We continue our build up to this year's Tour de France by looking back at Bradley Wiggins' historic Yellow Jersey win. A victory that kickstarted an era of British dominance in Grand Tour racing.
Cast your mind back to the summer of 2012, the world was a completely different place! No one had heard of covid-19, Sir Alex Ferguson was still Manchester United manager and most importantly to our story, the idea of a British winner of the Tour de France was simply unheard of.
The pre-race favourites going into the Tour were Wiggins, Vincenzo Nibali and reigning champ Cadel Evans. It was the Swiss time trial specialist Fabian Cancellara who took the first Yellow Jersey however, winning the opening prologue in Belgium. Cancellara would hold on to yellow until stage 7.
Bringing the first bit of altitude to the race, stage 7 would be a summit finish at La Planche des Belles Filles, with the victory being decided between an elite 5 man group. Nibali, Evans, Rein Taaramäe, Wiggins and his Team Sky teammate, Chris Froome. It would end up being Froome himself who took the stage win and with Cancellara finishing over 2 minutes back it was double joy for Team Sky as it meant yellow for Wiggins, becoming just the 5th Brit to ever don the famous Maillot Jaune.
Asserting his authority on the race as leader, Wiggins would pick up victory on the stage 9 time trial with teammate Froome rising to 3rd in the general classification.
There was a worry for Maillot Jaune on stage 11 however, climbing the summit to La Toussuire, Wiggins was dropped by his teammate before Froome was told in no uncertain terms to wait up and allow his leader to regain his back wheel.
The Tour would hit the Pyrenees on stage 14 with one of the most controversial moments in recent memory. As the peloton crested the Mur de Péguère, an unusually large number of riders suffered punctures, among them Cadel Evans. It later transpired that it had been a deliberate sabotage, with a carpet of pins and tacks being laid down. Not knowing this at the time, Wiggins showed true sportsmanship as he rode to the front of the peloton and instructed everyone to slow whilst the punctured riders recovered and rejoined the race.
Stage 16 brought with it the so-called "circle of death", with the riders having to take on the Col d'Aubisque, Col du Tourmalet, Col d'Aspin and Col de Peyresourde. After Thomas Voeckler took the stage Wiggins, Froome and Nibali came home together. The big loser of the day was Cadel Evans, finishing a further 5 minutes back, dropping to 7th on GC.
The Sky duo gained another handful of seconds over Nibali on stage 17, before on the penultimate day of racing, Wiggins would pick up his 2nd stage victory winning the individual time trial securing his overall victory in the process. Becoming the very first British winner of cycling's most famous race. A few weeks later, Wiggins would take Olympic Gold in the time trail to top off an amazing summer!
Froome meanwhile would finish 3 minutes 21 seconds back on Wiggins on the 2nd step of the podium. In the coming years, things would just get better and better for Froome, winning the Tour 4 times (‘13, ‘15, ‘16, ‘17) the Giro D'Italia (‘18) and the Vuelta Espana (‘11,’ 17) becoming the greatest grand tour rider of his generation in the process.
Over a decade later and barely a Grand Tour goes by without a British rider fighting for the overall victory. Geraint Thomas, Simon Yates and Tao Geoghan Hart have all won Grand Tours in recent years, with Thomas most recently finishing runner-up at the 2023 Giro d’Italia.
A true sliding doors moment in the sport of cycling, Wiggins’ Tour de France victory was one of the most monumental in the race’s long and storied history, sending shockwaves through the peloton, the ripples of which are still being felt to this day.
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