'I've just won a stage of the Tour de France, mate!': Hindley grabs yellow jersey as Aussie blows Tour apart
Australia's Jai Hindley has said he is "lost for words" after a shock stage victory at the Tour de France earned him the leader's…
It has been spoken about in whispers throughout the year, hinted at after the Vuleta last year and questions asked after Mark Cavendish signed. It does now seem though that the suggested divisions within the Sky Team are in fact real.
Confirmation came via Twitter (ironic some might think, given Brad Wiggins’ stance on it last week) after what was an incredibly entertaining and controversial stage 11 of the Tour de France.
With 4km remaining, Chris Froome’s pace on the front – which was intend to and successfully did unhitch Cadel Evans – was so intense it also dropped his team leader, Bradley Wiggins.
Seemingly unawares, Froome continued powering up the climb and putting time into his team leader.
Then came the call over the team radio, which duly saw Froome back off and pace Wiggins to the finish.
It is from here that the real evidence of divisions appearing within the team emerged. The following was tweeted by Catherine Wiggins (partner of Brad) – and one of the WAGs of the Tour de France
https://twitter.com/Cathwiggins1981/status/223454772290785280
Which was noted and followed up with
Typical! RT @cathwiggins1981: See Mick Rogers and Richie Porte for examples of genuine, selfless effort and true professionalism.
— Michelle Cound (@michellecound) July 12, 2012
From Michelle Cound – the partner of Chris Froome. She appears to have taken offense to Catherine’s tweet, especially in light of these preceding tweets
Beyond disappointed…
— Michelle Cound (@michellecound) July 12, 2012
“Don’t think there are many other pro-riders who’s partners know more about cycling than Chris’s” precisely & I know what happened just then
— Michelle Cound (@michellecound) July 12, 2012
and
If you want loyalty, get a Froome dog… a quality I value… although being taken advantage of by others!
— Michelle Cound (@michellecound) July 12, 2012
All posted after the end of the days stage. It doesn’t however end there, as a tweet posted to Michelle from Peta Todd (partner of Mark Cavendish) was replied to with the following:
@petatodd I couldn’t agree more… and the same goes for @markcavendish !!
— Michelle Cound (@michellecound) July 12, 2012
Even with trying to appreciate that there is a component of emotion in these tweets, given they followed on so closely to the end of the stage, we are still left with the impression that there is a ‘Camp Wiggins’ and ‘Camp Froome/Cavendish’ now within Sky.
And David Millar quipped in with
Oh SNAP! Sky have WAG WAR on Twitter. This shit just got real.
— David Millar (@millarmind) July 12, 2012
Oh to be a fly on the wall at Sky’s team dinner…