From tonights Evening Standard
BRADLEY WIGGINS faces an arduous defence of his Tour de France title after the route for the 2013 race was unveiled in Paris today. The 100th Tour, which will start in Corsica on June 29 and finish at dusk on Paris’ Champs- Elysees on July 21, includes seven mountain stages, four of which boast mountain-top finishes.
The peloton will climb Alpe d’Huez twice on stage 18 with the other summit finishes scheduled for Ax-3 Domaines, Mont Ventoux and Annecy-Semnoz.
Although there are two individual time trials and a team ride against the clock, disciplines in which Wiggins revels, the second time trial from Embrun to Chorges in the final week is hillier, with that stage and the route as a whole playing more to the strengths of Wiggins’s team-mate Chris Froome.
Team Sky have said they will wait to digest the route fully before deciding how to tackle it but it has been suggested that Froome will play the role of team leader at the Tour with Wiggins, who as defending champion will undoubtedly argue his case to head up Sky, doing so at the Giro d’Italia.
When asked to pick a team leader, Sky boss Dave Brailsford said: “We had the first and second-placed riders this year which puts us in an interesting position going into next year’s planning.
“Bradley’s the champion but the whole excitement about today is to see what the course is like and that will dictate our plans. It’s not about one rider but the team trying to put the best team out to win the race.”
The biggest threats to a continued British stranglehold on the race look likely to come from Spain’s Alberto Contador, who missed this year’s race following a doping ban, and Andy Schleck, who was ruled out by injury.
When asked for the biggest challenger in his quest for victory, Contador said: “Froome. His potential for attacking in the mountains is far, far higher. Even though it’s your form that ends up making a difference on a climb, the attacks themselves can be important.”
Froome is clear where his focus lies for next year. He said: “I do not know if I will be able to ride two big Tours. I will only be able to seek one win and I have the Tour in mind.”
