(Photo: Yuzuru Sunada)
Sky has established on of the most advanced cycling teams over the last yearand signed its country's top classification cyclist - Brit Bradley Wiggins - to lead it to the Tour de France podium. Now, with only three days until the start, it is time to perform.
Tour de France king, Alberto Contador is ready for the fight. He kept an eye on the developments to understand how Wiggins, and Sky, may stop his run for a third overall victory.
"Wiggins was very efficient last year in the time trials and especially in the mountains," said Spain's Contador. "At the very least, he will be aiming for the podium."
Contador will be backed by a group of faithful Spaniards and AlexanderVinokourov.
Wiggins will have the help of team-mates Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Juan Antonio Flecha, Simon Gerrans, Thomas Löfkvist, Geraint Thomas, Serge Pauwels and Michael Barry. It is a good mix of British riders (Wiggins, Cummings, Thomas), experience (Flecha, Barry) and talented youth (Löfkvist, Boasson Hagen).
At team Garmin last year, he surprised many by riding to fourth overall, 6' 01" behind Contador. It was his first time to compete for the overall in a Grand Tour and it was possibly thanks to losing a few extra kilograms.
Despite one more year left in his contract and a successful Tour, Wiggins made a controversial exit from Jonathan Vaughters' Garmin team over the off-season. He wanted, at all costs, to get on his home team and ride out the remainder of his carrier.
Besides it being British, the team has a lot of other positives.
Sky is the most advanced team going, improving on the success of Saxo Bank and Garmin. Its training techniques and the way it approaches races makes many European teams look prehistoric.
It rolled out a new luxury bus with flashing strobe lights on top for its riders to spot easily, analysed sleeping and eating patterns and dived deeper into sports nutrition. They are all what Team Manager David Brailsford calls "marginal gains," which should add up to produce a better result.
"It is not something that'll be thrown on me next week, we have been working on all the little things throughout the year and it's a continuation of what British Cycling is doing," Wiggins continued.
"I had Steve [Peters, team psychiatrist] here for a day to speak with me.We sat down for an hour and talked about my fears and worries. On the equipment side, we are constantly working on the skin suits.
"As hard as I'm working on the bike, there's a team behind scenes working just as hard. That's just reassuring. You know that's going on, not something you have to ask about or worry about. There are so many small things that make such a huge difference at the end of the day."
The team's effort and Wiggins' experience will be enough for at least a top ten, but will they be able to battle for a podium? Or the win? He will be up against Lance Armstrong, the Schlecks, his former team-mate Christian VandeVelde and, cycling's best, Contador.
"It's sport, not life and death. I believe that with the way everything has gone, though, I am in a good position. Without any bad luck, I'll get the result I want."
Sky raced the sport's other big Grand Tour, the Giro d'Italia, in May, but it will make its debut in the Tour de France Saturday. Besides winning,there is a much larger goal: inspiration. Sky wants to get a million more people riding bikes in the UK.
Rupert Murdoch's media empire changed football television coverage in the United Kingdom, but is not looking to do the same for cycling. Many key figures in the company are cyclists, including James Murdoch, Rupert's son, and they pushed the company to get involved in road cycling to inspire Brits.
The best way to achieve that goal? Deliver Bradley Wiggins to the podium in Paris, and if Sky is lucky, the win..jpg) | Will Wiggins finish on the podium in 2010's Tour de France? (Photo: Yuzuru Sunada) |
|