Wiggins holds his advantage over Tour rivals (From Lancashire Telegraph)

Wiggins holds his advantage over Tour rivals

7:22pm Sunday 1st July 2012 in Opinion By Bob Hart, Web editor

INTERESTING day on the Tour.

There was a great show of strength from Fabian Cancellara (they do say riders can go faster when they're wearing the yellow jersey), and confirmation of Peter Sagan's star potential with an impressive win on today's difficult opening stage.

Team Sky's Edvald Boasson Hagen also looked strong as he bridged the gap from the peleton to the leaders in the last metres - surely he'll win at least one stage again this year.

But the steep finish obviously didn't suit Mark Cavendish, despite his newly slimmed-down build.

In a chaotic finish both he and Wiggins were left isolated as their Sky team mates worked to bring Chris Froome back into the bunch he punctured a few kilometres out.

Both will be relieved to have finished safely after a couple of crashes marred the frantic conclusion of the race.

Wiggins was in the main bunch at the end, losing no time to Cancellara or (more importantly) Cadel Evans, who was clearly looking for a stage win today.

In the early stages of the Tour, gaining the mental edge over your rivals is crucial - and after today's ride Wiggins has the advantage over the defending champion.

Tomorrow the focus shifts to the sprinters, with the first flat stage of the race.

It's going to the first installment of an intriguing battle between world champion Mark Cavendish, star-in-the-making Peter Sagan and other top names like Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel.

Cav usually misfires on the first sprint of the Tour, but what tomorrow will bring is anyone's guess . . .