Chris Froome wins the Tour de France

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Jonathan86
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PostChris Froome wins the Tour de France
by Jonathan86 » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:04 pm

Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France as Mark Cavendish claimed his fourth consecutive final-stage victory.

Wiggins, 32, finished in the chasing peloton in Sunday's final stage around the streets of Paris with a winning margin of three minutes and 21 seconds. The Londoner's Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome consolidated his second place with Italy's Vincenzo Nibali third.

It was Briton Cavendish's 23rd stage win on the Tour. That saw him surpass seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong and Frenchman Andre Darrigade in the overall stage-win standings, 11 short of Belgian Eddy Merckx's record of 34.

But the day belonged to Wiggins, who safely negotiated himself around the streets of Paris, to complete the formalities after Saturday's stunning time-trial victory gave him an almost unassailable lead.

The three-time Olympic track champion crossed the line arms raised having helped set up Cavendish's sprint victory in front of thousands of British fans on the Champs Elysees, who had come to witness history being made.
And in winning this year's Tour, Wiggins not only fulfilled a life-long ambition but also sealed his place in the pantheon of cycling greats.

In three demanding weeks, he toiled over the Alps and the Pyrenees to complete the mammoth 20-stage, 2,173-mile race which was in its 99th edition. It is hard to over-estimate what Wiggins has achieved. He has gone from mastery of the short distances required on the track to being the victor of the longest endurance event of its kind.

During his stunning transition from track to road racing, Wiggins finished fourth in the Tour in 2009 - equalling Robert Millar's 1984 British best - before crashing out with a broken collarbone when among the favourites in 2011.

But having worn the yellow jersey for 13 consecutive stages, Wiggins showed why Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford has placed so much faith in his man as he accumulated a winning margin of over three minutes.
That margin of Wiggins' victory also answered many of those who questioned why Froome, who appeared marginally stronger in the mountains, was not Team Sky's Tour leader.

Team Sky themselves achieved the rare feat of a 1-2 on the podium, the first since 1996, when Dane Bjarne Riis finished ahead of his German team-mate at Telekom, Jan Ullrich. It is also the first time compatriots have taken the first two places since France's Laurent Fignon finished ahead of five-time winner Bernard Hinault in the 1985 edition.

Elsewhere, Frenchman Thomas Voeckler of Europcar won the polka dot jersey for the race's best climber, with Slovakian Peter Sagan of the Liquigas team easily securing the green jersey in the points competition.
American Tejay Van Garderen made up for BMC team leader Cadel Evans' disastrous title defence by winning the race's white jersey for the best-placed rider aged 25 and under.

Evans, who made history by becoming Australia's first champion in 2011, finished nearly 16 minutes behind Wiggins.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/

First British winner in it's 99 year history. A fantastic achievement for British cycling, and thought it deserved some attention.

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Drumstick
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Drumstick » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:14 pm

Fantastic achievement.

Wiggins, Hoy, Cav and Co are gonna destroy the Olympics. I assume that Wiggins will be going for his third consecutive 4km Individual Pursuit gold.

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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Alvin Flummux » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:21 pm

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Bigerich
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Bigerich » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:33 pm

Drumstick wrote:Fantastic achievement.

Wiggins, Hoy, Cav and Co are gonna destroy the Olympics. I assume that Wiggins will be going for his third consecutive 4km Individual Pursuit gold.


It really is amazing how one man can be such a brilliant endurance rider, and at the same time dominate in what for running would be a 400m or something. Imagine the same guy winning both the marathon and the 400m in the same career.

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emilythestrange
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by emilythestrange » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:52 pm

That's awesome, wish I'd kept up to speed with this, my parents always watch the Tour and I get into it when it's on. Well done Bradley!

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Floex
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Floex » Sun Jul 22, 2012 5:56 pm

Well done Wiggo!

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Return_of_the_STAR
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Return_of_the_STAR » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:02 pm

Yes, a big well done to Wiggins and also Cavendish who is now 4th in the all time list of stage wins :shock:

Tour de France stage wins
Eddy Merckx, Bel (1969-75) - 34
Bernard Hinault, Fra (1978-86) - 28
Andre Leducq, Fra (1927-35) - 25
Mark Cavendish, GB (2008 to present) - 23
Lance Armstrong, US (1993-2005) - 22
Andre Darrigade, Fra (1953-64) - 22
Nicolas Frantz, Lux (1924-29) - 20
Francois Faber, Fra (1908-14) - 19

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SEP
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by SEP » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:05 pm

Sports Personality of the Year award incoming, surely?

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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Qikz » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:10 pm

Wiggins. :wub:

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Irene Demova
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Irene Demova » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:28 pm

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:Sports Personality of the Year award incoming, surely?

Going off of the past response to equivalent success they'll probably go and knight him once he retires

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Turboman
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Turboman » Sun Jul 22, 2012 6:50 pm

Somebody Else's Problem wrote:Sports Personality of the Year award incoming, surely?

You'd think so, good chance of winning the tt in the Olympics too.

His winning margin this year is ridiculous. Really impressive that sky has managed this in 3 years too

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tomvek
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by tomvek » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:00 pm

I think a lot of praise also has to go to his team who were fantastic.

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Slartibartfast
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Slartibartfast » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:15 pm

Awesome effort. Watching the highlights now (was going to watch today but it was too sunny to stay indoors).

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jamcc
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by jamcc » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:21 pm

This was his reaction to Lesley Garrett singing the national anthem:

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:lol: Does anyone have a video of her performance? Apparently it was really bad.

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Vermin
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Vermin » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:38 pm

Dunno why but want to knock the banana split spark out everytime I see him.

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emilythestrange
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by emilythestrange » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:54 pm

Great photo :lol:

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jamcc
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by jamcc » Sun Jul 22, 2012 7:58 pm

Who is that cartoon character/ videogame character (?) bloke with the sideburns and tache who was used a meme of sorts on here where he did a twirl? Wiggins looks like him.

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Octoroc
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by Octoroc » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:22 pm

jamcc wrote: :lol: Does anyone have a video of her performance? Apparently it was really bad.


It wasn't great.

The highlights programme is on ITV4+1 right now.

Next year I think they should do it on Raleigh Grifters. Who do I write to?

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captain red dog
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by captain red dog » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:23 pm

Superb achievement, amazed how strong he was in the mountains. I honestly thought I would never see a Brit win the Tour. Of course, now the hard work starts as he inevitably will want to do it again because it's the multiple winners that are long remembered.

Is he in the Olympics though, thought he had to give it up to do the tour as its a big ask to be rested enough to compete again so soon.

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NGE
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PostRe: Bradley Wiggins wins the Tour de France
by NGE » Sun Jul 22, 2012 8:30 pm

Octoroc wrote:Next year I think they should do it on Raleigh Grifters. Who do I write to?


I vote Tomahawks.

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