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STAGE 8

The pivotal day dawned. Could Wiggins do his stuff and claim the maglia rosa? Waiting for each rider, rolling down the start ramp at two-minute intervals, was a 54.8km course that challenged technical skill as much as stamina and judgement of pace. The fan-lined ramp up to the finish at Saltara was a sting in the tail, giving spectators a close-up view of the agony etched on each rider’s face as they eked out their last watt of power towards the line. As Wiggins noted, ‘It’s one of those tests where you have to be good from start to finish. If you die off at the end, you’re going to lose three minutes on the final climb.’

Team Sky approached the potential Sir Bradley Wiggins masterclass with customary forensic scrutiny. Wiggins had ridden the route, studied videos and absorbed the opinions of his support team. The plan was to get up early, ride the first 30km again, drive the final 25km, then get on the turbo bike, plug in the pump-up music and let the adrenalin take over.

Under cloudy skies and sporadic sunshine, Alex Dowsett – a former Team Sky rider and Giro débutant – set a time early on that was proving unmatchable for rider after ever more highly placed rider. As Wiggins sped off the starting gantry, alone in a private world of pain and focus, his junior compatriot’s time of 1 hour, 16 minutes and 27 seconds was still the time to beat. Wiggins was the Olympic road time trial champion, an undisputed expert at getting from A to B with superb aerodynamic efficiency, but it was nerve-wracking watching his progress over the tight, technical course. The winding narrow country lanes made it difficult to get into a rhythm. The previous day had not been an ideal lead-in, but surely here he could reverse the momentum of the last week for himself?

Eighteen minutes in – yet more wretched luck. Wiggins was indicating ‘puncture’ with a frantic gesture to the team car shadowing him. He was off his new Pinarello Bolide time trial bike, chucking it into the hedge, and back on his old Graal model, trying to stay in the zone, striving to re-establish his rhythm. It was another blow. The loss of precious seconds left him ‘a bit ruffled’. At the first intermediate split, he was 52 seconds down, only seventh fastest.

‘We did a swift bike swap but he lost advantage there and broke his rhythm,’ said Dan Hunt, who was in radio contact with him from the car behind. ‘I started to get this feeling . . . There are problems everywhere we turn.’

Digging in deep, Wiggins made up time in the latter part of the course and finished second, 10 seconds down on Dowsett. It was a result that left him not in the pink jersey – and not with a sizeable cushion of a lead to defend in the mountains – but in fourth place overall, 1 minute and 16 seconds down on Nibali, and behind Cadel Evans and the Dutchman Robert Gesink. ‘It’s all to play for, still,’ he said phlegmatically. ‘There was initial disappointment because I wanted to win the stage. But it is what it is. It’s going to be a hell of a race for the next two weeks.’

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