Cycling: Bradley Wiggins seizes lead

BRITON Bradley Wiggins took the overall lead in the Paris-Nice cycling race after the 185.5km second stage won by Belgium’s Tom Boonen in Orleans yesterday.

Wiggins, second at the start – a second behind Sweden’s Gustav Larsson – was part of the day’s 21-man break which crossed the line with a two-minute lead over the main bunch, including the previous yellow jersey holder. The stage was won by former world champion Boonen ahead of Spain’s Jose Joaquin Rojas and Germany’s John Degenkolb.

Overall, Wiggins leads American Levi Leipheimer by six seconds and Boonen by seven.

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Tour de France and Olympic glory is within Wiggins’s grasp this year as the Briton targets the yellow jersey in Paris and a time trial gold at the London Games.

Wiggins, a three-times Olympic champion on the track, will skip the London Velodrome to focus on the road this year. Dealing with two major goals in a very short space of time should not be a problem for the rider who won silver in the 2011 world championships time trial a few days after finishing third overall in the Tour of Spain.

“[Doing the Vuelta before the world championships] is the best preparation. For the time trial it’s certainly the best preparation if you stay outright healthy then have the best form nine days later,” said Wiggins. “I think cycling’s unique in that sense, the only sport you can do something like the Tour de France and then the Olympics. I think that’s difficult for a lot of people to comprehend.”