strength in numbers to go on the attack and execute a pre-planned move. The lads worked hard and Rigoberto went at exactly the right time, gaining a chunk of time with his first GT stage win in Altopiano del Montasio. We took away a lot of positives from our quest for the maglia rosa.
The 100th edition of the Tour de France meant it was a symbolic race. It was also the first since the Lance Armstrong revelations. It’s a strange situation: the sport is cleaner now than ever but, because of the revelations of past riders, it’s getting closer scrutiny and the current riders are having to take this because of the misdemeanours of the past. Reporters have a duty to ask the questions, but they also set the tone. Riders are smart enough to understand why they’re being asked, but it still doesn’t make it easy.
Otherwise, going into the Tour felt similar in many respects to last year: Chris’s brilliant run-up replicated the wins achieved by Bradley in 2012. Chris, too, hit the race as pre-Tour favourite. Instead of thinking it was our title to defend, which would have been a negative mindset, we went out to try and win it a second time starting from zero. That gave us a more positive way of looking at it. Bradley, the reigning champion, was unable to compete; Chris was coming up through the ranks, very hungry, very driven.
Chris had been second in the Vuelta in 2011, second in the Tour in 2012. Having set his sights on winning the 2013 Tour, he demonstrated an amazing growth in self-belief. He concentrated on learning how to be a race and team leader. He put himself in situations against the best riders in the world and he wasn’t afraid to take them on. When you’re riding to support a leader who can take it on, it’s a great cause. The team had difficult days, yet Chris stayed absolutely calm. He’d say, ‘No worries, we’re in control.’ The art of leadership is not to show anxiety or concern, but to do what it takes to achieve your goal. Chris proved he was the best bike rider in the race. No issue.
The Giro d’Italia. La Corsa Rosa. The toughest Grand Tour of them all. Never mind its bubble-gum branding, the Italian job is the Tour de France’s monster brother. The crazy one. A race that serves up brutal climbs, perilous descents, fraught finishes, extremes of weather, depths of anguish. And on Saturday 4 May 2013 – under azure skies, with Mount Vesuvius looming portentously in the background – it was Grande Partenza time, the moment the clock starts ticking and the contest begins.
Over the course of 21 days of relentless race and recovery, one individual from the throng of 207 tautly primed riders rolling out on the Naples seafront would arrive at the finish in Brescia, a tired body but elated spirit, having pedalled himself into cycling’s history books.
The Grande Partenza was also the start of the tale of what Sir Bradley Wiggins did next. Shorn of hair and trademark sideburns, the Team Sky leader was in combat mode as he prepared to take on the nerve-inducing jostle of fresh riders, the responsibility of never having a bad day, and embark on three weeks that could cement his place among the greats. Looking to follow up his Tour de France and Olympic triumphs of 2012, he had set his sights on becoming the first Briton to win the famed maglia rosa. The experience of claiming the yellow jersey and a gold medal within ten magical days was unsurpassable, but Wiggins still had unfinished business. The Giro held a ‘love–hate’ appeal for him. Fuelled by childhood memories of the heroics of Miguel Indurain on VHS and by his own thwarted attempts (elimination in 2003, early crashes in 2010), the goal was to add the Giro to his unparalleled palmarès.
‘The Giro has always been a race I’d love to win,’ he said, before the nine-strong squads from 23 teams gathered to sign in. The daunting stretches he’d ridden in preparation prompted a doleful afterthought. ‘There have been times, even though I’m physically in great shape, when I think, “Why on earth did I choose to do this bloody race?”’
The annual quest for the maglia rosa is the stuff of legends. Beyond the business of staying on the bike in the hurly-burly of racing full gas over Italy’s challenging terrain, the Giro also comes laced with gruelling transfers, narrow roads, an air of potential chaos. ‘I was super-nervous,’ said Dan Hunt, one of Team Sky’s sports directors. ‘You’re walking into the unknown. You don’t know how it will pan out. For me, the first week was the equal of the Olympics in terms of external pressure, because Brad was going out to win the Giro. It’s one thing to compete in a Grand Tour. It’s difficult going in to win. The world wanted to see if Brad and Team Sky could achieve it.’
With Wiggins anticipating ‘the usual carnage’, he began his assault confident in the team around him. The Colombian climbing specialists Rigoberto Urán and Sergio Henao (who came seventh and ninth respectively in the 2011 Giro) would provide support in the mountains. Christian Knees of Germany was road captain; the versatile Kanstantsin Siutsou of Belarussia a trusted lieutenant. Danny Pate of the United States added an experienced understanding of peloton dynamics. Xabier Zandio of Spain contributed a powerful engine and a big heart. The Italian duo of Dario Cataldo, national time trial champion, and the youngster Salvatore Puccio, would generate a buzz in their home race.
Nearly three hours after passing kilometre zero, the tight and twisty 156km opener served up a fierce sprint finale and a slingshot winner in Mark Cavendish. Team Sky emerged intact. ‘It was a bit hairy, as expected, but we made it through,’ said Wiggins. One down, 20 to go.
A team time trial requires a series of short, intense efforts as riders take turns at the front of their train. This one, hosted by the island of Ischia, also called for strong stomachs. It would be an early wake-up call and a long day for the riders and attendant Giro circus because of the need to sail by ferry to Ischia and then back to Sorrento on the mainland, south of Naples, ready for the next day’s road stage to Marina di Ascea.
‘The team time trial is known as the worst day on a Grand Tour because it’s hectic, nervy and very, very stressful. A lot more can go wrong than go right. It was going to be 17.4km right on the rivet,’ said Hunt, who was bringing his clinical approach as former head of the GB men’s team pursuit squad to this choreographed race feature.
Rigoberto Urán concurred. ‘Team time trials are very complicated in the management of different people’s
