Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins fumes at 'mediocre' form

Tour de France 2010
Start: 3 July, Rotterdam Finish: 25 July, Paris
Coverage: Listen to the final hour of every stage on the BBC Sport website (UK only), with selected stages on BBC 5 live sports extra ; Watch live on Eurosport and ITV4; Live text commentary each day on BBC Sport website

Wiggins came fourth in the 2009 Tour de France

Bradley Wiggins labelled his form in the Tour de France as "consistently mediocre" after he fell to 18th place overall with six race days to go.

The 30-year-old Team Sky rider finished stage 14 in 36th place on Sunday, leaving him 11 minutes and 30 seconds behind race leader Andy Schleck.

"I've got nothing. I just haven't got the form," said Wiggins, who finished fourth on the Tour last year.

"I haven't got it as I did last year. I just feel consistently mediocre."

Wiggins rode for Team Garmin-Transitions in 2009 but was recruited by the newly-formed Team Sky over the winter with the aim of breaking into the Tour's top three.

I haven't lived up to my expectation - I just haven't got it Bradley Wiggins

Despite what he called "near perfect" preparation for the 2010 Tour, Wiggins has struggled to make the same impact leading him to call last year's effort a "fluke".

"You do everything right, you think you get it right, but I'm not with the best guys this year - it's quite clear," stated Wiggins.

"Last year was a bit of a fluke.

"It was a fluke in the sense that it wasn't planned throughout the year.

"I fell into superb form and was riding on cloud nine most of the race."

Wiggins previously revised his target and said he would aim for a top-10 finish this year after losing almost five minutes on the second Alpine stage.

And, despite slipping further down the rankings since then, the triple-Olympic champion insisted he would continue to push hard to the end.

606: DEBATE The difference between this year's and last year's route is huge and it was obvious (barring crashes) that only a real climber could win maratsafin

"I'm not giving up on anything at this stage, I'll just keep pushing on every day and do my best and see what that is in Paris," Wiggins explained.

"I finished fourth in the Tour de France last year, so I had to come back and try and do it better.

"It's easy to think you can improve and get it right this year.

"I haven't lived up to my expectation - I just haven't got it.

"That's not shocking, that's just disappointing - the reality of it."

Team Sky bosses will have to make a key tactical decision going into the final six days of racing as Swede Thomas Lovkvist is now their best-placed rider, 1 min 44 sec ahead of team leader Wiggins.

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Stage 14 results:

1. Christophe Riblon (Fra / AG2R) 4h 52 min 42 sec
2. Denis Menchov (Rus / Rabobank) +54
3. Samuel Sanchez (Spain / Euskaltel) same time
4. Andy Schleck (Lux / Saxo Bank) +1'08"
5. Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain / Katusha) same time

Overall standings:

1. Schleck 68h 2 min 30 sec
2. Alberto Contador (Spa / Astana) +31"
3. Sanchez +2'31"
4. Menchov +2'44"
5. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Bel / Omega Pharma-Lotto) +3'31"
6. Robert Gesink (Ned / Rabobank) +4'27"
7. Levi Leipheimer (US / RadioShack) +4'51"
8. Rodriguez +4'58"
9. Luis Leon Sanchez (Spa / Caisse d'Epargne) +5'56"
10. Ivan Basso (Ita / Liquigas) +6'52"

Selected others:

14. Nicolas Roche (Ire/ AG2R) +08' 03"
15. Carlos Sastre (Spa/ Cervelo) +08'15"
16. Thomas Lovkvist (Swe/ Sky) +09'46"
18. Bradley Wiggins (GB / Sky) +11'30"
19. Cadel Evans (Aus / BMC) +12' 39"
27. Christophe Riblon (Fra / AG2R) +23' 29"
38. Lance Armstrong (US / Radioshack) +39' 44"
58. Geraint Thomas (GB / Sky) +1h 10' 29"
148. Stephen Cummings (GB / Sky) +2h 21' 50"
150. Mark Cavendish (GB / HTC-Columbia) +2h 24' 15"
156. David Millar (GB / Garmin) +2h 31' 51"
160. Daniel Lloyd (GB / Cervelo) +2h 34' 17"
163. Jeremy Hunt (GB / Cervelo) +2h 36' 30"

Full results on the Tour de France website