Bradley Wiggins has admitted Team Sky colleague Chris Froome would be his biggest rival for Tour de France glory — if the Britons were on rival teams.

Pierrick Fedrigo claimed France's fourth win of the Tour de France on stage 15 to Pau today as the peloton opted for a day of respite.

Bradley Wiggins took possession of the Tour de France race leader's yellow jersey after a dominant performance from Team Sky today, capped by a stage seven success for fellow Briton Chris Froome.

Defending champion Cadel Evans and rival Bradley Wiggins successfully negotiated a crash-strewn first week of the Tour de France as some of their rivals for the Paris podium saw their hopes come to an end on stage six to Metz.

Irish duo Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) and Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp) survived another day of carnage at the Tour de France yesterday but world champion Mark Cavendish wasn’t so lucky as he crashed heavily inside the final three kilometres on the run-in to the finish in Rouen.

Nicolas Roche (Ag2r La Mondiale) came close to winning his first ever stage of the Tour de France when he came seventh on yesterday’s third stage from Orchies toBoulogne-sur-Mer in the north of the country.