Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) put his rivals to the sword again as he took a dominant victory in the first individual time trial of the 2012 Tour de France, between Arc-et-Senans and Besançon, to take his first ever stage victory in the Tour. The reigning Olympic pursuit champion, wearing the Maillot Jaune of race leader and enjoying the luxury of starting last, completed the rolling, sometimes technical, 41.5km course in a time of 51’24”, in an average speed of 48.4kph.
The Team Sky captain finished 35 seconds ahead of his key domestique, and stage seven winner, Chris Froome, with former four-time World time trial champion Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan).
The big story of the day however was that Wiggins managed to put 1’43” into key rival Cadel Evans (BMC Racing), who appeared to struggle considerably over the first sector of the course. The Australian held on to his second place overall, but now trailed Wiggins by 1’53”, and only led Froome - who moved into third place - by 14 seconds.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale), who had started the day in third place, conceded 2’07” to the British rider, and slipped to fourth at 2’23”.
“I just go out there and concentrate myself and doing the ride," said Wiggins of his performance. "It’s all still a bit of a haze. I’ve won the stage which is almost forgotten about as it was all about the GC and the battle – watching for Cadel, Vincenzo and those guys.
“I’m just really pleased with the way I put the ride together and mentally the way I put the day together. The noise when I rolled off the ramp was incredible and not letting that phase me in terms of going off too hard. At the moment it’s just relief and I’m proud of myself for doing that."
Stage nine was the third tough day in a row, after two 'medium-mountain' stages that had ripped the race apart.
“It’s fortunate we’ve got a rest day tomorrow so there’s a bit more time to let it sink in before we are back on the road in two days’ time.
“We’ll just continue what we’ve been doing since the start. Me and Chris have been riding shotgun for most of the stage. The intention of the start of the race was, as last year when I crashed out we didn’t have a back-up plan. We’ll just continue what we’re doing and keeping Chris there as long as possible. It’s just taking it one day at a time, seeing where we go from here.”
Two UNESCO World Heritage sights set the scene for the Tour’s first individual test
The town of Arc-et-Senans, and the city of Besançon - the capital of the Franche-Comté region - are both World Heritage sites, and would provide a fitting backdrop to the Tour’s first individual battle. Riders were to set off onto the rolling course at two minute intervals, with the final sixty riding three minutes apart; this meant that the first rider would roll out of the start house at 9:45am, while Maillot Jaune Wiggins wouldn’t start until 4:39 in the afternoon, almost seven hours later.
Lanterne rouge Brice Feillu (Vacansoleil-DCM) was that first man, and completed the course in a time of 57’33”, but was not to be at the top for very long. Rider number 13 was Feillu’s Vacansoleil-DCM teammate, Swedish champion Gustav Larsson; having surpassed the Franchman by 57 seconds at the first intermediate checkpoint, at the top of a drag into Abbans-Dessus after 16.5km, he was 2’20” ahead at the second, in Avanne-Aveney with ten kilometres to go.
Larsson went on the cross the line in 54’19”, 3’14” quicker than Feillu, which was to stand up for some time. Luis León Sánchez (Rabobank) came close shortly afterwards; the Spanish champion - who had been nursing an injured wrist since crashing on stage one - was just three seconds behind at checkpoint one, five down at checkpoint two, but ultimately crossed the line 13 seconds behind.
Almost an hour after Larsson had started, it was yet another Vacansoleil-DCM rider that posted the best time at 16.5km, as Lieuwe Westra went a second quicker than his teammate with 22’29”. The Dutch time trial champion had faded a little by the second check however, and was only third, behind Sanchez, and ten seconds down; he managed to take 20 seconds out of Larsson in the final ten kilometres though, and crossed the line in 54’09” to take the provisional lead.
British specialist David Millar (Garmin-Sharp) came within 19 seconds of Westra at the first check, but eventually faded to finish 1’23” back - going into provisional fourth - and nobody else was to come close to the Dutchman for some time.
Another puncture for a limping Tony Martin but he’s still fastest so far
Unsurprisingly, the rider to finally knock Westra off the top was World time trial champion Tony Martin. Having been the only rider to puncture in the previous week’s prologue, Martin experienced similar bad luck out on the stage nine course, as he suffered a flat after just five kilometres. Despite this, and riding with a fractured scaphoid bone in his left wrist, the German “Panzerwagen” went 13 seconds quicker than Westra at the first check with 22’16”, 23 seconds quicker at the second with 40’49”, and - after catching two-minute man Steve Cummings (BMC Racing) in the final kilometres - was 29 seconds up at the finish with a new best time of 53’40”.
Ordinarily he would be recording what was likely the be the stage winning performance but, carrying an injury as he was - coupled with another puncture - his time would likely be beaten by at least one of the bigger names later on.
A steady start from the previous day’s breakaway Jérémy Roy (FDJ-BigMat) saw him get steadily quicker, to finish just 36 seconds behind the World champion. Jens Voigt (RadioShack-Nissan) - the man to have got the break going the day before, and the oldest man in the race - was going even faster, and was just nine seconds behind compatriot Martin after 16.5km. The 40-year-old was not going to match the younger man’s time however, but finished in 54’08” to slot into provisional second, 28 seconds back.
It was no surprise that Martin’s big time trialling rival, four-time World champion Fabian Cancellara (RadioShack-Nissan), that finally knocked the current rainbow skinsuit off his perch. The current Swiss champion went through the 16.5km check in 21’37”, 39 seconds, and caught Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) for three minutes before he reached the next one.
Cancellara was not going to have an easy ride however, as French champion Sylvain Chavanel (Omega Pharma-Quick Step) went through the first check just 7 seconds slower.
Fabian Cancellara takes over but the stage is far from decided
Cancellara was 1’09” quicker than Martin at 31.5km though, just as Omega Pharma-Quick Step’s Slovakian time trial champion Peter Velits went third fastest at 16.5km, just six seconds behind his French teammate. Cancellara was still powering around the course, and crossed the line in 52’21”, to beat big rival Martin by 1’19”.
Chavanel passed through the second checkpoint having faded to 26 seconds behind, but almost matched Cancellara in the final ten kilometres to stop the clock just 27 seconds behind at the finish.
Just as Cancellara was making himself comfortable in the hotseat, Tejay van Garderen crossed the 16.5km check three seconds faster, with 21’34”. Shortly afterwards Peter Velits rode across the finish line in the third best time, 1’02” behind the Swiss champion.
Van Garderen had slipped back a second by the time he reached the 31.5km check, but still held a two-second lead. Meanwhile, back in the start house, the American’s BMC Racing team leader Cadel Evans was rolling down the ramp to start his own race. Van Garderen though, had lost another eleven seconds to Cancellara in the final ten kilometres, and was forced to watch the Swiss champion’s time tick past before crossing the line nine seconds down.
Cancellara had no time to relax however, as stage seven winner Chris Froome (Team Sky) - laying down a time for team leader Wiggins - went by 24 seconds quicker than van Garderen had been, in 21’10”.
Wiggins was flying around the course, with early indications showing that he had already taken 30 seconds out of Evans in the opening kilometres. Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) was keen to emphasise that the 2012 Tour was to be a two-horse race though, as he took the first check at 22’02”, conceding just 52 seconds to Froome in a discipline he dislikes.
Evans too was slower than Froome, and even more so than Nibali as he crossed the checkpoint 56 seconds down. Wiggins though was five seconds quicker than his teammate, which meant that he had taken 1’01” out of Evans.
Froome was also fastest at the second checkpoint, but was now just 20 seconds ahead of van Garderen’s time. The stage seven winner staked his claim to a possible second victory in three days as he crossed the line in 51’59”.
Nibali had recovered a little in the second section of the course, and went through 31.5km in 40’30”, having lost just a further 20 seconds in the last 15km. Evans too had conceded less time to Froome, and passed though 1’03” behind him; this figure rose to 1’19” to Wiggins though, as Wiggins flew through in 39’02”.
Nibali crossed the line in 53’31”, 1’32” behind Froome, but a single second ahead of far more accomplished time triallist Denis Menchov (Katusha). Evans meanwhile was going even better, and finished in 53’07”, conceding just 1’08” and preserving his second place overall. Wiggins was still out on the course however, and hit the line in 51’24”, 35 seconds ahead of Froome, and 1’43” ahead of Evans.