Fotoreporter Sirotti
Well, I had to go through 19 teams to get here, but I’m finally at the squad that I think will be taking the yellow jersey back to its service course on Monday, July 23rd.
First, let me say on record that I was wrong about Bradley Wiggins (in my defense, I wasn’t alone). I thought his remarks following his transfer from Garmin to Sky were arrogant for a rider had seemingly come out of nowhere to finish fourth in the 2009 Tour de France. I was subsequently one of the first people to say “I told you so†following Wiggo’s disastrous grand tour campaign in 2010, wondering out loud if his big-money transfer was one of the worst transfers in the history of the sport.
But now it’s time for me to eat some crow. I thought my time might come during last year’s Tour de France—especially after Wiggins’ dominating performance in the Criterium du Dauphiné a few weeks prior. Luckily, my ego was spared the embarrassment after the Brit’s crash and subsequent abandon during Stage 7.
Then came the Vuelta and a third-place for Wiggins in one of the hilliest grand tours of all time—thus disproving my theory that he couldn’t survive against pure climbers. From there he went to Worlds and knocked-off Fabian Cancellara to finish second behind Tony Martin in the individual time trial—and there went my belief that Wiggins was only a good time trialist when pitted against other all-rounders.
My feast of crow worsened this season thanks to Wiggo’s sheer dominance in Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie, and the Dauphiné. The final chink in his armor—at least as I saw it—was gone. Wiggo had effectively proven that he knew how to manage himself and his team. He had won the faith of a team full of champions—a situation that might have gone pear-shaped quickly had Wiggins not managed everyone’s expectations with confidence and poise.
So now the 32-year-old heads to the Tour de France as a somewhat overwhelming favorite to win Britain it’s first Tour de France title. The course suits him perfectly and he’s already beaten each of his main rivals in some fashion or another so far this season.
In fact, Wiggins has come so far in his progression over the past few seasons, that several people recently paid him a tremendously backhanded (and certainly sinister) compliment by wondering openly if the Team Sky captain is doping.
And I mean that in the best way possible—even if they didn’t.
Man of the Hour
While the 2012 Tour de France looks to be Wiggo’s race to lose, we cannot mention Team Sky without mentioning Mark Cavendish. The reigning world champion is also riding well—he even won his first stage race title two weeks ago—and has enough of his own domestiques to contend. Better still, he appears to be forgoing a chance to defend his green jersey title from last year’s event, thus giving his team one less thing to worry about in its bid to win yellow.
Up-and-Comer
Chris Froome was a surprising runner-up at last year’s Vuelta, demonstrating an impressive mix of climbing and time trialing to finish one place ahead of his teammate and captain, Brad Wiggins. After a slow start to the season, Froome was back on track at the Dauphiné where he climbed and time trialed his way to a fourth-place finish. Even while helping Wiggins make his bid for yellow, Froome is talented enough to challenge for stage wins (mountain and TT) and a high overall finish of his own.
On the Hot Seat
No one really. Every rider on Team Sky’s Tour de France roster deserves to be there. It could be that Wiggins sits astride the Hot Seat as the man most people have picked to win the race, but as I said before, he seems to have matured to a point where the pressure doesn’t bother him.
Unsung Hero
After the demise of HTC-HighRoad, Team Sky wisely picked-up Belarus’ Konstantsin Siutsou. Siutsou finished ninth in last year’s Giro and eighth in the Dauphiné—the talented climber will certainly be a valuable aid to Wiggins in the mountains.
