Sir Bradley Wiggins says he has blocked out all nostalgia and is instead focusing solely on securing victory his final outing for Team Sky at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.
The 2012 Tour de France champion wants a bring a “fairytale” end to his five-and-a-half-year stay with the British squad by attempting to claim the first major one-day win of his career at the legendary cobbled classic.
Paris-Roubaix is one of cycling’s most prestigious races but it is also one of the most difficult to win due to the fact that the 253.5km route contains 52.7km of centuries-old cobbled roads spread over 27 bone-jarring sectors, earning it the nickname the “Hell of the North”.
The race is a unique test of tactics, endurance, bike-handling and will to win, and Wiggins revealed he has consequently not had time to dwell on the sentiment surrounding his final top-level road race.
He told a press conference on Friday: “My Team Sky career finishes after the race on Sunday, not before it, so I’m not even thinking about it at this point. I’m focused solely on the racing and getting my head in the right frame of mind for that.”
Wiggins goes into the race as co-leader of Team Sky and one of the bookmakers’ favourites for victory despite having shown very little good form so far this season, and particularly in the classics.
He is nevertheless adamant that, aside from a crash at the Tour of Flanders last Sunday, his preparations have gone precisely to plan and he is confident of improving on his ninth-placed finish last year.
“I think I have done everything I can do,” he added. “I’m better than I was last year. I feel like I’m in a better place – not just physically, where I can turn to the stats – but everything else.
“I have ridden a lot of races since Het Niuewsblad [the first classic of the season, in February] and aside from falling in Flanders, it’s gone well. There is not a lot we could have done differently.
“I have recovered quite quickly [from the crash] and have had people looking after me. I feel ready to go. It’s a complete contrast from last year. I know I can do it now, whereas this time last year I was trying to confirm to myself that I could do it.”
Wiggins is likely to face stiff competition from the likes of 2014 winner Niki Terpstra, John Degenkolb and Peter Sagan, but he believes the clear favourite for victory is Alexander Kristoff, who has won 11 races this season, including the Tour of Flanders last Sunday and Scheldeprijs on Wednesday.
“If Kristoff keeps going the way he has done, then he will be the man to beat,” Wiggins added. “On this terrain after Flanders, he has to be the favourite. He has gone to another level this year and he seems to be able to do everything.”
Kristoff and Degenkolb are both sprinters who will be heavily fancied should the race come down to a small-group finish in the Roubaix Velodrome.
Wiggins consequently believes Team Sky must try to eliminate them both from contention earlier in the race and believes a solo attack could be the best tactic.
He added: “In the 1990s sprinters would never get to the end in Roubaix. [Erik] Zabel was one of the few, but now Degenkolb was second last year, and Kristoff could do either. You don’t want to be taking guys like that to the finish. We would have to go from a small group or alone.”
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