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Summary For Bradley Wiggins, it's time to start handing out the gifts at the Tour de France.
With victory looking locked up, Wiggins was thinking all about payback for unusually unsung teammate Mark Cavendish on Friday, helping to lead him out to a 22nd career Tour stage victory.The one-two-three punch in Stage 18 from Wiggins, Cavendish and their British Sky team might put their Olympic rivals on notice: Team Britain may well be a force in the road race at the London Games.Wiggins ambitions to become Britains first Tour winner is Skys priority, and Cavendish has taken a back seat even leading his team leader over the climbs that he often dreads.Once Wiggins got through Thursdays mountain finale with his grasp on the yellow jersey, he could cede some limelight to a dutiful Cavendish as the race began heading toward Paris for Sundays finish.Fridays ride along four small hills over 222.5 kilometers (138 miles) from Blagnac to Brive-la-Gaillarde was a transitional stage before the time trial on Saturday.Wiggins, Cavendish and the Sky team made it look easy with an almost textbook sprint setup. With about 1.3 kilometers left, Wiggins - rare for a yellow-jersey holder - took the head of the pack and chased down six breakaway riders, then peeled away with about a kilometer to go.The Sky train motored ahead and Cavendish, showing hes perhaps the worlds most explosive rider, whirred around the remaining escapees in the last few hundred meters to win by a couple of bike lengths.Luis Leon Sanchez, seeing Cavendish speed by, appeared to sigh with resignation at the Britons velocity. By the end, Cavendish beat Matt Goss of Australia in second and Peter Sagan of Slovakia in third.Cavendish collected his second stage win of this Tour.I just used the slipstreams, he said. I have used this technique to win 22 stages ... its a magic number - theres one more to go.With the time trial as the last race challenge a discipline that Wiggins dominates he could afford to help Cavendish, so long as it didnt hurt his hopes of winning the general classification (GC).This morning, we decided to put the train in place and help Mark in the final, Wiggins said, after hugging Cavendish at the finish. Its my gift to him.Hes been an incredible teammate the last couple of weeks. Its nice to be able to pay him back, he said. For Cavendish, its been hard every morning, thinking about the GC and maybe sacrificing some sprint stages.Wiggins show of deference bared his mastery and understanding of the sport. Winning the Tour isnt just about scaling ascents, powering in time trials and avoiding crashes on the course its also about stroking egos and keeping crucial teammates happy.Once again he showed, if there was any doubt, that he is the fastest man in the world, Wiggins said of Cavendish.Cavendish is unused to sharing the limelight. Some call him the best sprinter ever, and his victory Friday gave him the same number of Tour stage wins that seven-time champion Lance Armstrong had.The Manx Missile, at 27, is far from through yet and many predict hell win a fourth straight stage victory Sunday on the Champs-Elysees and earn a claim to his own Champagne, not just Wiggins.Cavendish suggested that Fridays victory was a good omen for the Olympics: Its really important, especially in the fashion I did it ... It can really give me confidence Ive come out of this Tour de France in good condition.Wiggins has switched to road cycling after a successful Olympic track career, in which he won three golds. Hell be one of the favorites to win his fourth in the London time-trial, while Cavendish is the man on the road race.With 14 of 22 teams competing this year without a stage win yet, Fridays ride got off to a furious pace with riders looking for momentary glory by breaking away. But the pack held close, never letting the escapees more than about 3-1/2 minutes ahead.Shortly after the halfway mark, several riders including Belgian star Philippe Gilbert and Denis Menchov of Russia crashed after a large dog crossed the road in front of the pack. Gilbert barked at the dogs owners on the roadside, but was held back by a BMC team manager.The top standings didnt change. Overall, Wiggins has a lead of 2 minutes and 5 seconds over Skys Christopher Froome, in second. Italys Vincenzo Nibali was third, 2:41 behind. Defending champion Cadel Evans of Australia was sixth, 9:57 back.Fridays victory gives Britain five stage wins this year from four different riders - Cavendish, Froome, Wiggins and David Millar, who will all be in London. Thats the same number of wins for riders from France.For the British, its a really big day, said French President Francois Hollande, visiting at the finish line in Brive-la-Gaillarde, a town in his political home base.Saturdays time trial presents a 53.5-kilometer (33-mile) loop from Bonneval to Chartres. Riders will leave one-by-one from a ramp in the race against the clock, in reverse order of the standings.
