LA PLANCHE DES BELLES FILLES, France, (Reuters) – Bradley Wiggins and his Team Sky made their ambitions clear in the first mountain stage of the Tour de France, sweeping both the overall lead, the stage win and the King of the mountains jersey at La Planche des Belles Filles yesterday.
The final climb of the 199-km seventh stage was short and unheralded, but its 5.9 km were enough to sort out the serious Tour contenders from the also-rans and the leading riders at the top are probably the same men who will battle it out for final victory in Paris in the two weeks ahead.
The stage went to Briton Chris Froome, who surged in the final 100 metres to beat defending Tour champion Cadel Evans by two seconds while his team leader Wiggins was third in the same time.
Italy’s Vincenzo Nibali finished fourth, seven seconds adrift. To see the two pre-Tour favourites side by side on the line was a sign that their battle would probably dominate the two weeks ahead.
“”My first objective today was to take the yellow jersey,” said Wiggins, who now leads the title-holder by 10 seconds overall and Nibali by 16. “It’s a dream since I was a child. Whatever happens in the rest of the race it’s a massive thing,” added the pursuit Olympic champion, the first Briton to lead the Tour de France since David Millar in 2000.
A seven-man breakaway, gone 15 km after the start in Tomblaine, was caught at the bottom of the final ascent and that is when the Team Sky train, who had led the chase for a while, seized control.
STEEP SECTION
Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen was the first stage of the Sky rocket at the foot of the climb.
Then Australian Michael Rogers took over and some Tour contenders started to lose ground – Dutchman Robert Gesink, American Levi Leipheimer and Luxembourg’s Frank Schleck had already been dropped when Richie Porte took his turn.
