In what was supposed to be his confirmation as a Grand Tour contender, Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins has found himself suffering when the big guns begin to fire during this year's Tour de France. One thing he can take solace in is the fact that he's not the only team leader who currently finds himself in that position.
Wiggins' chances for a podium place in Paris took its first big knock when the race hit the big mountains for the first time on Sunday. The Team Sky leader finished the day with a 1 minute and 35 second deficit on the group of race favorites.
He remained confident during the rest day, but the 25.5 kilometer Col de la Madeleine saw Wiggins lose close to five minutes by the time he reached the finish in Saint-Jean-de-Maurienne. This time it was enough to change his ambition in this Tour from a place on the final podium to a spot in the top ten.
"I'll just do my best every day. I don't want to give up, there's been so much support out there on the road," Wiggins told The Guardian. "It's been fantastic. I don't want to give up and throw my toys out of the pram, finish at the back or go home, so I'm going to just push on every day and maybe just recalibrate, say top 10 is now the goal. It's not because we haven't tried."
Wiggins rode to an impressive fourth place in last year's Grande Boucle while riding for the Garmin team managed by Jonathan Vaughters. He made a controversial switch in the off-season to the new British Team Sky. Along with his move came the added pressure of being part of the team's plan to have a homegrown Tour winner within five years.
The team management will now focus on trying to win stages in the next two weeks, which will be made easier with the likes of Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen amongst their ranks.
"It's already been a fairly successful Tour but I think we should put more emphasis on trying to pick off a stage win. Bradley can still move up and gain top 10, top five, you never know. But I don't think at this point we're in a position where we should put all our eggs in one basket."
The British team will now have four years to attain the lofty goal set to win the World's biggest bike race. While it is certainly possible, the host country hasn't been able to accomplish that feat for twenty-five years, so they will have their work cut out for them.