Wiggins Wins Tour de France Stage Nine Time Trial, Opens Big Gap Over Evans

Sky’s Bradley Wiggins might have gained enough time in the Stage Nine time trial to eventually win the 2012 Tour de France.

The 32-year-old three-time track gold medalist showed that though he has learned to climb, he has not lost any ability in the time trial. The Sky team leader turned the best time of the day, beating world time trial champion Fabian Cancellara and gaining 1:53 over 2011 Tour winner Cadel Evans.

Evans delivered a decent sixth-place ride, when he needed a spectacular effort. With Wiggins able to match the BMC leader’s pace in the mountains, it was essential to Evans’ hopes to defend his title, that he not concede any time in Stage Nine.

The course favored Cadel Evans, with several hills and dips, and several tight corners. Evans, a former mountain-bike world champion with great bike-handling skills, should have gained time on the technical sections and held his own on the straights.

Instead Bradley Wiggins held his own around the corners and up the hills, and on the straighter, flatter parts, where Wiggins’ amazing efficiency could come into play, the British rider easily outperformed the rest of the fields.

Wiggins started out as a time-trial specialist after leaving track cycling, so for him, Stage Nine felt like coming home, almost.

“We’re nine days into the Tour now and there were two tough stages before today. Everyone was tired last night and you never know how you’re going to recover,” Wiggins said on the Sky website. “Time trialing’s what I do best though. I get into my zone, know exactly the routine I have to go through during the stage and I felt great today. The minute I turned the first pedal stroke on the warm-up I felt fantastic so I knew I was on a good one.”

“This is what we’ve trained for. Sean was saying to me on the radio in the last 10km—’think of all those hours, all those sacrifices you’ve made—this is what that was all for,’ and that really motivated me. All the hard work during the winter, missing my children’s birthdays being on training camps and things—this is what it’s all for—these moments.”

Perhaps not easily; Wiggins was barely to stand after he crossed the finish line. The race leader left everything out on the course. Whatever it cost him was well worth it; barring crashes and mechanical issues, there should be no way for any other rider to make up enough time to surpass the Sky leader and take the top step in Paris.

Wiggins’ teammate Chris Froome finished second, 35 seconds off the winner’s pace and 22 seconds ahead of Fabian Cancellara. Fourth was Evans’ teammate Tejay Van Garderen, 1:06 off the winning pace.

Froome advanced from sixth to third in the General Classification; given the climbing prowess he showed winning Stage Seven, a podium in Paris is a very real possibility for this 27-year-old Kenyan-born Brit. Van Garderen moved up to eighth in GC, and took over the Best Young Rider jersey.

“There’s no tactics on days like today,” Froome explained. “Time trials are by far the hardest event in cycling. You just have to go as fast as you can and turn yourself inside out to get the best time possible. In terms of the race information I was getting in my ear, it’s good to know you’re putting in a fast time but then you’ve also got to be careful you’ve not started too fast and overcook it so it’s a very fine line to gauge that effort.

“Bradley’s time was quite a bit faster than mine but I’m really happy with the performance I put in. I gave it everything I had and that’s all I could do. It was a big performance we put in and there could be a bit of a celebration later. There’s still a long way to go before I can start thinking about a podium position, I’ll just take it day by day from here.”

Tuesday is a rest day. Wednesday the Tour returns to the mountains; Stage Ten includes three categorized climbs. The day starts with the long, medium-grade Cat 2 Côte de Corlier and then climbs the Hors Categorie Col du Grand Colombier, 17.4 km at a 7.1 percent average gradient, with ramps over twelve percent. This is an incredibly tough climb, but ids also 30 km from the finish. Riders who lose time here could well recover on the descent to the final Cat 3 Col de Richemond.

This is a great stage for a breakaway. Evans, Wiggins, and Vincenzo Nibali will mark each other, but a handful of riders further down the GC could attack at on Colombier or Richemond. The final kilometer slopes upward to confound the final sprint, but it isn’t likely the peloton would chase anyway.