Bradley Wiggins: British cycling fans pour into Paris to see ‘Le Gentleman’ win Tour de France

Ordinary British fans were just as excited. ‘We would not have missed this for
anything,’ said David Holmes, a 42-year-old from north London who arrived in
the French capital on an early morning Eurostar train.

‘Lots of people were making the journey, many of them having made the decision
to travel at the last moment. It’s such a historic day – nobody wanted to
miss it.’

‘Ticket sales have gone through the roof in the last couple of days,’ said a
Eurostar spokesman, ‘We have taken thousands of extra bookings as a result
of the Bradley Wiggins effect.’

Charlotte Maynard, a 22-year-old student originally from Manchester, was with
three friends who booked their places on the Champs Elysee hours in advance.

‘The crowds are going to be masses later today, so we want to make sure of our
place by the road,’ she said.

‘It’s fantastic to see Union Jacks everywhere – they’re not usually the kind
of thing you see at the Tour de France.’

Wiggins, a self-styled Mod, even got a message from former Jam and Style
Council lead singer Paul Weller.

Weller said in a statement on his website: ‘I want to wish Bradley luck for
the finale of the Tour de France. It is great he’s doing so well and it
shows the years of hard work pay off. Good luck mate.’

Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford paid tribute to Wiggins and team-mate Chris
Froome, who finished second yesterday.

He said: ‘It’s not been a surprise. Let’s take nothing away from Bradley. He’s
had an amazing tour and what better way to demonstrate that he’s the best in
the race?

We are lucky to have Chris and Bradley in the same team. But this was a tour
that suited Bradley, he’s climbing well and his time trials are off the
scale.’

As well as Union Jacks, fans were also wearing Bradley Wiggins face masks, and
carrying banners with the name ‘Allez Wiggo!’ on.

The French media was, meanwhile, still referring Wiggins as ‘Le Gentleman’
after his sporting response to an attempted race sabotage.

When a near rival’s tyre was punctured by tin tacks deliberately scattered
across the road, Wiggins signalled for the entire bunch of riders – a
peloton in cycling parlance – to slow down.

‘No one wants to benefit from other people’s misfortunes,’ he remarked later.

Other monikers for Wiggins, who is fan of Mod music, include ‘The Sideburns’
(Spain) and ‘The Banana With The Sideburns’ (Holland).

He will be expected – as is traditional – to share the 350,000 pounds first
prize among members of his team.

However, his personal pay-day is likely to be much bigger. He is expected to
renegotiate his 1.2 million pounds contract with Team Sky and seal a new
round of lucrative sponsorship deals.

The overall package is expected to push him into the top five of the sport’s
big earners, earning more than £2 million annually.

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