Wiggins’ work rewarded with relief on Tour
BRITAIN’S Bradley Wiggins admitted his great relief after yesterday retaining the Tour de France’s yellow jersey and extending his overall lead in another promising day for Team Sky.
At 2 minutes and 5 seconds behind Wiggins, compatriot and team-mate Chris Froome is now in second place after defending champion Cadel Evans dropped to fourth, while Italy’s steadily improving Vincenzo Nibali takes third. Yesterday’s stage, the race’s 11th, was won by the Frenchman Pierre Rolland of the Europcar team.
“When we got to the last climb, with about 5km to go, the relief started to come that we were almost at the finish,” said Wiggins.
“Once Cadel had got dropped and we were in that little group, the sense of relief was slightly overwhelming that we’ve actually got through the stage.
“And to have taken more time off Cadel, which I don’t think we really expected in the morning.”