When we conducted this interview Dan Bigham had just broken the World Hour Record setting a stunning new worlds best of 55.548 on the Grenchen boards in Switzerland – but since then Italian giant, ‘Pippo’ Ganna has rendered Dan to ‘ex-world Hour record holder’ with his 56.792 kilometres. We caught up with Dan a week or two after the hype had subsided.
When you’re in the Tour village, the sun is shining and the riders’ kit is so clean it almost glows, their tans are the colour of mahogany and the smiles for the pretty girls are a mile wide, who wouldn’t want to be a professional cyclist? But when you see men like Sagan and Cancellara on their knees today, sodden, crash scarred and with the prospect of having to do it all again, tomorrow then you remember that it can also be a long ways from ‘ice cream and fairies’ on le Tour.
It wasn't a good day for Chaves on Tuesday's Stage 16, he lost time to Kruijswijk and Valverde. With three minutes in hand over the Colombian, the Dutchman is going to take a bit of shifting; and there's a danger that Valverde might leapfrog Chaves, too - he's now just 23 seconds in arrears. Nibali lost time, too.