Cycling: Wiggins stays in charge of Tour

Bradley Wiggins of Britain wears the leader's yellow jersey on the podium. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Bradley Wiggins of Britain wears the leader's yellow jersey on the podium. REUTERS/Stephane Mahe
Tour de France leader Bradley Wiggins readily admits that he does not even know what challenges await him in the next stage of the race.

The Team Sky rider, topping the overall standings with a lead of two minutes five seconds over team mate Chris Froome and bidding to become the first Briton to win the Tour, is taking the day-by-day approach.

Tomorrow is a rest day before the peloton tackle the remaining two mountain stages in the Pyrenees, considered as the last remaining obstacles between Wiggins and a triumph in Paris.

"I have not looked at the book yet," Wiggins told a news conference after finishing safe in the bunch after Monday's 15th stage.

"I will have a look tomorrow night. I don't look too far ahead really, I take it one day at a time. It's just my way of not ever thinking too far ahead.

"If you start looking too far ahead, you forget what is in front of you. I will have a good look at Wednesday's stage tomorrow night. There's even no point to look at Thursday's before Wednesday is gone."

A final individual 53.5-kilometres time trial on Saturday is seen by many as key to Wiggins' hopes of winning the Tour, but the rider is aware of the difference between that trial and earlier ones.

"It is never over. The last time trial of the Tour is not like the first one, because everyone is physically and mentally tired," he explained.

"In Bordeaux in 2010, the final time trial was similar to this year's and I remember there were huge gaps."

For Wiggins, a man who crashed out of last year's Tour and knows all too well just how unpredictable road racing can be, there is only one way to focus on the final days of the race.

"Just like every day since the start, we take every day as if it were the last. A lot of riders are mentally tired."

 

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