Wiggins just wants le Tour title, not fame

22 Jul 2012, 4:01 pm   -   Source: AAP
Cadel Evans (R) lost nearly six minutes to upcoming Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins. (AAP)

Cadel Evans (R) lost nearly six minutes to upcoming Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins. (AAP)

Brad Wiggins has been determined to win the Tour de France, but fame and celebrity hold no allure for him.

Now that he will win the Tour de France, Brad Wiggins is done with the profound changes to his life.

Wiggins will become the first British Tour champion when the race finishes on Sunday with the traditional stage into Paris.

He and his Sky teammates have dominated this year's race, with Wiggins winning the two key time trials.

Sky then set a relentless tempo in the mountains, making it impossible for opponents to launch sustained counter-attacks.

Wiggins has spoken of going well outside his comfort zone so he could develop from a great track cyclist into a Tour star.

But, like last year's winner Cadel Evans, he has no interest in the trappings of fame.

"I'm determined to not let it change me, really," Wiggins said.

"I'm not used to celebrity life, the red carpet, all that rubbish."

Wiggins finds it distasteful that so much of modern British culture is dominated by people who are somehow famous for doing nothing.

He recognises what he has done is only sport, but his achievement has substance.

Still, all Wiggins wants to do once the Tour is over is go back home and spend time with his family.

"I go home, I have to clean up dog muck, horse muck where I live - that's incredibly grounding," he said.

"It's just sport and I don't think you should lose any sense of that.

"There will be more winners of the Tour."

Wiggins punched the air in triumph when he finished his individual time trial on Saturday, knowing he had won the stage and confirmed his overall Tour title.

He built his lead over Sky teammate Chris Froome to more than three minutes.

Evans' painful slide in the past week continued when he lost nearly six minutes to Wiggins in the time trial, finishing 52nd.

He will finish the Tour seventh, 15 minutes and 51 seconds behind Wiggins on the general classification.

While it was a disappointing result, Evans remains one of only three Australians to achieve top-10 finishes at the Tour.

The others are Phil Anderson and Mick Rogers, who was a key lieutenant for Wiggins in his Tour triumph.

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