LONDON, UK - Sean Yates has claimed that Bradley Wiggins nearly dropped out of the 2012 Tour de France following Chris Froome's famous attack on the stage 11 climb to La Toussuire.
He claims that Wiggins, who went on to win the 2012 Tour, was so demoralised by Froome's failure to follow the race plan that he suggested he should leave the Tour immediately. Yates says he received a text from Wiggins saying: "I think it would be better for everyone if I went home".
The description by Yates, the Team Sky sports director during the 2012 Tour, is contained in his new autobiography It's All About The Bike, which is published today.
Froome rode to the front of the race approximately 4km from the summit of La Toussuire and appeared to be pulling away from Wiggins before Yates got hold of Froome on the radio and told him to back off. The plan had been to allow Froome to attack in the final 500 metres and cement his second place position on the Tour but an attack 4km out could have allowed Froome to take the lead.
Yates' account shows Wiggins as mentally fragile and he states that if a teammate of Lance Armstrong had done the same as Froome then the American "would have snarled like a pitbull and then chased them down before beating them to a pulp".
A full review of Sean Yates' It's All About The Bike (Bantam Press, £18.99) is now live.
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