Wiggins value to make time-trial statement

Tour de France favourite Bradley Wiggins is the man to back in the ninth stage of the world`s most famous bicycle race as the battle for the yellow jersey gets very serious.

The Tour de France is not yet at its halfway point but it is no exaggeration to say that the result of its 99th edition could go a long way to being decided by stage nine, an individual time trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon.

Defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans has spent the last couple of days trying to get into the head - and legs - of Wiggins but the Briton, who assumed the race leadership following the seventh stage, has looked as if he and his Sky team can handle whatever the Australian throws at them.

Evans thought that he had escaped from Wiggins during the final few kilometres of stage eight but the Briton worked in tandem with the other genuine general classification threat, Vincenzo Nibali, to reel in the Australian before the line.

Wiggins will be out to make a statement in the ninth stage and, with the course suiting him down to the ground, he is worth backing to extend his time advantage over the field with what would be his first Tour de France stage victory.

Initially unveiled as a 38-kilometre stage, three and a half kilometres were added to it subsequently. It features no categorised climbs but its middle section is a bit up and down with some tricky descending. The course ought not to inconvenience time-trial specialists such as reigning world champion Tony Martin and this year`s Tour de France prologue winner, Fabian Cancellara, but take Wiggins to rule the roost and take a tighter grip on the yellow jersey.

Wiggins has been in brilliant form in time trials recently. The Briton won time trials in the 2012 Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine as he became the first cyclist ever to take out those events in the same year.

The 32-year-old Belgium-born Londoner was particularly impressive in winning stage four of the Criterium du Dauphine, which was a 53.5-kilometre test similar to the 41.5-kilometre examination that he will face in the big one.

Wiggins won the individual time trial by 34 seconds from Martin, with his Sky teammate Chris Froome 93 seconds back in sixth and Evans 103 seconds adrift in eighth. That is the best form line going into the Tour de France`s ninth stage.

Evans and pre-race pick Nibali may be able to disrupt the rhythm of Wiggins on subsequent Tour de France stages - the Alps and the Pyrenees are not far away - but on a relatively flat 41.5-kilometre time-trial course when it is every man for himself, the Briton represents value at around 7-4. He deserves to be much shorter in the betting and in front of Cancellara, who is odds on with some bookmakers.

Nibali will probably lose a fair bit of time to both Wiggins and Evans on stage nine but he has shown enough during the first week and a half of this year`s Tour de France to demonstrate that he will be there or thereabouts when the peloton races up and down the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

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09/07/2012     © Frixo 2024