YELLOW
Saturday 7 July / Tomblaine to La Planche des Belle Filles, 199km
ROUTE/ The first serious climbing stage was set to finish on a ‘new’ mountain – La Planche des Belles Filles. The riders started in the Meurthe-et-Moselle department and headed into the Vosges hills for the slog along tough roads with two challenging warm-up climbs – the Col de Grosse Pierre and the Col du Mont de Fourche – before the final killer climb to the summit finish.
THE CHALLENGE/ The terrain favoured breakaway posses so the favourites needed their super-domestiques to help them hit the climb in the best position. With Cancellara, a time-trial specialist, leading by just seven seconds, the yellow jersey was up for grabs.
HOW IT UNFOLDED/ The peloton was now 11 riders down, with many riding sore. Rabobank, for example, claimed to have notched up 15 crashes, two broken ribs, one punctured lung and one square metre of missing skin. In what would be a milestone stage, seven riders broke clear after 15km but were eaten up as Team Sky’s Boasson Hagen, Rogers and Porte set a blistering pace up the climbs to split the peloton wide open. Cancellara, not expected to keep pace, duly dropped away on the final climb.
Porte dropped back with 2km remaining, leaving Froome to take his turn at the front. Wiggins continued to be paced up the mountain with Evans, Vincenzo Nibali and Rein Taaramäe also in the hunt for the stage win. Evans attacked near the summit, but Wiggins followed and Froome launched a counter-attack on the 20 per cent gradient, 500m from the line, before riding away for an unexpected victory. Wiggins followed Evans over the line to take the race lead. On 8 July he would become the fifth Briton to wear the yellow jersey, following Tom Simpson (1962), Chris Boardman (1994, 1997, 1998), Sean Yates (1994) and David Millar (2000).
A psychological, as well as symbolic, blow had been dealt too, as the team supporting Evans was nowhere when it counted. ‘It is an amazing feeling. It went perfectly for us. The boys put it on the line and did a fantastic job. Froomey was mind-blowing – he is just going from strength to strength – and we got the yellow jersey, so it is fantastic,’ said Wiggins.
‘To be in the yellow jersey was a childhood dream of mine. I’d sit on the home trainer watching my Tour de France hero, Miguel Indurain.’
At the end of the first week, Team Sky took the yellow jersey, the King of the Mountains jersey (Froome) and also boasted three men in the top 10. It was an emphatic all-round show of power.
STAGE 7 RESULT:
Winner. Chris Froome (GB); Team Sky; 04h 58’ 35”
2. Cadel Evans (Aus); BMC; @ 2”
3. Bradley Wiggins (GB); Sky; @ 2”
OVERALL STANDINGS:
1. Bradley Wiggins (GB); Sky; 34h 21’ 20”
2. Cadel Evans (Aus); BMC; @ 10”
3. Vincenzo Nibali (Ita); Liquigas; @ 16”
‘It’s a great day for me and yes, of course, it had been a dream of mine. I know the history of this race and I feel very honoured. One year on from lying in hospital after crashing, here I am in the jersey.’
Bradley Wiggins