Arise, Sir Bradley of Wiggins

Yes, the Modfather of British Cycling has done it*.

Watch out for Chris Froome next year!

*born in Ghent, Australian father

Le Gentleman

Although it's a rest day on the Tour de France today, it looks like (whisper it) Bradley Wiggins is going to win.  That's right.  A British cyclist.  Winning.

The Sun

Dubbed 'Le Gentleman' by the French press after his handling of Sunday's sabotage, where carpet tacks were strewn on the course (rumoured to be put there by a group of militant bald Frenchmen, enraged at the sight of Wiggins' overly-luxurient Noddy Holder side-burns), defending champion Cadel Evans was marooned at the side of the road for what seemed like an age, 29 others got punctures and Robert Kiserlovski crashed and broke his collarbone.  Wiggins, taking his yellow jersey responsibilities seriously, slowed the pelaton to allow the mayhem to get sorted out so that there were no unfair advantages.

 

Lets hope that Team Sky work together to let Manx missile Mark Cavenish have his moment of glory on the Champs Elysees.  Cav has been reduced to tea-boy so far in protecting Wiggins.

 

But barring the unexpected - and the Tour is full of the unexpected - it looks like Bradley Wiggins will be the winner at the weekend.

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Golden age of British cycling?  That's now!

Tour de France

The good thing about being in Mummy Mode at the moment during the school holidays is that I've got time to watch the Tour de France.

Today it's Stage 11 in the Alps, short but tough.  But these men are tough.  Unbelievably tough.

In an earlier stage, in a race littered with spectacular crashes, Andre Greipel fell and dislocated his shoulder, but after having it popped back in, got on his bike and not only finished the race, but sprinted in a fight for the line, only narrowly coming in second to Peter Sagan.  They're that tough.

Although Bradley Wiggins is in yellow jersey position, and hopes to be until Paris, I'm cheering for Cadel Evans of BMC.  He's gritty. He's an all-rounder.  He's Australian.  And he doesn't winge either.

This is him in the 2010 Tour.  He crashed in Stage 8 and broke his elbow, but got on his bike and kept on going.

(Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images)

(Obviously, this is in no way a purely gratuitous image - I'm making an important point.)

The Tour is really engrossing because it's not just about first past the post - it's all about team tactics, and races within races.  

And sweaty men in lycra.