Bradley Wiggins to lead Team Sky Procycling in the Vuelta a Espana 2011
Bradley Wiggins who had to abandon the Tour de France, 2011 at stage seven because of a broken collarbone will be seen in action at the Vuelta a Espana starting this month. He was leading the team Sky in the Grand Tour in France but unfortunately was involved
in a crash with 35 kilometres to go in the seventh stage of the Tour de France.
Wiggins is currently at 16th position with his team-mate Boasson Hagen made a huge leap as he moved from 54th position to 17th position after a good performance at the Eneco Tour as per the recent UCI World Tour standings.
Team Sky Procycling is at 7th position as Leopard Trek, BMC Racing Team and Omega Pharma are at first, second and third positions respectively.
The British cyclist was looking good in the Tour de France, 2011 at sixth position with just 10 seconds behind the race leader Thor Hushovd. Team Sky was really looking forward to him as he helped his team to secure the third position especially after team-mate
Edvald Boasson Hagen won the stage 6 of the Tour de France, 2011.
Team Sky manager David Brailsford shared the disappointment after the crash as he mentioned that, “Bradley has broken his left collar bone. It is hugely disappointing news for him, and for the team.” He further added that Wiggins was in the best form and
he has never looked as good in his career as he prepared really hard for the Tour de France. He was looking really good with the time trialling and climbing as David stated that Wiggins was a serious contender for the overall classifications at the Tour if
he had survived the crash but crashes are part of the game he added.
Team Sky finished the Tour de France at sixth position with a total time of 0:58:24 as Edvald Boasson Hagen finished the final stage at second position with Rigoberto Uran of team Sky finishing at the 24th position after the final general classification
and claimed team’s top position for the Tour de France, 2011.
Bradley has now fully recovered from the injury as he is looking forward to make an appearance at the Vuelta a Espana, 2011 as team has announced the nine cyclist to represent the team in Spain namely Kurt-Asle Arvesen, Chris Froome, Dario Cioni, Thomas
Lofkvist, Morris Possoni, Ian Stannard, Chris Sutton, Xabier Zandio and Bradley Wiggins.
The 31-year-old is hopeful for making a good come back in Vuelta as he had been training hard for it and the matter of fact he will be participating in the event for the first time as he mentioned, “I’m looking forward to make my return in Vuelta a Espana.
It’s a race I haven’t ridden before so it’ll be exciting to take part in and I want to produce a strong performance for all those people who have supported me since my crash at the Tour de France.”
Bradley appreciated the support and encouragement that he had received through the fans during his injury and he mentioned that he had a great chance to make his fans proud as he is will be leading one of the best teams in the event.
Team Sky will be looking ahead at Chris Sutton who has the tendency of claiming few stage wins and also Kurt-Asle Arvesen as the 36-year-old has announced his retirement by the end of the season. Team Sky is hopeful with this year’s Vuelta a Espana after
they had withdrawn from the race last year because of the bacterial infection that took the life of their team-mate Txema Gonzalez.
Tags: