Before yesterday’s stage of the Tour of Britain I was all set to point out how even a self-proclaimed “out of form” Bradley Wiggins was looking strong enough to win the race if it got hilly enough.
As it turned out he’s now dropped nearly 12 minutes as he (at one point) headed back the wrong way on the road to pick up a struggling Mark Cavendish. As a tactic to ensure that he gets to finish the race in the World Champion’s jersey it seems extreme from Cavendish but who can argue with wanting to wear the rainbow stripes for a bit longer.
At the other end of the race it was a day of hills and wind that tore the field apart and left a small lead group fighting for the win. A solo attack by Marc De Maar eventually stuck, giving him the win and with Leigh Howard retaking the race lead. Kristian House continued his excellent attack on the King of the Mountains competition and keeps that jersey.
The race will reach its conclusion at the weekend after two tough stages taking in Welshpool to Caerphilly today, and Barnstable to Dartmouth on Saturday before the final stage in Surrey on Sunday. Both the Devon and Welsh stages look like they will be tough and should sort out the GC even more thoroughly before the finale. ITV4 is your place for all the weekend action and, as ever, I will wrap it up for you here on Monday.
In the mean time how about a bit of a behind the scenes video?
That won’t be all you should be watching at the weekend as the final round of the DH World Cup will be rocking Hafjell in Norway. Unusually, the finals will be happening on Saturday at what looks like quarter past one (with my usual disclaimer about translating times). Your place to watch all this action is RedBull TV. Gwin has wrapped up the Men’s event but Rachel Atherton needs to defend her lead to win the Women’s, having missed one round and put in a powerful season.
Around all this I will be hoping for good weather as I reminded myself of the fun of riding to a park for a picnic last weekend and I’m keen to repeat it. It’s so much more direct and quicker, as well as more fun, to ride rather than taking public transport.
For your final weekend news roundup I’m taking you to the US, where the Olympic time trial gold medallist (the one that isn’t Bradley Wiggins) has had her bikes stolen in transit back home. Nearer to home the Sun got all in a tizz over Victoria Pendleton's bike being sold, although it turns out it's her road bike not her track bike and is standard practice at the end of a season.
I’m also going to take you to a set of traffic lights near you (if you’re in London) where TfL has plans to put in lights at the eye level of cyclists. I like this for two big reasons. Firstly it should make lights more visible to cyclists and reinforce to drivers their right to be there, but it also might do a lot to stop those cyclists who run red light from doing so. Having traffic lights with a picture of a bike on them will make it harder to forget that they apply to you as well. As I’ve mentioned before I’m a fan of all of us who ride bikes earning the respect of other road users by obeying the rules.
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In a late update Wiggins has not started today's stage after an over-night stomach bug. It's his room-mate Luke Rowe I feel sorry for...
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