One of the most reveling quotes I think came from Wiggins' press conference last night, he said:
Maybe if we are in an age of less drugs then, with a more level playing field, dominant teams will come to the fore. I suppose you could also argue the same when Indurain was winning (I've heard this win compared to the way he won) but back then the playing field would have been level as a result of everyone being on drugs. I hope Wiggins is right about drugs being less prevalent."When we were riding on the front at 450 watts (of power) or whatever, someone would attack and Mick Rogers would say 'just leave him, he can't sustain it'," Wiggins said.
"Someone is going to have to sustain 500 watts over 20 minutes of a climb to stay away, which is not possible anymore unless you've got a couple of extra litres of blood. That's the reality of it. It really is.
It is now up to the rest of the teams to catch up to Sky, although Voeckler shed some useful light on that when he said:
Maybe we do need look at how the race can become more unpredictable. In effect that means isolating team leaders which by extension means no super teams like Sky. But this also begs the question what BMC were spending money on. After all, they were touted as building a super team last year when they signed Gilbert, Hushovd et al to add to their reigning tour champion.France's Thomas Voeckler, who is set to finish fourth overall riding with Europcar team, said: "They designed their team around the demands of the race route. "They've got a really big annual budget which is more than triple ours," said Voeckler, who this year won two stages and looks likely to take the King of the Mountains polka dot jersey.
"Some people might say their victory was without style and panache but you can't argue with the fact they've finished first and second. Hats off to them."
DS