Bradley Wiggins was forced to dig deep to retain his leader’s yellow jersey on today’s third stage of the Tour of Romandie.
The Londoner now leads the race by only one second from the winner of today’s stage, Luis Leon Sanchez (Rabobank), whose 10 second time bonus moved him to within striking distance of the yellow jersey.
Sanchez outsprinted Gianni Meersman (Lotto Belisol) and Paolo Tiralongo (Astana) at the end of the 157.6km from La Neuveville to Charmey.
Wiggins said: “It was pretty straightforward for me; the boys took the load once again and made my job pretty easy really.
“Cav just wanted to help and be part of it and that shows the mark of him as a champion – sitting there behind, watching the world champion is quite something, he was brilliant and gave his all. He was making a few people hurt that’s for sure.
“There were no real nervous moments and I just wanted to stay safe at the end there; that was the priority and I didn’t have any plans to go for a stage win today.”
An early break containing RCUK columnist, Matt Brammeier (Omega Pharma-QuickStep) gained as much as 4.55, but Garmin, Lampre, Rabobank, and Team Sky sensed the threat posed by one of Brammeier’s companions, Leigh Howard (GreenEDGE), and worked to reduce the gap before the final climb.
Dave Zabriskie (Garmin-Barracuda) attacked at the foot of the final climb but was reeled in by Wiggins’ lieutenants, Richie Porte, winner of the Volta ao Algarve, and Michael Rogers, second on GC at the start of the stage.
Porte shut down a series of attacks and Wiggins himself was forced to respond to attacks from Janez Brajkovic (Astana) and then Johnny Hoogerland (Vacansoleil-DCM).
His earlier efforts left him unable to respond to the descisive attack from Sanchez, who narrowly defeated Meersman.
The Spaniard praised the team for its continued efforts after a broken spoke prevented him from contesting the sprint for the first stage. “The team was really strong again and there was no bad luck in the sprint,” he said.
“It was definitely very hard and very close, but I am glad that I could clinch it for the guys and the hard work they did.”
Tour de Romandie stage three – result
1) Luis Leon Sanchez (SPA) – Rabobank – 3.58.29
2) Gianni Meersman (BEL) – Lotto-Belisol
3) Paolo Tiralongo (ITA) – Astana
4) Andrew Talansky (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda
5) Bauke Mollema (NED) – Rabobank
6) Rinaldo Nocentini (ITA) – AG2R La Mondiale
7) Maciej Paterski (POL) – Liquigas-Cannondale
8) Giampaolo Caruso (ITA) – Katusha
9) Gorka Verdugo (SPA) – Euskaltel-Euskadi
10) Fabrice Jeandesboz (FRA) – Saur-Sojasun
General classification
1) Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – Team Sky – 12.40.31
2) Luis Leon Sanchez (SPA) – Rabobank +1″
3) Michael Rogers (AUS) – Team Sky +7″
4)Bauke Mollema (NED) – Rabobank +9″
5) Stef Clement (NED) – Rabobank
6) Andrew Talansky (USA)- Garmin-Barracuda +11″
7) Wilco Kelderman (NED) – Rabobank
8) David Zabriskie (USA) – Garmin-Barracuda +12″
9) Simon Spilak (SLO) – Katusha
10) Molina Ruben Plaza (SPA) – Movistar
