Wiggins’s Giro hopes take a tumble

The crash on a right-hand bend on the final descent into Pescara looked relatively innocuous but Bradley Wiggins’s chances of winning the Giro d’Italia took a serious knock as the seventh stage reached a climax on Friday when the Tour de France winner lost almost 90 seconds on his main rivals, dropping from sixth to 23rd overall.

Although his team principal, Sir Dave Brailsford, said Wiggins had no physical ill effects, he rode in looking stiff and bruised the day before the vital time trial where he intended to strike his first blow. It was a massive contrast to his seamless progress through the first week of last year’s Tour de France, where he rode his luck throughout. Momentum matters in a three-week Tour, and now he is swimming against the tide.

Friday’s stage contained a rash of steep climbs towards the end, but it was the descents which really mattered as they were tackled in heavy rain. Cornering became a lottery – and many besides Wiggins drew losing tickets. Amid the chaos, the Australian Adam Hansen emerged unscathed to win the stage having attacked early on in the day’s main escape, then struck out alone in the final 20 kilometres. It was a fine win for a team worker who last year rode all three major Tours, Spain, Italy and France.

Wiggins, who detests wet and cold conditions such as these, had not looked at his ease as the stage progressed, dropping behind on the later descents and appearing to become irritated when the race television camera sat alongside him to capture his sufferings. He was already a little way behind the other overall contenders when he lost control on a tight right-hander during the descent from the final climb of the day, San Silvestro. The need to catch up probably played its part.

He slid briefly, and was rapidly back on his bike, but he did not look comfortable. He took the remaining bends at a pace more befitting a cycle tourist and had to wait until the foot of the descent before receiving any help from his two team-mates, the Colombians Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Urán, who had himself had an awkward-looking tangle of wheels on a climb earlier on. Even then, Wiggins looked to be struggling to stay with the pair.

The final phase of the stage was a matter of every man for himself, with the slithery descents making racing more a matter of survival. Behind Hansen, Nibali joined forces in a 30-man group with Cadel Evans of Australia – who looked very much at his ease in the dank, dicey conditions – and the defending Giro champion Ryder Hesjedal of Canada, in a small group that was largely propelled by the Blanco team-mates of the Dutch climber Robert Gesink.

The Italian was lucky to be there, having slid for eight or 10 metres across a left-hand bend on the descent immediately before the San Silvestro climb as he attempted to catch Wiggins unawares. He too will be stiff and sore for Saturday’s time trial, but all three favourites gained 1min 24sec on the Briton.

Add that to Wiggins’s loss of 17sec on Monday and the chase he and his team were forced to make after a massive pile-up on Thursday, and the first week has gone decisively the way of his rivals; Nibali, Evans, Hesjedal and Geskink are now closely grouped between 2nd and 7th overall, with 15sec between them, while Wiggins now lies 23rd.

The Londoner was not alone in being brought to earth. The race leader Luca Paolini had lived the dream in the maglia rosa since his stage win on Monday, but on Friday he finished 2min 31sec back and the race lead moved to a relative unknown, the Spaniard Beñat Intxausti, a member of the Movistar squad which finished second to Wiggins’s Team Sky in last Sunday’s time trial on the island of Ischia.

Saturday’s time trial should have been the first opportunity for the Olympic champion to show whether he was worthy of his status as Giro favourite, and for the defending champion Hesjedal to put his cards on the table, but the Briton’s form will depend on how he has recovered from Friday’s ordeal. The 54.8km course from Gabicce Mare to Saltara is longer than usual in any Grand Tour, but all bets are off after Wiggins’s crash.

“It’s huge for the overall,” Wiggins said this week. “I know a lot of guys have seen it and I know a lot of guys are scared of it, but it’s good for me. It’s one of those ones you have to be good from start to finish. If you die off at the end, you’re going to lose three minutes on the final climb.” The time trial will enable him, he hopes, to gain “a good chunk of time on certain people.” Unfortunately, he starts that time trial after being on the receiving end of a chunking in the Abruzzi hills.