Holy crap. Brad Wiggins has just shredded the Tour to pieces.
In the first time trial of the race he has put himself close to two minutes in front of his nearest rival, Cadel Evans. After that is his own lieutenant, Chris Froome, then Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali.
It is hard to see how anyone can take enough time back to make a difference before the second time trial on the penultimate stage of the race, but one can only expect that Cadel and Nibali are going to start throwing everything at the Sky juggernaut from now on.
The only hope for Wiggo’s rivals is that they make the race so hard that he runs out of legs in the final week, allowing them to take four or five minutes out of him on the Queen Stage, which they can then defend in the final TT. Slim to none…
This race (calamities aside) is all but over already! Good grief they are dominant! And speaking of calamities, spare a thought for Tony Martin, who has had a puncture in both of the stages in which he would otherwise have been a factor, and also fractured a bone in his hand in a crash on the second day.
If I were his physio, we’d be heading home, properly setting his hand in a brace for a week or two and getting him ready for the Olympics on the stationary bike – this can’t be good for his morale, and is certainly bad for his hand!
Anyhoo, chapeau Brad Wiggins and Team Sky.
