British champion targeting the end of the season after Tour de France disaster
Having crashed out of the Tour de France on stage seven, British champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) is targetting the end of the season, hoping that a good ride in the Vuelta a España will give him the form he needs for the World time trial championships.
Unfortunately for Wiggins though, his concentrating on an attempt to take the time trial rainbow jersey, means that he will forfeit his red, white and blue one for the next year at least.
“When I got to do the Vuelta, it meant I couldn’t defend my title at the British time trial championship,” he explained.
The British championship is scheduled for September 4th, at the end of the second week of the Vuelta. He will be able to wear his jersey for one last time in the race though, in the Benidorm team time trial on day one, and the individual event in Salamanca on stage 10.
By the time the race reaches Madrid on September 11th though, the jersey will belong to someone else. For Wiggins though, it is a necessary sacrifice in order to try and secure the rainbow jersey in Copenhagen Denmark on September 21st.
“I’m going to go into the Vuelta 100 per cent and get everything I can out of it”, he said. “For me it’s about going in there, battling through the three weeks and seeing what I come out with.”
Should the 31-year-old come out of the race able compete, or even win, in Copenhagen, the experience will stand him in good stead for the assault on an even bigger target in his hometown next summer.
“Then from the end of the Vuelta to the World Time Trial Championships, it is pretty much the same amount of time from the Tour de France next year to the Olympic time trial,” he explained. “So it is a good opportunity to go through that whole dress rehearsal for next year and see where I stand after a three week tour and how I back up for a big event like the Worlds.”
Wiggins went into July’s Tour de France on the back of winning the Critérium du Dauphiné, declaring himself ready and able to go at least one better than his fourth place in 2009. Unfortunately though, for Wiggins and so many other overall contenders, his race ended in the crash strewn first week as he broke his collarbone on the road to Châteauroux.
The British champion has not made any predictions for his performance in the Vuelta but, if he can recapture his early summer form he might find himself up there competing with the best; both in Spain and in Denmark.