LES HERBIERS, France (AFP) ? Olympic pursuit champion Bradley Wiggins refuses to speculate on his chances of a podium place on the Tour de France, but admits he has done everything possible to make it happen.
The Englishman produced a sensational performance while racing with the American team Garmin in 2009, only missing the podium after a final burst from seven-time champion Lance Armstrong.
Having joined the all new Team Sky, big things were expected of Wiggins in 2010 only for him to finish a humbling 24th overall. As a result, he said that his 2009 result had been a "fluke".
A year later, Wiggins heads into the July 2-24 race with renewed optimism, boosted by his recent triumph in the prestigious one-week Criterium du Dauphine race in France.
Claiming he was now an overall better bike rider than two years ago, the Londoner hopes his bad experience from last year serves him well.
"I can take a bit of everything (from 2009), I could do no wrong there really. I started the race as a no-one and finished as a someone," said Wiggins.
"In 2009 I didn't set off with the goal of GC (general classification), but going into this year's race I've learned a lot of lessons from last year."
Wiggins, who will wear the British national champion's jersey after winning the title last week, said earlier this week: "A year ago there was a lot of doubt whether I'd actually done the work. I perhaps tried to convince myself that I had.
"This year with the team around me we've ticked all the boxes."
This year Wiggins has trained with a personal coach, and followed many Tour contenders in doing training camps at altitude, which, if timed correctly, allows cyclists to perform better in high mountains.
"A big thing has been training at altitude, which I hadn't done a lot before," he added.
But he called on fans not to associate his recent triumph in the Dauphine, considered a mini-Tour de France, with automatic success in the yellow jersey battle.
"I don't think the fans should believe anything. I haven't mentioned podium (on the Tour de France) once this season," added Wiggins.
"The goal whole year has been about the Tour de France, and the Dauphine was just part of the plan.
"Whether I finished first or 10th didn't really matter, my goal was to build my form for July."
"It's not a case of convincing anyone or the fans. I'm in this position now, while six months ago no one would have mentioned podium. I was written off after the Tour de France last year.
"But, it's a long way to Paris and a lot to tackle."
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