Bradley Wiggins produced a sensational ride to claim overall victory at the Tour de Romandie after winning the final stage time trial.
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The Brit secured his second stage race victory of the year by 12 seconds after battling back from a mechanical issue out on course, replicating his success at Paris-Nice.
Despite briefly dropping his chain at the beginning of the climb at Crans-Montana, Wiggins regrouped to set the fastest time at the intermediate split and clock a final time of 28 minutes and 56 seconds.
That time was seven tenths of a second quicker than rival Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Barracuda) with Team Sky’s Richie Porte rounding out the podium places on the day, 16 seconds back to elevate him to fourth overall.
Michael Rogers also capped an impressive race with fifth on the general classification to ensure not only a glut of WorldTour points, but the race’s team classification went the way of Team Sky in addition to two stage wins earlier in the week.
Bradley Wiggins: “It’s really nice to finish it off in a time trial on the last day for the boys. I think in terms of pressure I’ve got to grips with that now. But I had a super-strong team this week and they’ve put me in this position going into this final time trial just nine seconds down.”
“I think the whole race saw how strong they were this week and without them I wouldn’t have been able to finish the job today. So I’m delighted to win the time trial and seal the GC to pay them back. You know you’re in a great team when you’ve got the world champion (Mark Cavendish) riding for you on the front.â€
Dave Brailsford, Team Sky Team Principal: “Obviously Bradley is now demonstrating that he can perform at the highest level in these races, but I think more importantly, from my perspective, is I’m interested in how the overall team performs. Not just the riders but the backroom staff. I’m very pleased with the week in Switzerland.”
“We’ve had a flawless performance on the bike. People don’t see it but it’s becoming a well-oiled machine both on the road and off the road. That’s very pleasing and people are really starting to establish themselves in their roles.”
“The other key thing was that there was a lot of discussion pre-race about Bradley and Mark riding together. Obviously that has been a positive and I think when you see Mark riding on the front up a second category climb it tells you more than any words can.â€
Stage five – Crans-Montana (individual time trial), 16.5km
STAGE RESULT
1 – Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – Team Sky – (4:50:23)
2 – Andrew Talansky (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda – (s.t)
3 – Richie Porte (AUS) – Team Sky – (+17)
OVERALL STANDINGS
1 – Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – Team Sky – (18:05:40)
2 – Andrew Talansky (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda – (+12)
3 – Rui Costa (POR) – Movistar – (+36)
