BRADLEY THE HISTORY MAN
Wiggins seals Tour win as Brits take over Paris
JUST when you thought the British makeover of the Champs-elysees was complete, Bradley Wiggins stepped up on to the podium to add a finishing touch that was all his own.
Grasping a microphone that had been thrust in his hand to replace the trophies which will for ever proclaim him as winner of the Tour de France, the 32- year- old Londoner surveyed the faces — half a million of them — pressed towards him from every angle.
It seemed a daunting task to set a bike rider and Wiggins looked to be struggling for the words to express his joy and gratitude. He wasn’t. ‘We’re just going to draw the raffle numbers,’ he said with a face as straight as that which had betrayed no emotion to his rivals across the mountains and valleys of France over the past three weeks.
We could have been in a bingo hall in Wigan, near where Wiggins lives. Instead we were on the most exclusive avenue in the world witnessing history as Britain acclaimed its first winner of Le Tour in its 99-race history.
Roars of laughter broke out in pockets of the grandstands lining the cobbled avenue.
In other sections there was silence. Language was one barrier, humour a greater one.
Wiggins continued, warming to his audience.
‘Some dreams do come true. My old mother over there, her son’s just won the Tour de France.
‘Thank you, everyone. Cheers. Have a safe journey home and don’t get too drunk.’
And they say English comics don’t travel well.
It was an offbeat end to an afternoon without precedent.
Wiggins won the yellow jersey, Mark Cavendish crossed the line first, just as he had for the previous three years in Paris.
The Brits had conquered cycling and they had snaffled France’s jewel of a race.
The French Tricolore hung from the arms of every lamp-post along the Champs-elysees, but at ground level it was the Union Flag that was omnipresent.
That and the colour yellow. Team Sky had replaced the blue stripe on every one of their vehicles for the day, as well as the staff T-shirts, to match the colour of the outfit Wiggins wore as the peloton swept along the avenue time and again.
Eight circuits they made. And with each passing lap a British enclave near the Arc de Triomphe bellowed its partisan approval.
Wiggins added: ‘That turn was just a sea of Brits and the noise was incredible.
‘It was close to what it was like at the Olympics in Athens when I was coming into the home straight. It’s that kind of feeling. It’s phenomenal. You couldn’t fail to hear it.’
There is only one battle on the final Sunday of the Tour — the final dash to the line.
Etiquette dictates that the man leading the race when the final stage begins will be crowned the victor later in the afternoon. Even if etiquette had been forgotten, Wiggins’s nearest rival was his own Sky team-mate Chris Froome three minutes back. Third-placed Vincenzo Nibali of Italy was more than six minutes down.
It would have been impossible for Nibali to have overhauled the two Britons, but how much more civilised it is to enjoy a ceremonial roll into Paris from its suburbs, to congratulate the winners of the various coloured jerseys and each one of the 153 (out of an original 198) riders who survived a 2,200mile slog along coastal roads, through farmlands and over the fearsome peaks of the Alps and the Pyrenees.
Of the 21 stages, including the opening prologue in the Belgian city of Liege, British riders won seven — Wiggins the two time trials, Cavendish three sprints, Froome the final climb to the Planche des Belles Filles and David Millar a defiant breakaway victory.
For the thousands of Brits who had travelled across the Channel to witness history, there was a joyous inevitability about Cavendish’s victory, imperious as ever. But there was even greater delight in watching Wiggins, in sun-kissed yellow, lead him into the final turn as the peloton exited the Place de la Concorde for the final time.
As he crossed the line, Wiggins stretched out his arms in elation. Messages of congratulations had besieged him since he confirmed victory in Saturday’s time trial in Chartres, including one from his style guru Paul Weller, lead singer of The Jam and a musical hero for the ‘Mod’ Wiggins.
‘It’s a strange sensation. Very surreal,’ Wiggins concluded.
It will continue to be so as it unfurls within him as the weeks progress.
Another tilt at Olympic glory awaits. So, too, for Cavendish although he may not be a Sky rider next year, with team general manager Dave Brailsford hinting yesterday that they will allow the Manx Missile to leave if it is in his best interests.
Brailsford said: ‘ We want to become the best cycling team the world’s ever seen. It’s quite clear we will be coming back next year to try to win the race again, hopefully to defend it with Bradley.’ An encore on the ChampsElysees? Wiggins will be writing his one-liners already.