Second in last year’s final time trial in the Giro d’Italia, Bradley Wiggins had to be content with seventh place in yesterday’s concluding race against the clock. He completed the test 29 seconds off the time of Gustav Erik Larsson (Team Saxo Bank), and was undoubtedly disappointed not to close the Giro with another win. Wiggins had triumphed in the opening prologue.
Team Sky directeur sportif Sean Yates said that he wasn’t worried about the result.
"Bradley was not feeling his best today but still gave everything he had and achieved a top 10 spot,” he said. “There was an uphill section in the middle of the course which was a bit harder than he expected, but at the top of it he was only a few seconds down on the likes of Vinokourov, Evans and Nibali.
"I think it was a good result by him and it all bodes well for the Tour de France - which he is still working towards."
Wiggins rode solidly in the race, getting back into contention when he was part of a massive break on the stage to Aquila. However he faltered in the high mountains, and eventually finished 40th overall, 1 hour 47 minutes 58 seconds behind the winning time of Ivan Basso (Liquigas).
He was 71st last year, two months before placing fourth in the Tour de France, and so there is no need to panic. That said, he would undoubtedly have liked to have performed better on some of the mountain stages.
Overall, Yates said that he was happy with how the riders fared. “I've said the same thing all the way this tour, we couldn't have asked for any more from the team and so we have to be happy,” he explained.
“Although we didn't win a stage after the prologue, we kept trying every single day. We had a lot of bad luck in those first few weeks with crashes and so forth, and who knows what might have achieved if they hadn't happened?”
The team is one of the richest in professional cycling and carries a considerable weight of media and public expectation. Some will expect it to come out all guns blazing in its first year; Yates emphasises that it is a new team and that things should be seen in that context.
“Given that this was our first Grand Tour, I thought the guys had a great ride and our team time trial performance on stage four demonstrated to everyone we are up there with the strongest teams.”