Sky’s Bradley Wiggins put in a great performance in the final time trial stage of the Tour of Romandie cycling race to win the General Classification by 12 seconds Sunday.
Wiggins had won the leader’s jersey by a scant seven seconds with a long closing sprint in Stage One, then held onto it until the penultimate stage, when Rabobank’s Luis Leon Sanchez won both the stage and the overall lead by nine seconds.
Wiggins knew he could count on his time-trial skills to make up that deficit if he rode well and he did, but it wasn’t easy; a mechanical problem slowed him near the start of the stage.
Wiggins’ chain popped of as he was climbing the hill in the first half of the course. The Sky rider hopped off, waited while a mechanic made a quick repair, and still managed to win the stage by seven-tenths of a second and the General Classification by twelve seconds.
After a week which saw all his teammates, including world champion Mark Cavendish, sacrifice himself to help Wiggins hold onto his lead, Wiggins dedicated the victory to his team.
“It’s really nice to finish it off in a time trial on the last day for the boys,” Wiggins said on the team website. “All week they’ve been incredible—it doesn’t matter how strong you are as an individual, without those team-mates this week I wouldn’t be in this position.”
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