TOUR DE FORCE..

Barring a calamity of biblical proportions, Bradley Wiggins is set fair to become the first Briton to win the Tour de France when the gruelling three-weeks, 3,200 kilometres (2,000 miles) event reaches its climax along the Champs-Elysées in Paris on Sunday.

Now in recent times, Britain has been gaining something of a reputation  in the world of cycling - Sir Chris Hoy, Chris Boardman, Victoria Pendleton, Mark Cavendish and others have won medals - and going back in time, there have been notable performers in Le Tour such as Brian Robinson (Le Sage) becoming the first Briton to win a Tour stage back in the 1950s and Tommy Simpson, who died of exhaustion on the slopes of Mont Ventoux during the 13th stage of the 1967 Tour.

The post mortem on Simpson found that he had taken a combination of drugs which proved fatal when combined with the heat and the hard climb of the Ventoux and it would be foolish to ignore Le Tour`s unfortunate history of drug abuse.   Nevertheless the event does seem to represent the ultimate test of endeavour in the sporting calendar.

So, for us Brits, Sunday could well be a day to celebrate a remarkable achievement by a remarkable man if, as expected, Wiggins is crowned the winner without any help from Boots or Lloyds Pharmacy.   But it will not just be the winning that will be celebrated.   It will also be a triumph of sportsmanship as we recall the events a few days ago when, following mass punctures brought about by random tack scattering, Wiggins deliberately held up the Peloton so that those riders who had been victims of the tack attack could rejoin the race.

It`s not surprising that such gestures of sporting integrity are remembered - Paulo de Canio refusing to score in the open goal as the opposition goalkeeper lay injured on the ground;  Keith Miller in 1948 raising his bat from the first straight ball he received so as to dissociate himself from the meaningless carnage of the Australian cricketers scoring 721 in a day against Essex - and as well as winning Le Tour, Wiggins should go down in the history of sport as one of the true sportsmen.

It`s often said that Britain is really only any good at sports that involve sitting down - rowing, horse riding, sailing, that kind of thing - and whilst cycling may be one of those sports, surely Wiggins` triumph will represent the ultimate sporting achievement in a quite outstanding sporting year. 

Arise, Sir Bradley!