Tour de France: Bradley Wiggins second as Fabian Cancellara wins prologue

By Richard Moore
Published on 01/07/2012 00:00

THERE WAS a familiar winner of the prologue time trial to the Tour de France, with the rider who is known as Spartacus, Fabian Cancellara, winning the traditional opener for the fifth time and repeating his success over a similar course in Liège in 2004.

But the rider in second, Bradley Wiggins, was equally happy. The British favourite had been occupying the hot seat of provisional leader having set the best time just minutes before Cancellara flashed across the line. In the end, his performance demonstrated that his form is there, while also bagging him some potentially precious seconds on his main rivals, who do not include the Swiss, a specialist in this type of effort, but who will fade in the mountains.

Wiggins, who described his second place as “the perfect start”, can afford to have someone else deal with the pressure and responsibility of wearing the leader’s yellow jersey in the opening road legs, starting today with the 198km first stage from Liège to Seraing. It will be Cancellara’s 22nd day in yellow, but Wiggins’ attitude is: “rather you than me”. Though he has never worn yellow, it can wait. He doesn’t want his team to have to defend a lead, and use up energy and men in the process, before absolutely necessary.

He seemed keen to talk down the significance of his performance. His gain of ten seconds over the defending champion, Cadel Evans, was “nothing, nothing at all,” said Wiggins. “It’s just nice to get under way. I was really calm, really relaxed. Physically I felt fantastic out there.”

Wiggins claimed that he had committed to the time trial with the long-term view of aiming to win in three weeks rather than the short-term ambition of going all-out for this stage. That meant coming off his time trial bars for the cobbles, sacrificing a fraction of speed for safety. He wasn’t surprised to lose to Cancellara. “I did say to the team last night that there’s one man who can beat me, and that’s Fabian.”

For Cancellara and his team, Radio Shack-Nissan, victory here supplied a much-needed boon. They have been having a torrid season, from losing their leader, Andy Schleck, to injury, to the doping allegations that have embroiled their manager, Johan Bruyneel, to their failure, until yesterday, to win any significant races.

The doping allegations relate to the US Postal and Discovery Channel teams that Bruyneel managed a decade ago, which Lance Armstrong led to seven Tour de France victories. The US Anti-Doping Agency confirmed on Friday night that they would be pressing charges against Armstrong, Bruyneel and others, which could see Armstrong lose his Tour titles and Bruyneel banned for life. Deciding his presence would be an unwelcome distraction to his current team, Bruyneel has decided to stay away from this Tour.

Scotland’s David Millar managed a solid performance with 16th, 18 seconds behind Cancellara. His participation had been touch-and-go after he succumbed to a stomach virus on Wednesday that saw him suffering from a fever and bouts of sickness and “put in quarantine” until Friday. “My team were about to send me home on Thursday,” he said, “but now I feel OK.”

Millar may also be named in the British team for the Olympic road race on Tuesday, when the BOA ratifies the selection of five riders submitted by the performance director Dave Brailsford on Friday.