Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) holds on to his yellow jersey in the Critérium du Dauphiné after the first of three mountain stages. The British rider came under attack from a number of his general classification rivals on the climb to Les Gets, but managed to weather the storm and maintains his 1’11” lead over Cadel Evans (BMC Racing).
“It was a fast start,” said Wiggins afterwards. “My team was amazing to keep all the attacks under control. Edvald [Boasson Hagen] and G [Geraint Thomas] did a fantastic job. Even in the last climb, they stayed cool.
“I knew that some guys would try to go for the stage win,” he continued. “Some of my adversaries for GC, [Alexandre] Vinokourov and [Jurgen] Van den Broeck tried to drop me off but Cadel [Evans] didn’t. [Joaquim] Rodriguez attacked a few times but that was for the stage more than for the time.”
Although he was isolated from his teammates in the final few kilometres of the climb, whenever one of his rivals made a move Wiggins was right there on their wheel and none were able to shake him off. Only in the closing stages were Chris Anker Sørensen (Saxo Bank-SunGard) and Thomas Voeckler (Europcar) able to escape – although Voeckler was to drift back again – and neither was of any immediate danger.
“I was never worried,” he said.
While Wiggins finished the Les Gets stage in relative comfort, he will almost certainly find the next two stages less so. The climb to the finish at Le Collet d’Allevard on stage six and La Toussuire on stage seven are far tougher than that to Les Gets, and the peloton will have climbed several tough mountains on the way.
“This was the first of three tough days,” he said. “It won’t be complicated tomorrow and on Sunday: I’ll just race flat out to defend the yellow jersey.”
Wiggins’ Team Sky sports director Sean Yates was equally pleased with the performance of Wiggins and the other riders.
“Rigoberto [Uran] is not feeling his best but he was there for most of it and did a good shift for Brad,” he said after the stage. “As did Geraint and Edvald, and then it was left for him to slog it out in that elite group.
“Brad kept everything in check brilliantly and he’s looking in really good shape,” he added. “It’s going to be super hard during these next two days but we’ll be doing everything we can to ensure he has the best chance of success.”
Should Wiggins hold on to the yellow jersey until the end of the race, it would be his first stage race victory since taking the 2009 Herald Sun Tour, and be by far the biggest win of his road career. He would also become only the third British victor in the race’s history, after Brian Robinson in 1961 and Robert Millar in 1990.