Wiggins maintains lead as sprinters shine

Wiggins and Froome trailed behind the stage winner, Slovakian sprinter Peter Sagan, who took his second stage of the tour in a dramatic finish on a day dominated by sprinters.

Astana’s Fredrik Kessiakoff is in third place in the overall standings, a further two seconds behind Froome.

Sagan claimed victory for his Liquigas team when he out-sprinted HTC-Highroad’s John Degenkolb at the end of the 167.3km Ponteareas to Pontevedra stage to win in a time of four hours, three minutes and one second.

Froome finished 29th and Wiggins 32nd, ensuring Wiggins retained his leader’s red jersey as the tour prepares to head back into the tough mountain stages today.

Team Sky sports director Steven de Jongh said: “It was a tough day. They were going really fast out there and the guys were a bit tired after yesterday, of course.

“It was one of the last chances for a bunch sprint so a lot of the sprinters’ teams were helping out. That was good as we didn’t have to do too much. It was just a matter of keeping Bradley there at the front. Tomorrow is a very big stage with all the climbing and it will be a very difficult one, for sure. It is very tight at the top.”

Meanwhile, Wiggins and Mark Cavendish were yesterday among those named in a preliminary squad by British Cycling for this month’s UCI Road Cycling World Championships in Copenhagen.

Twelve riders have been named in the men’s road race “long list” which will be narrowed down to eight over the next week for the championships, which take place from 19-25 September in the Danish capital.

Wiggins is on the time trial long-list along with David Millar and Alex Dowsett while defending world time trial champion Emma Pooley is named for the women’s event with Sharon Laws and Julia Shaw. Olympic champion Nicole Cooke is among nine riders in contention for seven road race places.

Performance director Dave Brailsford said: “This is the biggest team we’ve taken to a Road World Championships demonstrating the continuous progression of road racing in the UK.

“It’s great to see the positive impact that Team Sky has had on young developing riders, with Geraint Thomas, Chris Froome, Pete Kennaugh and Alex Dowsett all being long-listed.

“We are heading to the Road Worlds with serious aspirations this year. The long-listed team will be narrowed down over the next week, and everyone on the team – both riders and support staff – is excited about the event.”