Free Inside Team Sky by David Walsh Page A

his young ally Jean-François Bernard to help take him clear of LeMond in the Pyrenees and at the end of that eventful day, his lead over the American was more than
five minutes.
    Climbing from his bike that evening, LeMond conceded he was riding for second place. He sounded like a coroner pronouncing his challenge dead. But that wasn’t enough for Hinault, who still
wanted to drive a stake through his teammate’s heart. On the second Pyrenean stage he attacked on the Tourmalet, the first of four big climbs. On the early slopes of the Col d’Aspin, he
was part of a group already three minutes ahead of LeMond.
    That meant he led the race by more than eight minutes. It was daring and exhilarating and . . . suicidal. On the third climb, the Peyrescourde, Hinault rediscovered frailty. Drained of energy,
he wilted and the chasing pack, including LeMond, caught him before the summit.
    They knew then how little he had left for the final climb to Superbagnères and LeMond felt like a new man. Away on that climb, winning the stage and though he still trailed Hinault by 40
seconds, the Tour had turned his way. Four days later he would take the jersey from the old champion, never to relinquish it.
    The French never loved Hinault as much as they loved him through that Tour. They didn’t want their champion to be the American’s
équipier
. Hinault didn’t want
it. He chose to die with his boots on.
    LeMond was invited onto a French television show, expecting the fact that he was the first American and first English speaker to win the Tour de France to be celebrated.
    First thing the host of the show said was, ‘
Greg, le victoire pour vous, la gloire pour Bernard
.’ What do you say in response to that?
    With this as a precedent, things didn’t bode well for Team Sky’s attempt at Tour champion relegation. When he spoke about focusing on the Tour and said he believed he could yet be
Team Sky’s leader, Wiggins showed that a boy from Kilburn in London could be as proud and as obstinate as a Breton.
    But Brailsford has a team to run, a race to win and Wiggins’s suggestion that he could yet lead the team in France was close to anarchy. Froome was furious and put out a statement saying
the team was fully supportive of him as leader. Brailsford didn’t need to hear from Froome to know how angry he was. The following day Team Sky issued a statement insisting Froome would be
leader of their team for the Tour de France.
    ‘As always the team selection is a management decision and it will be evidence-based,’ said Brailsford. ‘However, it is crucial there is clarity of purpose and for that reason
we will go to the Tour with one leader. Taking that into consideration and given Chris’s step up in performances this year, our plan, as it has been since January, is to have him lead the
Tour de France team.’
    Brailsford still knew that a strong and committed Wiggins, riding for Froome, would be a huge asset to the team. Early on the 2013 Tour, we spoke in the team hotel car park and perching himself
again on the shelf that runs across the back of the Camper SKY 18, he talked one day about the difficulty he faced when it seemed both men would be in the team for the Tour.
    He spent a long time trying to figure out how best to deal with a situation that had the potential to tear the team apart at the Tour.
    ‘I seriously considered this scenario,’ he says.
    ‘I would have the two of them in a room and I would say to Bradley, “Are you prepared to fully commit to a role where you would ride for Chris?”
    ‘He would say “Yes, I am.”
    ‘Saying that, he might mean it but I couldn’t be sure he would follow through on it and Chris certainly would not believe it.
    ‘Money is important to Chris, he makes that clear which I think is good. The guys that are more difficult to negotiate with are the guys who say that money is not a big issue for them, but
two months later are not happy with what is agreed and it