The 2010 Tour de France hasn’t worked out as well as was hoped for the new Sky Racing Team, but the squad is determined to go out with a bang. Its aim is to land a strong result in the days ahead, and two of its riders started things off in an aggressive way this morning.
Edvald Boasson Hagen and Juan Antonio Flecha went clear almost immediately after the drop of the flag, joining up with the initial attacker Kristjan Koren (Liquigas-Doimo), as well as Marcus Burghardt (BMC Racing Team), Remi Pauriol (Cofidis), world championship runner-up Alexandr Kolobnev (Katusha) and Ruben Perez (Euskaltel-Euskadi).
The septet worked well together and had a lead of just under six minutes with 140 kilometers remaining. Their chances of staying clear will depend on how the bunch reacts in the kilometres ahead.
Team leader Bradley Wiggins went into the race aiming for a podium finish, but things haven’t gone to plan. He hasn’t been in the same form as last year, when he took fourth overall, and a tougher course has also extracted a price. He began today’s stage in 21st place overall, 17 minutes 44 seconds off the yellow jersey of Alberto Contador (Astana). His team-mate Thomas Löfkvist was over five minutes ahead in 17th place.
Being so far off the top ten, Wiggins is toying with the idea of simply not pushing it too hard on today’s stage, gambling everything on Saturday. He’s a specialist in the race against the clock and while he’s never won a Tour time trial, he believes it could be possible.
"I don't know whether to persist and finish in 23rd or 24th overall or really put everything into that last time trial now. I'm looking forward to it, the way I'm feeling,” he said. “Looking at how everyone is - everyone's on their knees. So I've maybe got a chance of picking up a stage win, and that's what's left for me now.”
Further ahead, he’s determined not to lose sight of his goal, namely fighting for victory in the Tour. It’s hard to pick up confidence after being so far off his target this time round, but he has resolved to go away, sit down with the Team Sky staff and work out what went wrong.
The aim will be to pinpoint any mistakes that were made in preparation and come up with a better plan next year.
“This is first year that I've taken on this role of being a team leader and putting myself up there to be shot at, I suppose,” he said.
"It's been a huge learning curve this year, and it's been a big season in many respects. Even if it hasn't worked out at this Tour as I'd have liked, it's not the end of the world. We'll just come back next year and try again.”
Team Sky has said that its goal is to win the Tour within five years. Putting this year’s disappointment aside, Wiggins is the best candidate for that in the short term, but other riders such as Peter Kennaugh are being touted as good long-term bets as team leaders for the race.