Wiggins downgrades Tour aims as he goes backwards in the Pyrenees

Bradley Wiggins issued a scathing assessment of his Tour de France to date as he again fell down the overall rankings yesterday.

While Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador continued their duel for the yellow jersey by dancing up the incline to Ax-3-Domaines, Wiggins struggled once again as the 97th Tour went uphill in the Pyrenees.

The 30-year-old Londoner, three times an Olympic champion on the track and fourth in the 2009 Tour, conceded four minutes 59 seconds to Christophe Riblon (Ag2r La Mondiale), who won the 184.5-kilometre 14th stage from Revel to Ax-3-Domaines.

Wiggins now lies 18th overall, 11mins 30secs behind yellow jersey incumbent Schleck. With six days of racing remaining, Wiggins said his form does not compare to 12 months ago, when he finished one spot off the podium.

Wiggins said: "Do you want me to be honest with you? I've got nothing. I just haven't got the form. It's as simple as that.

"I'm just trying my hardest, battling on, rather than give up. I just haven't got it as I did last year. I don't know why. I just feel consistently mediocre."

Wiggins also labelled his 2009 performance - where he equalled Robert Millar's 1984 best Tour finish by a Briton - as a "fluke". "I just haven't got it right this year," added Wiggins. "It's a funny old thing - form - it's hard to say. You do everything right, you think you get it right, but I'm not with the best guys this year - it's quite clear.

"Last year was a bit of a fluke. It was a fluke in the sense that it wasn't planned throughout the year. I fell into superb form and was riding on cloud nine most of the race."

Wiggins, having been recruited by Team Sky over the winter, had a solitary aim for the season - the Tour. The podium in Paris was the natural aim, but his expectations have not been matched by his performance thus far. He added: "I finished fourth in the Tour de France last year, so I had to come back and try and do it better. It's easy to think you can improve and get it right this year.

"I haven't lived up to my expectation - I just haven't got it. That's not shocking, that's just disappointing - the reality of it."

After losing 4:55 on the second Alpine stage, Wiggins revised his goal to a top-ten finish. Asked whether that was still his target, with today's second Pyrenean stage - the 187.5km 15th stage from Pamiers to Bagneres-de-Luchon - again likely to be unforgiving, he insisted he would ride on to Sunday's finish and accept the end result. He said: "I'm not giving up on anything at this stage, I'll just keep pushing on every day and do my best and see what that is in Paris." Wiggins has been overtaken as the leading Team Sky rider in the overall rankings by Swede Thomas Lofkvist. Lofkvist was 2:30 behind yesterday and now sits 16th overall, 9:46 behind Schleck.

The latest bout in the battle for the leader's yellow jersey ended in a stalemate. Schleck (Team Saxo Bank) successfully shadowed Contador (Astana) to finish on the same time, 1:08 behind Riblon.

Schleck retained the race leader's maillot jaune and a 31-second advantage over Contador, who is seeking a third Tour title in four years in Paris on Sunday. Riblon, who was part of the day's nine-man breakaway, soared ahead on the 15.5km hors categorie (beyond category) climb of Port de Pailheres and held on to his advantage on the 7.8km category one climb to Ax-3- Domaines to claim his first Tour stage victory.

Denis Menchov (Rabobank) was 54 seconds behind in second place, with Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) third. Sanchez is third overall, but only trimmed the advantage of the leading duo by 14 seconds to 2:31.

Yesterday's stage was expected to be a showdown between Schleck and Contador, but the duo played a game of cat and mouse and ignored events around them. Yet with today's stage featuring the Tour's third hors categorie climb and two ascents of the fabled Col du Tourmalet (tomorrow and Thursday) to come, there are sure to be more twists and turns in the yellow jersey duel.

"I had to play the game today," said Schleck. "We played poker today. Tomorrow it might be different."

The Luxembourg rider believes he needs a 90-second advantage over Contador ahead of the penultimate day's 52km time-trial and, with six days racing remaining, is poised to attack in the Pyrenees. "I want to win this Tour or nothing," added Schleck.