Plan B Forum

An act of sabotage marred the first Pyrenean stage of the Tour de France on Sunday when tacks thrown on to the road on a 200m stretch before the summit of the last climb saw Australian defending champion Cadel Evans and up to 30 riders puncture.




But from the chaos that placed at risk the safety of riders as they continued puncturing on the descent at speeds up to 80km/h came a brilliant display of sportsmanship with British race leader Bradley Wiggins (Sky) calling riders to wait for Evans and others who had flatted from the same group.


It was a call heeded by all but one rider in the same group, Frenchman Pierre Rolland (Europcar), who attacked Wiggins' group that had begun to slow up in an act that the Briton later labelled as "uncouth". Although, Rolland later claimed his attack was made without him knowing of the incident.

Rolland, accused of attacking twice on the descent, was finally caught before the finish by Wiggins' group that grew once Evans and a number of other riders caught them with 10 kilometres to go and finished 18 minutes 15 seconds behind Spanish stage winner Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabbank).
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Evans' Tour winning hopes would have been shot for good were it not for Wiggins calling for the glow-slow by him and the other main Tour contenders not impacted by drama in the 191km 14th stage from Limoux to Foix. Asked at the finish of the stage what happened, Evans said: "Nails, protesters or some kind-hearted people on the road. The world is full of people like that, unfortunately - not full, but ... You're in a bike race and people can see something they can gain. Whether it's a protest or something they can gain from you as someone who's reasonably well-known.

"I'm used to people - the 'me me' generation, it's sometimes referred to - that's the way it goes. Hopefully ... karma comes around."

Bradley Wiggins became the first British rider to win the Tour de France as compatriot Mark Cavendish claimed a 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.

Fellow Brit and Team Sky team-mate Chris Froome consolidated second place with Italy's Vincenzo Nibali third.

Cavendish won the traditional sprint down the Champs Elysees with some ease.

The 27-year old from the Isle of Man is unbeaten in Paris, having also won on his three previous Tour finishes in 2009, 10 and 11.

He began his sprint early and held off the challenge of the faster-finishing Peter Sagan of Slovakia, with Australia's Matthew Goss third.

It lifted his tally of Tour de France stage wins to 23, to surpass seven-time Tour winner Lance Armstrong and Frenchman Andre Darrigade to move into fourth 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.