Wiggins top man for Britain at Tour de France
Bradley Wiggins will be leading Team Sky at this year’s Tour de France, and he is aiming for glory.
Wiggins finished fourth in his maiden event at the 2009 Tour de France for his team Garmin-Slipstream, but this year he will be leading Team Sky, who will be the first British team to compete since 1987. The team will have up to seven Britons competing on the prologue and 20 stages.
As a gold-medal winning track cyclist, Wiggins surprised many last year by doing so well. His fourth-place finish matched the best achievement by a British rider since Robert Millar in 1984.
Wiggins has a realistic chance of a podium finish this year, and perhaps even the Tour victory - becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France would be some accomplishment, but the 30-year-old is not thinking too far ahead.
“To be honest it is the only race that matters. You could win 100 races in a season and do nothing in the Tour... well, the other races are important and are important for the team but the Tour is what we are going to be judged on. People would have laughed if I said I'd come fourth in the Tour - they did laugh actually - but I know what I'm capable of now,” said Wiggins.
“It gives you a clear number‚ which doesn't mean you're going to win the Tour de France, but it lets you know what ballpark you're in. We're in the ballpark now, and the goal is to finish as high as possible – whether that's winning, or finishing second or third or whatever, I don't know. But I couldn't be in a better position right now. It's quite exciting,” said Wiggins after his final fitness test.
He is feeling confident ahead of the start of the Tour on Saturday. "It's been quite frustrating this year to have to hold back at times when I've wanted to push it,” he added. “But we wrote a plan in November, all built towards the Tour, and now we're into the last stage.”
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