Bradley Wiggins (Sky) lost out on the win on the third stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné time trial by 11 seconds to Tony Martin (HTC). But with his strong race against the clock, Wiggins assumed the race's overall lead with a convincing margin of over a minute to Cadel Evans (BMC).
Wiggins had mixed emotions after the finish. "It was good and I'm happy with that but it's just ever so slightly tinged with disappointment that we didn't win the stage." He realized that it was really a luxury problem and his main goal for the day was the overall ranking. "I knew at the top of the last climb that I was way clear of the GC rivals and that was the priority today. I couldn't afford to take the risk on the descent and subsequently lost the stage..."
Wiggins knows that despite his clear lead, the coming mountain days won't be easy for him. "I'm obviously there to be shot at now and I'm sure they are going to have a good go at me, so we'll just do the best we can." While his main goal is the Tour de France, he is not conceding yet. "It's all about preparation for July and there's still more to come but I'll be giving it everything through to Sunday to defend it and fight to the end."
Wiggins hopes to get back to his 2009 form for the Tour de France, when he finished fourth. His time trial performance is already on, now he needs to get his climbing gear going. "I've proved today that I've got the legs, so we'll just take it day by day. We'll enjoy the day in yellow tomorrow, which should arrive in a sprint. And then Friday, Saturday and Sunday it's the real stuff."
He feels much better than 12 months ago, when things did not go right in the Tour. "It's brilliant to be in this position and what a contrast to a year ago - it's fantastic," the Sky rider said. He finished 24th in La Grande Boucle last seaon.
Sean Yates, the team's sports director, was also pleased with the performance. "It was a good effort all around. Bradley produced a superb ride to take that jersey and it was nice to witness it. That's given him real time gaps to his rivals, though Cadel actually finished pretty strongly."
Despite the main goal being the Tour, Yates says that the Dauphiné is more than just a preparation race. "We came here for the GC with Bradley, that was the plan. We're leading it at the moment, so obviously that means we are going to have to do some work as a team. The riders will be more than happy to do the hard work needed to defend that jersey."
Wiggins had started the day 11 seconds behind previous race leader Alexandre Vinokourov (Astana) but took two minutes and seven seconds out of him. The 42.5 kilometers course around Grenoble will also be used for the penultimate stage of next month's Tour de France.
Sky had a good day, with third place on the podium going to Edvald Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian finished 43 seconds behind Martin; Geraint Thomas was seventh, which put him in sixth place overall. Thomas is second in the young rider standings while Wiggins also tops the points classification.