The loneliness of the Yellow Jersey | ‘Terrified Carapaz showed defeatist attitude’

Sir Brad and Graham 'door destroyer' Willgoss are in a brand new van talking Stage 20 of the Tour de France, when Team UAE’s 22-year-old Tadej Pogacar won his second Yellow Jersey with another masterful performance beyond his years.

 

“I actually got a little bit emotional on the bike,” says Brad, who followed Pogacar on the moto. “Listening to the roar of noise coming up the road, and him shooting through – and the crowd went crazy.

 

“I followed him for the last 10km to the end then, and he was shifting. He was rocking and rolling. It just shows that after three weeks of racing, he is not infallible. He is beatable, on any given day.”

 

It was a moment that also took Brad back to the 2012 time trial.

 

“I remember it being the most lonely, solitary place being in that time trial. And the whole world is watching you, being the leader of the Tour de France. Everything that’s going through your mind after three weeks of racing, the closer you get to the finish. And I knew exactly what he was going through.”

 

Elsewhere, Brad wasn’t impressed with the approach of Team Ineos’s main man:

 

“I went to the start house, and Richard Carapaz looked terrified… then he got up to fist-bump Jonas Vingegaard. It showed a defeatist attitude before he set off that he knew he wasn’t going to get those six seconds back.

 

“There’s psychological warfare going on, and it’s a moment you can really put your opponents off by not doing much… If I’m sat there as Vingegaard, that says a lot to me.”

 

On to sprints, champagne and perhaps a record-breaking final stage on the Champs-Elysees.

 

Brought to you by Zwift, where fun is fast.

 

The Bradley Wiggins Show is produced by Pete Burton. 


Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.