• Tour de France

Wiggins takes eight bodyguards into Tour de France

ESPN staff
June 28, 2010
Bradley Wiggins is targeting a 'top-three finish' © Getty Images
Enlarge

Bradley Wiggins will have 'eight bodyguards' when the Tour de France starts on Saturday, and for the first time in the British rider's career, he has his eyes trained directly on the podium in Paris.

Not since 1967, when great hope Tom Simpson died scaling Mont Ventoux, has Britain had such a genuine chance of a Tour de France winner. Wiggins is not the favourite, that tag belongs to defending champion Alberto Contador, but there is quiet confidence in Team Sky that he can pull off a first British victory.

Wiggins is used to targeting stages, such as the opening day's prologue time trial on Saturday, but this time he is attacking a top-three finish.

"A yellow jersey would be most welcome, but it's the first Tour I've been into when the prologue isn't the be all and end all," he told the Times. "I'm in the race for the overall classification this year. I'll be in the ballpark [in the prologue], but I'll take wherever I finish."

Wiggins is the focal point of a nine-man British team, eight of whom will all try to protect him from getting stuck in battles that he does not need to be in. The key moments will be when Wiggins attempts to stay on Contador's shoulder up the Tour's steep gradients, and team-mate Geraint Thomas insists he will get all the help he requires.

"The goal is to get Brad on the podium," said Thomas. "My job is to be his bodyguard. The whole plan is that Brad will have eight pretty strong bodyguards to see him through what is going to be three very tough weeks."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
Close

ABOUT COOKIES

To help make this website better, to improve and personalize your experience and for advertising purposes, are you happy to accept cookies and other technologies.

More Info Here Cookie Choices