Wearing the British Champions jersey, Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins, more known for his time trialing or mountain climbing, showed he can sprint as well after powering to a sensational victory on stage one of the Tour of Romandie.
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The victory sees him take over the yellow jersey from his teammate Geraint Thomas, who won the prologue but finished the stage over seven minutes down.
Wiggins victory was one of those pass me if you dare efforts after he started his sprint with still 400 metres to go and held on to win the stage in a bunch kick of 60 riders. Although Wiggins finished behind teammate Michael Rogers in the prologue, his bonus for winning saw him take the lead of the GC and he now has a seven second lead over the Australian.
The win for Wiggins was made all the more remarkable by a puncture with 25k to go when Team Sky were controlling the pace of the peloton. That all stopped as they waited for the team captain and paced him back to the front before resuming normal service in trying to control a peloton that was by now out of control.
Wiggins said afterwards: “I had a lot of adrenaline after I punctured with 25k to go. When that happened, the boys dropped back for me and did a fantastic job. Then in the finale, I was kind of on my own and marshalling everything and I just wanted to pay them back for everything they’d done. They were incredible and I’ve got them to thank and it was really nice to be able to finish it off like that.”
“I went a bit early and had to sit down to rest for a bit and then went again but it was good to get the win! I want to win Romandie, that’s for sure. I’ll take what I can every day and it’s really nice to win a sprint like this because normally I only ever really win time trials.”
The stage was one for the riders who could climb a bit, like Wiggins, with two mountain passes for the riders to get over before the sprint for the line. These climbs saw many riders distanced. As well as Thomas, Mark Cavendish also finished well back in 150th. The stage saw four riders get away early, Martin Kohler (BMC), Kenny De Haes (Lotto-Belisol), Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) and Angelo Tulik (Europcar). Working well together, they opened up a good lead before the gap started to fall and the attacking started in earnest. It was to no avail though and 60 riders contested the finish and only one, Wiggins, had a reason to celebrate along with the majority of cycling fans in the UK.
Sean Yates said afterwards “The team worked really well. With Brad’s incident in the last 20k, we needed some strong guys to get him back in the game and they were there for him. I think that motivated him and, he said it himself, to give it a go. If you don’t try then you don’t know. He tried and he won so it’s another 10 seconds in the bag for GC, plus the stage and the jersey to boot.”
“It’s a good day for the team. We’ve just got to keep our feet on the ground and continue as we are – plugging away. We came here for the GC and we’ve won the first two stages. Other teams will be looking at us even more now. It’s not easy.
“The stage was up for grabs. It was evident the climb was hard and guys were all over the place. It was pretty much a free-for-all, certainly in the final 15k. The evidence was there on TV as everyone was having a go. It’s only going to get harder from here on in.â€
RESULTS
1. Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling 04:50:23
2. Lieuwe Westra Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
3. Paolo Tiralongo Astana Pro Team @ same time
4. Tejay Van Garderen BMC Racing Team @ same time
5. Maciej Paterski Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
6. Vasil Kiryienka Movistar Team @ same time
7. Serge Pauwels Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
8. Daniele Pietropolli Lampre – ISD @ same time
9. Ryder Hesjedal Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
10. Pieter Weening GreenEdge Cycling Team @ same time
11. Rob Ruijgh Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
12. Egoi Martinez De Esteban Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
13. Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team @ same time
14. Gorka Verdugo Marcotegui Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
15. Steve Morabito BMC Racing Team @ same time
16. Thomas Rohregger RadioShack – Nissan @ same time
17. Bauke Mollema Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
18. Mikel Landa Meana Euskaltel – Euskadi @ same time
19. Janez Brajkovic Astana Pro Team @ same time
20. Ruben Plaza Molina Movistar Team @ same time
Other selected riders
21. Daniel Martin Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
34. Thomas De Gendt Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
38. Johnny Hoogerland Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
42. Andr̩as Kl̦den RadioShack РNissan @ same time
55. Ivan Basso Liquigas – Cannondale @ same time
57. Michael Rogers Sky Procycling @ same time
61. Richie Porte Sky Procycling @ same time
117. Geraint Thomas Sky Procycling 07:22
118. Matthew Brammeier Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
148. Christopher Froome Sky Procycling 11:17
150. Mark Cavendish Sky Procycling @ same time
Overall
1. Bradley Wiggins Sky Procycling 04:53:51
2. Michael Rogers Sky Procycling 00:07
3. Bauke Mollema Rabobank Cycling Team 00:09
4. Stef Clement Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
5. Andrew Talansky Garmin – Barracuda 00:11
6. Wilco Kelderman Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
7. David Zabriskie Garmin – Barracuda 00:12
8. Simon Spilak Katusha Team @ same time
9. Ruben Plaza Molina Movistar Team @ same time
10. Tiago Machado RadioShack – Nissan 00:13
14. Luis Leon Sanchez Gil Rabobank Cycling Team @ same time
21. Andr̩as Kl̦den RadioShack РNissan @ same time
23. Thomas De Gendt Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @ same time
31. Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team 00:21
38. Daniel Martin Garmin – Barracuda @ same time
50. Ivan Basso Liquigas – Cannondale 00:26
57. Richie Porte Sky Procycling @ 28
65. Johnny Hoogerland Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team @35
113. Geraint Thomas Sky Procycling 07:23
126. Matthew Brammeier Omega Pharma – Quickstep @ same time
148. Mark Cavendish Sky Procycling 11:24
