Attention puzzles Briton Wiggins

Pundits and fans have been gathering around Bradley Wiggins after the Paris-Nice stages to watch him warm down but the Briton finds their curiosity as puzzling as the apparent obsession about the length of his hair. Wiggins, who retained the eight-day race's overall lead after Wednesday's fourth stage was won by Belgian Gianni Meersman, rides a stationary home trainer for some ten minutes, a habit he has developed to avoid being stiff the following morning. Asked about it in a post-stage news conference, the Team Sky rider said: "Really, it's just a warm-down. There are two things in cycling which cause so much commotion: it's the length of my hair and the fact that I warm down. Article continues below "Surely there's other things to talk about... it's crazy. But people love it so we'll do more warm-down, that's for sure." Wiggins was then quizzed about his Paul Weller-style hair, which has grown slightly longer in recent weeks. "Hair grows, it's a natural thing in life," he said. Wiggins's lead was under threat in yesterday's fifth stage from Onet-le-Chateau to the Col de Mende, a brutal three-kilometre ascent at an average gradient of 10.1 per cent. Spain's Alejandro Valverde, who is sixth overall 20 seconds off the pace, would have been the biggest threat. "If I get to the Col d'Eze [last stage, an uphill time trial] with a ten-second advantage it's going to be good," Wiggins said. "The most important thing is to have the yellow jersey on Sunday. From gulfnews