Bradley Wiggins is aiming to build on his Tour de France lead after blasting critics who suggest riders must take drugs to win the Tour.
Team Sky rider's fury at Tour drugs question
Bradley Wiggins is aiming to enhance his Tour de France lead in the ninth stage on Monday after blasting critics who suggest riders must take drugs to win the Tour.
The Team Sky rider continues his bid to become the first British winner in the 41.5-kilometre time-trial from Arc-et-Senans to Besancon.
But Wiggins' success on day eight ended with the Tour leader using the post-stage press conference for an expletive-laden rant when asked about cyber critics on
Twitter who suggest riders must take drugs to win Le Tour.
Wiggins has embarked upon a brutal training regime in Majorca and at altitude in Tenerife which has helped him win the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine stage races this season.
"I cannot be doing with people like that," Wiggins said.
"It justifies their own bone-idleness because they can't ever imagine applying themselves to do anything in their lives.
"It's easy for them to sit under a pseudonym on Twitter and write that sort of s**t, rather than get off their arses in their own lives and apply themselves and work hard at something and achieve something."
Wiggins, as race leader, will be the last rider to roll down the time-trial start ramp for stage nine and is renowned for his ability against the clock.
"It's not a straightforward time-trial - it's quite technical in places," he said.
"It'll be a case of going out there and doing what we always do and stick to my race and stay focused on that - if that's good enough, then I'll hopefully take time on those guys."
The 32-year-old triple Olympic champion successfully nullified a late attack from Cadel Evans in the final two kilometres of the 157.5km eighth stage from Belfort to Porrentruy, won by Thibaut Pinot (FDJ-Bigmat).
Evans led an eight-man group 26 seconds behind in second place, Tony Gallopin (RadioShack-Nissan) was third, with Wiggins fourth to maintain a 10-second lead over Evans, who is also a proficient time-trial rider.
Vincenzo Nibali (Liquigas-Cannondale) remained 16 seconds behind in third place, while Wiggins' Team Sky colleague Chris Froome, the winner of stage seven, climbed from ninth to sixth place overall as the peloton moved closer to the conclusion in Paris.
