Tour De France 2012: Bradley Wiggins Will Ride Stage 9 Win to Ultimate Victory

Bradley Wiggins further separated himself from the field at the 2012 Tour de France with an impressive Stage 9 win, and he's set up to win the entire thing after his performance in Monday's time trials.

For those of you who may not be familiar with what a time trial is, racers call it the "Race of Truth" because it's an individual race. Most stages are team races, and riders can lean on one another by drafting. Time trials don't give racers that luxury, as it's just them against the course.

Wiggins excels in this environment, and he dominated Stage 9.

His closest competitor, Cadel Evans, finished the course one minute and 43 seconds behind Wiggins—putting him 1:53 behind him overall. That is a massive deficit in the sport of bicycle racing, and Wiggins has a great team—Team Sky—that will continue backing him up the rest of the way.

The racers will now head into the brutal mountainous portion of this grueling race. After a day of rest, they will hit up Stage 10, from Mâcon to Bellegarde-sur-Valserine. According to Jean-François Pescheux of LeTour.fr: "On paper, the Grand Colombier is a monster. In my opinion, it is the toughest mountain in France, with sections at 12%."

Barring an unfortunate crash, Wiggins and Team Sky will continue to plow through this course on his way to ultimate glory. He's fully healthy; he's riding out of his mind and his time is now.

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