5 Reasons Why Bradley Wiggins Will Win Tour De France 2012
When all the mountains have been conquered, the beautiful countryside absorbed, the scary descents navigated, the inevitable crashes suffered and the endless leg sapping miles finally completed there can only be one winner of the Tour De France.
When all the mountains have been conquered, the beautiful countryside absorbed, the scary descents navigated, the inevitable crashes suffered and the endless leg sapping miles finally completed there can only be one winner of the Tour De France, the 2,000, + mile three week sporting torture fest that plays out like a Kubrickian game of chess on wheels and makes a giant out of each competitor who manages to reach the finish line on the Champs-Elysees. This year there is a sincere hope in the hearts of British cycling fans that Bradley Wiggins, the former track star turned bona fide grand tour contender on the road, can make his name as the first ever Brit to emerge victorious from the race with the coveted yellow jersey in tact and as the following list shows, there is certainly reason to be optimistic about the chances of an easy going, mod loving Londoner standing high on a podium that made riders such as Fausto Coppi, Eddy Merckx and Lance Armstrong unforgettable icons in their homeland.
1. The Absence of Contador and Schleck
If you can imagine Rafael Nadal and Novak Djokovic sitting out Wimbledon or Spain and Germany not competing in the Euros, then you can appreciate why people are labelling a Tour De France without cycling's two most gifted climbers as the most open race in years. Although the absence of former Tour De France victors, Alberto Contador and Andy Schleck invites more pressure for Sky to control the race at the front of the peloton, Wiggins will nonetheless be supremely relieved to not have to worry about chasing down attacks from two men who make riding up impossibly steep hills look relatively easy in comparison to pretty much anyone else who rides a bike for a living. There may still be lots of dangerous climbers left out on the road but without Contador's blistering turn of pace and Schleck's manic tempo it will take a huge effort for anyone remaining to give Sky too many nightmares on this year's limited forays into the mountains. Which leads us naturally to....