Sean Kelly believes Bradley Wiggins' hopes of a Tour de France podium finish look slim.
Team Sky leader dropped on first day in Alps
Bradley Wiggins' chances of a Tour de France podium look slim after the Team Sky leader conceded a deficit to his rivals on stage eight, according to Sean Kelly.
As Lance Armstrong saw his dream of an eighth Tour title vanish on the first day in the Alps, Wiggins' bid to become the first Briton to record a top-three finish in the race receded.
Wiggins finished one minute 45 seconds down on stage winner Andy Schleck and now lies 14th overall, 2mins 45secs adrift of yellow jersey incumbent Cadel Evans.
With nine days racing completed and 12 to go before the Tour concludes in Paris on July 25, Kelly is worried for Wiggins after he appeared to wilt in the heat on Sunday.
Rhythm
"Sometimes in the first stage in the mountains it's difficult to get into your rhythm," said Kelly, who won the Tour de France green jersey four times during his career.
"That's a possibility, but it was not a nice situation to be in for Wiggins yesterday.
"He could not hang on and when you can't hang on any longer the next thing is to limit the damage.
"It's not looking good, losing time yesterday - I would be concerned."
Kelly, though, believes HTC-Columbia sprinter Mark Cavendish, who lies fifth in the points classification, 33 points behind green jersey leader Thor Hushovd, could mount a comeback.
Cavendish crashed on the first road stage and failed to accelerate on stage four into Reims before winning successive stages to take his Tour career tally to 12 wins.
Kelly added: "We saw that he's still one of the fastest, maybe the fastest finisher."
As for Cavendish's green jersey hopes, Kelly thinks it will be tight.
Possible
"It is possible, the gap is bridgeable," he added.
"But unfortunately there's not a lot of stages where we will see big bunch sprints again.
"It's going to be a big battle for Cavendish to get back there.
"But certainly for Cavendish at this moment the green jersey is a possibility."
