Third in last year’s prologue, Bradley Wiggins stepped up a place today when he finished a very close second to Luke Durbridge on day one of the Critérium du Dauphiné.
The defending champion was just one second off the six minutes 39 seconds of the GreenEdge rider, with Durbridge admitting afterwards that he believed more favourable wind conditions were the reason why he came out best.
Wiggins has worked hard in the buildup to the race and has set the goal of winning once again, then going on to aim for victory in the Tour de France.
He said that he was satisfied with the day’s result. "I'm happy enough to finish second but it's about the whole week. I couldn't have asked for better today," he said on the Team Sky website.
"It's always the same with prologues. With riders going three hours apart there's always different conditions. The wind changed massively today. Some guys had disadvantages on the course elsewhere at the start and also advantages. That changed and you can't really compare rides. At the end of the day the result is the result and that's just the pick of prologues.”
Once concern for Wiggins was the rain which fell at times during the test, but fortunately it cleared up for him, the last rider off. Had it not done so, he would have lost time due to the care needed on the corners.
"I'm just pleased it stayed dry, really, because it's never nice riding a prologue in the rain,” he said. “It was perfect. I stayed safe and I'm where I want to be at the moment. I'm just trying to enjoy it.”
Wiggins said before the race that he was aiming to make his big push for the overall in the longer time trial coming up on Thursday. The 53 kilometre race from Villié-Morgon to Bourg-en-Bresse is expected to have a major influence on the final overall standings, particularly as there is no big summit finish this year.
The WorldTour race continues tomorrow with a lumpy 187km race from Seyssins to Saint-Vallier.