Wiggins takes sprint victory in La Chaux-de-Fonds

Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins came to the Tour de Romandie to make a statement about his Tour de France ambitions, and what a statement he made: after his sprinter Mark Cavendish was dropped on a climb with 30km to go, the British champion won the bunch sprint by putting in such a turn of speed that no sprinter could come around.

He was trailed across the line by Lieuwe Westra (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Paolo Tiralongo (Astana), with Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) taking a close fourth in the battle for the bonus seconds.

"I went a bit early and had to sit down to rest for a bit and then went again but it was good to get the win!," Wiggins said on TeamSky.com. The fact that this time trial specialist and Grand Tour contender was at the head of the bunch sprint was made all the more remarkable by the fact that 20 minutes earlier he had been dropped from the peloton with a flat tyre.

"I had a lot of adrenaline after I punctured with 25k to go. When that happened the boys dropped back for me and did a fantastic job," he said.

"Then in the final I was kind of on my own and marshalling everything and I just wanted to pay them back for everything they’d done, they were incredible. I’ve got them to thank and it was really nice to be able to finish it off like that."

Wiggins' teammate and race leader Geraint Thomas was dropped on the Haut de la Côte, having left his climbing legs on the track in Melbourne, so the race leadership passed to Wiggins, with Rogers in second at seven seconds. Bauke Mollema (Rabobank) is now in third.

The 184.5km stage from Morges to La Chaux-de-Fonds seemed to be going according to plan for the sprinters, with a four-man breakaway hitting out early and then gaining a manageable lead which maxed out at 5:09 and was well under control by the Sky Procycling team of race leader Thomas and world champion Cavendish.

Martin Kohler (BMC), Kenny Dehaes (Lotto-Belisol), Angelo Tulik (Europcar) and Jimmy Engoulvent (Saur-Sojasun) worked well together but still had their gap reduced to just 1:30 as they approached the category 2 Haut de la Côte.

As the gradient kicked in, Kohler, who had taken the earlier category 2 mountain sprint on Les Bugnenets, attacked in pursuit of the mountains jersey, dropping his companions as the peloton surged nearer.

The BMC rider could not stay clear for the crest, and there was a counter-attack from the peloton by Fabrice Jeandesboz (Saur-Sojasun), who went clear as the breakaway was swallowed up.

On the back, the high pace on the climb and the hard chase leading up to it by Sky put paid to the chances of  Cavendish and, not surprisingly considering his recent focus on the track, race leader Thomas.

The final 20km were filled with attacks, with Thomas Rohregger (RadioShack-Nissan) going clear over the top, but the move merely succeeded in bringing Jeandesboz back. There was a quick counter-attack by Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Big Mat) which split the peloton, leaving a fracturing group of a dozen riders off the front of the bunch.

Wiggins had an untimely mechanical at this point, and had to fight his way back with his Sky teammate Michael Rogers, who was wearing the green points jersey. Once Wiggins was brought back, Sky went back to the front and sparked a wickedly fast chase to bring back the 14 riders up the road.

On the final classified climb, the category 3 Le Communal de la Sagne, the lead group was headed by Ryder Hesjedal (Garmin-Barracuda) and Chris Anker Sorensen (Saxo Bank), but the peloton was hot on their heels.

Sensing the impending catch, Daniel Navarro (Saxo Bank) attacked, and was chased by two riders, Rinaldo Nocentini (AG2R) and Maxime Mederel (Saur-Sojasun), but on the rapid run-in of the final 10km, the trio could not gain much of an advantage on the bunch. A final surge by Katusha with 7km to go put the nail in the coffin for the remaining leaders.

Tejay Van Garderen (BMC) tried to pull clear on a small climb and was followed by five others, but with a flat road to the finish it would be difficult for a group to stay clear, and the American was called back to the peloton to help control the escapees in the final kilometers.

Rui Costa (Movistar) put in a surge with 2km to go, but Wiggins himself shut down the move, the British champion clearly on a tear. Wiggins sat back and let Rabobank and Liquigas lead into the final half kilometer, then went again to the front and put in a blistering sprint that left the other contenders struggling and ultimately failing to get past.

"I want to win Romandie, that’s for sure. I’ll take what I can every day and it’s really nice to win a sprint like this because normally I only ever really win time trials."