CYCLING TOUR DE FRANCE: "TIME IS my everything," Bradley Wiggins tapped out on his Twitter site a couple of hours before the start of yesterday's race against the clock, quoting Ian Brown, the former lead singer of the Stone Roses, but it was not destined to be a day on which the clock became his plaything.
After losing the advantage of a promising start to a 40km time trial around Lake Annecy, however, he did well enough to ensure he ended the day in fourth position in the general classification of the Tour de France, two places above his standing when he rolled down the starting ramp.
The time trial is his speciality, its disciplines honed during his reign as the world’s finest individual pursuit rider, and the course, including a third-category climb, appeared to be made for him.
But, like all the contenders for the overall victory, he was outshone by a staggering ride from Alberto Contador, who took over the maillot jaune in Verbier last Sunday and used yesterday’s stage 18 to make it virtually certain he will wear it all the way to Paris this weekend.
Starting last, Contador was a yellow-clad streak of lightning cutting through the heavy air on a day when thunder rumbled in the surrounding mountains. Much earlier in the day the Swiss Fabian Cancellara, the Olympic time trial champion, set an impressive 48 minutes 33 seconds and appeared to have secured a repeat of his victory in the opening stage in Monaco. But when Contador arrived at the first check-point, after 18km, the stopwatch suggested he was moving in another dimension.
Inevitably his exertions took a toll, and his margin over the field gradually diminished as he circled the lake, but he came home in a time three seconds faster than that of the Swiss, with Wiggins, the closest of the challengers to his overall leadership, a further 40 seconds behind.
It was a demonstration worthy of his compatriot Miguel Indurain, a prodigious time trial performer who won the Tour five times in a row between 1991 and 1995, and on Sunday there will surely be a second victory in three years for Contador.
He explained that he had eased up towards the end of Wednesday’s stage, when he and the Schleck brothers were climbing the Col de la Colombiere, to conserve his energy for the time trial. “That was an important factor,” he said.
He had started off yesterday thinking only of preserving his leadership, but when he saw his time at the top of the hill he decided to go for the stage win. “I knew Cancellara had gained a lot of time on the descent,” he said, “so I focused on going down the other side of the climb as fast as possible.”
The Schlecks, whose combined assault on Wednesday had lifted them to second and third places overall, experienced mixed fortunes. Neither is a time trial expert, but, while the elder, Frank, lost 2:34 to Contador and dropped to sixth in the standings, the younger, Andy, limited his deficit on the day to 1:45 and held on to his second position.
On the day Lance Armstrong announced that the principal sponsor of his new team will be RadioShack, a US chain of electronics stores, the seven-time winner failed to respond to signals and could finish no higher than 16th, 1:30 behind Contador. Frank Schleck’s bad display, however, lifted Armstrong to third place in the standings, 1:14 behind the younger Schleck but now a mere 11 seconds ahead of Wiggins.
The Englishman’s performance yesterday was clearly compromised by his earlier labours in the Pyrenees and the Alps. He was always likely to be presented with a bill, and yesterday it arrived on the Cote de Bluffy where he began to struggle.
Today’s rolling stage from Bourgoin-Jallieu to Aubenas is likely to be a day of recovery for those still in contention for a place on the podium, before the Giant of Provence, Mount Ventoux, discloses how much Wiggins, Armstrong, and Andy Schleck have left in the tank. The man in yellow, however, appears to be away and gone.
Guardian Service
