to have to do some work as a team the riders will be more than happy now to do the hard work needed to defend that jersey.”
Results
Stage 3 – Grenoble time trial, 42.5km
STAGE RESULT
1 Tony Martin (HTC-Highroad) 55m 27s
2 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) (+11s)
3 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Team Sky) (+43s)
LATEST OVERALL STANDINGS
1 Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) 8h 41m 37s
2 Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) (+1m 11s)
3 Janez Brajkovic (RadioShack) (+1m 21s)
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