inside a race is a weird thing and it’s different each day dependent on how the overall standings are looking. There’s a bigger mind-set on any given day depending on who’s on what time, who’s going for the mountain jersey, the sprint points, the young rider category, who’s in a breakaway, who’s got personal vendettas. Each of these scenarios could play a big role in each day’s action. You have to be aware of these, plus the tactical problems too. Your GC contender can’t ride with the top ten guys on the road all the time. You have to be attentive. If a group goes away and there’s someone dangerous in there, you might have to chase it back. You have to stay on top of all that stuff. It can be complicated.’
It could have been a gentle few hours on the flat while the sprinters eyed up their chances on this shortest stage of the race, but the journey to Tarvisio was another sodden, wind-buffeted, nose-drippy battle along slippery asphalt. In tune with such contrasts, Mark Cavendish surged to his 100th professional stage win while his compatriot and old friend Bradley Wiggins was dropped by the peloton as it pressed forward relentlessly to catch five breakaways. The Team Sky leader finished a forlorn 3 minutes and 17 seconds back, dropping to 13th place – a full 5 minutes and 22 seconds adrift of the man hogging the maglia rosa, Vincenzo Nibali.
‘It’s a long time since I’ve seen Brad dropped on the flat,’ said Brailsford, after announcing that Rigoberto Urán, lying third overall, would take over the team leadership. ‘When he opened the curtains this morning, feeling sick, the last thing he wanted to see was the pouring rain. He showed a lot of courage to try to battle through the stage.’
Confirmation came that Wiggins was struggling physically. Earlier in the race he had told the media that he had caught a cold; he updated them when it turned into a chest infection. He was facing up to the fact that it had become very serious. ‘Christian Knees, Danny Pate and Bradley Wiggins all had upper respiratory tract infections with a productive cough,’ explained Richard Freeman. ‘A lot of people had it in the peloton and they’d cough on the floor, cough on the move. It was horrible. Another rider from another team had already been sent home. Bradley did his best. He didn’t want to give up, but the peloton is a damp, cold place to be. He was on antibiotics, but we weren’t getting on top of his infection.’
Others had watched him silently fight this predicament. ‘For the last few days you could see he was really suffering, but everybody was hoping for the best,’ said Ljungqvist.
‘I had the same chest infection, but I had a little bit of luck in that mine started on the rest day,’ confirmed Knees. ‘Also, in the mountains, my job is done early in the stage and I could go easier and rest until the finish line. But, in Bradley’s position as team leader and GC contender, he needed to push hard every day. He couldn’t hide. He was the Tour de France winner and Olympic champion. He couldn’t go easy even for a day to allow his body to recover. He did everything he could.’
‘It’s one bike race of many. Ultimately, someone had to make a decision. Health is more important than bike racing. That was my job, to take myself out of the bubble of the close-knit team and make an objective decision,’ said Freeman. ‘Bradley wasn’t for giving up. It was an immense disappointment when I ordered, recommended, demanded, asked Bradley to go home.’
There were no farewells, no hugs nor handshakes. Bradley just didn’t get on the bus. Ryder Hesjedal did not sign on at the start, either. Vincenzo Nibali declared that Cadel Evans was now his main rival as the two winners of 2012 Grand Tours, the Briton and the Canadian who had been pitted against each other as intense Giro rivals, beat a desolate retreat to the airport.
‘It was a big letdown. I felt that for him,’ said Danny Pate, who moved his seat from the back of the team bus to take over Wiggins’s front berth. ‘I’d seen all the work he’d done. That guy, I’ve never seen so much focus. He kind of redefined the word “focus” for me. He had trained so much. His diet was so regimented. It was mind boggling. So it seemed cruel that some stupid little sickness took him away. He’d fought it so hard. He’d had the one bad day on the road and that night, oh, he looked so sick at dinner he could hardly speak . . . I assumed he wouldn’t be starting the next day. It was no surprise to me.’
The swap to Rigoberto Urán as leader was not unprecedented. The Colombian had assumed leadership status on Stage 8 of the 2011 Tour de France when Wiggins fell and broke his collarbone. ‘I took over as leader and was having a good Tour, wearing the white young rider’s jersey from Stage 14. Five days later I lost it after picking up an illness,’ recalled Urán. ‘Two years later I was also in a good position here, riding as leader now . . . and I was hoping I wasn’t going to have the same disappointment.’
‘In 2010, Bradley’s exit happened quickly,’ said Dave Brailsford. ‘One minute everything was going to plan; the next minute he was underneath a pile of bikes and riders, game over. This time it crept up. First his chest infection and knee problem were issues to manage, then they started raising questions; then they worsened. It was a gradual realisation that his physical condition had developed into a race-ending situation. As always in sport, you try to be compassionate, but the race doesn’t stop. Swiftly you have to move to Plan B. From the start at Team Sky we tried to develop a mind-set based on the premise that goalposts will move and life’s not fair, so let’s get on with it. We’ve trained ourselves not to dwell on things. It can seem ruthless from the outside, but we recognise what needs to be done.’
Dan Hunt vouched for a seamless transition. ‘It was business as usual, with a different leader. Rigo was right up there on the GC and took all his energy into his new role. He’s a great guy, fun, full of energy, always talking, full of beans, always with a million and one things going on. He moves around the peloton really well and is tough and gutsy. He really dogs it out – he’s a fantastic bike rider and a super guy to have around. The guys loved racing for him.’
‘It was a big disappointment that Brad left, but we still had Rigo,’ continued Pate. ‘He’s relaxed, he comes race-ready. He’s completely the opposite personality. He’s super-funny, a little chatterbox, where Brad can be subdued and quiet. I think the feeling of the whole team was that it wasn’t a bummer because Rigo was in contention and Brad’s sickness was something out of our control. It was bad luck. The leader switch didn’t bother me. Personally, when I like someone, it’s far easier doing dangerous things on a bike and taking risks on their behalf. It goes beyond pay cheques – and Rigo is super-likeable.’
And so the Team Sky operation moved on, maintaining position on another sprint day won by Cavendish, and attracting a new following. ‘We picked up a whole new fan club. There’d be 40 or 50 Colombian fans and journalists outside the bus,’ said Hunt. ‘And a lot of new banter
