Bonneval to Chartres, 53.5 km (33.2 mi)
The moment Bradley Wiggins became the first British winner of the Tour de France and the greatest British athlete of all time. Photograph: AFP
The image above is one that will burn long into the memory. The moment that Bradley Wiggins all but cemented his victory to become the first British winner of the Tour de France. It was a ride to show those that felt the better man was finishing in second were wrong and the pride in that came spilling out as he crossed the line and punched the air.
After watching the mountain stages there were many out there that felt had Chris Froome been allowed off the leash by Team Sky that he would have won this Tour. They seen him accelerate away from Wiggins only to get the message on his race radio to wait up for the man in Yellow. People desperately wanted to see the excitement of a battle and had they been on separate teams we would have gotten it, but Sky had designated Wiggins as their leader from the start and he always had a solid time advantage over Froome that it made sense for Sky to control the race rather than risk both of them blowing up from trying to beat one another. No it's not what you want to see ideally, but today it was proven why they did what they did in the mountains.
Wiggins took a 2-05 lead over Froome into the time trial, a lead those doubters felt that Froome could have overcome, but when he rolled down the ramp to begin what he does best, he ripped the course to shreds averaging a stunning 50 km/h hover the 53.5 kilometre course to not only win his second time-trail stage of the tour, but to dominate his rivals much like we once seen from the great Miguel Indurain.
Wiggins beat Froome by 1-16 putting himself an insurmountable 3-21 into Yellow. Even without Froome's puncture in stage one from which he lost 1-25, Wiggins would still have been in Yellow by 1-56 and I highly doubt Froome would have been able to gain that much back in these mountains. You have to remember that Wiggins would have rode within himself knowing that Froome would wait for him and ride for him, but had Froome decided to go for it alone, breaking from team orders, I have little doubt Wiggins could have summoned more from himself and while it mightn't have stopped him losing some time to Froome, the time lost would have been minimal.
And that isn't to take anything away from Froome. The best climber in this Tour was still it's second best time-trialist as he came second to Wiggins twice in-a-row against the clock. It wasn't what the route planners expected when they put forward the route. Sure they thought a man like Wiggins would do what he did in the race of truth, but they thought the pure climbers would gain more time in the mountains and lose more in the time-trials making it a finely balanced race. As it turned out while Froome was the best in one department and second in the other, the opposite was true of Wiggins. He was the second best climber and by far it's best time-trialist and when you had that much going for you on a route like this, it's no shock the pair are riding into Paris first and second ... the time gaps to the rest are huge now.
Bradley Wiggins today proved once and for all that the best man is on the verge of winning this Tour ... all he must do now is stay upright for the gentle coast into Paris and several laps around the Champs-Élysées.
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QUOTE OF THE DAY
"I'm determined to not let it change me. I'm not into celebrity life or all that rubbish. So much of British culture is built around people who are famous for doing nothing... I'm still Bradley Wiggins, at the end of the day, I have to go home and clean up dog muck and horse muck. At the end of the day, it's just sport, there will be more Tour winners in the future." -- Bradley Wiggins on becoming the first Brit to win the Tour.
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FAKE TWEET OF THE DAY
@ChrisFroome Someone check for a hidden motor on that boys bike!
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ABANDONMENT'S
None. Obviously.
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STAGE 19 RESULT
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky in 1-04-13
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 1-16
3. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa) Rabobank at 1-50
4. Peter Velits (Svk) Omega Pharma-Quickstep at 2-02
5. Richie Porte (Aus) Team Sky at 2-25
6. Patrick Gretsch (Ger) Argos-Shimano at 2-28
7. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 2-34
8. Vasil Kiriyenka (Blr) Movistar at 2-46
9. Rein Taaramae (Est) Cofidis at 2-50
10. Jérémy Roy (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 3-05
Others
16. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 3-38
26. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 4-22
41. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 5-31
42. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan at 5-32
48. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana at 5-38
52. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 5-56
64. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar at 6-14
69. David Millar (GBr) Garmin-Sharp at 6-22
82. Mark Cavendish (GBr) Team Sky at 6-58
100. Steve Cummings (GBr) BMC Racing at 7-51
GENERAL CLASSIFICATION AFTER STAGE 19
1. Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Team Sky
2. Chris Froome (GBr) Team Sky at 3-21
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita) Liquigas-Cannondale at 6-19
4. Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Lotto-Belisol at 10-15
5. Tejay Van Garderen (USA) BMC Racing at 11-04
6. Haimar Zubeldia (Spa) Radioshack-Nissan at 15-43
7. Cadel Evans (Aus) BMC Racing at 15-51
8. Pierre Rolland (Fra) Europcar at 16-31
9. Janez Brajkovic (Slo) Astana at 16-38
10. Thibaut Pinot (Fra) FDJ-BigMat at 17-17
