Bradley Wiggins, the Tour de France champion-in-waiting, had a direct and blunt message for those who continue to doubt the worthiness of his performances in the race that, barring disaster, he is almost certain to win - and he didn't need a swear word to emphasise the point.
In a year in which he has also won the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine stage races, Wiggins (Sky) could not hide his exasperation at the fact that he is still asked whether or not the absence of the likes of last year's runner-up Andy Schleck or the suspended Spaniard Alberto Contador took something away from his feat.
After answering one such question after Thursday's 143.5-kilometre 17th stage from Bagneres-de-Luchon to the ski station of Peyragudes, which was won by Spaniard Alejandro Valverde from the Movistar team, Wiggins said in reference to his own ride: "You do something like that and then you sit somewhere like this.
"That fellow just asked me a question and straightaway it's in a negative sense. After everything I've done this year you still have to justify... 'so you might've won the Tour, but is it ever going to be remembered for these people not being here, this, that and the other'.
Advertisement
"I don't think all the people that came out from the UK to
stand on the climbs for the last couple of weeks give a monkey's about
that."For me in a positive sense, no one's actually praised me yet, saying, 'Actually, he's been there since Tour of Algarve in February, winning races. "You went to Paris-Nice ... you've raced, you've trained, you've answered all the questions of the press all year. You've really taken it on, you came to the Tour as the favourite from Liege [where the Tour started]. I haven't dropped out of the first two [overall] for three weeks now.
"No-one's actually said: 'You know what, Brad, good on you mate. You've answered all these doping questions as articulately as you possibly can'. No-one's actually patted me on the back yet.
"It's all still in a negative sense. 'Don't you reckon it's just because Alberto's not here'. All year, it's 'Have you peaked too early, Brad'?"
Wiggins now appears set to become Britain's first Tour champion when the 3496km race ends on the Champs Elysees in Paris on Sunday afternoon.
His lead heading into Friday's 222.5km 18th stage from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde that includes one-third category and three-fourth category climbs is still two minutes and five seconds on his British teammate Chris Froome (Sky), who is in second place overall. Still in third is Italian Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), but he is now at two minutes and 41 seconds after losing 18 seconds to the leading British pair on the last climb, the Col de Peyresourde.
It was after Nibali was dropped and Wiggins and Froome found themselves closing in on Valverde and within a shot of taking the stage win that the most engaging moment of the race came. Froome was clearly in far better form and several times surged and took space on Wiggins before slowing up to wait. The pair were seen repeatedly talking to each other, and Froome into his race radio with the Sky team car that was following the race.
Wiggins explained the exchange, saying that Froome had wanted to go for the stage win, but not without isolating his leader, Wiggins.
"We were talking about Nibali. We said 'he's nailed, he's finished'. We knew at that point he wasn't going to be attacking on the last climb, which we feared all day; we knew at some point he wanted to win the stage," Wiggins said.
"We were then talking about the time gap to Valverde because Chris really wanted to win the stage today. We weren't sure of the time gap and then we hit the last climb and that's when we were on the front. Chris came past and that's when all the gaps opened up again.
"I heard on the radio that we were alone, just the two of us. It surprised me a little bit, I didn't realise they didn't have much left, the rest of the group.
"At that point, the first time in this whole Tour since I've led this race, I thought maybe I've just won the Tour.
"That moment I went over with Chris, all the fight went out of the window, everything to do with the performance. And that's when it starts getting hard then because you lose concentration. It was an incredible feeling. It really was."
That allowed Valverde to solo across the finish line and win the stage by 19 seconds from Froome and Wiggins, who finished together in second and third places, followed by a strung out peloton that numbered 153 riders by the time the last major mountains of the Tour were passed.
Australia's Cadel Evans (BMC) was again dropped by Wiggins et al - this time with 8.2km to go - and finished 18th on the stage at two minutes and 10 seconds.
However, Evans - last year's Tour champion who fell out of podium contention on Wednesday - saw his overall position move up by one to sixth place at nine minutes and 57 seconds to Wiggins, as Spaniard Haimar Zubeldia (RadioShack-Nissan) dropped from fifth place overnight to seventh at 10 minutes and 11 seconds.
For Valverde (Movistar), his win was fifth for this season in which he has returned from a doping ban.
His comeback season this year began at the Tour Down Under in South Australia in January when he won the stage to Willunga Hill.
没有评论:
发表评论