city of Girona in north-east Spain, where were based. He started the season in February by helping the team win the opening team time trial of the Tour of Qatar, crossing the line first to take the leaders jersey. In March he came second to Contador in the opening time trial of Paris–Nice, before riding Milan–San Remo and then placing second in the time trial at Critérium International. In April he won the time trial on the final stage of the Three Days of De Panne, twenty seconds ahead of rider Lieuwe Westra in second place, then had top-30 finishes in the Classics: Gent–Wevelgem and Paris–Roubaix. After finishing in 71st position in the Giro d'Italia and taking second place in the -long time trial on the final stage in Rome, he won the Beaumont Trophy, a domestic one-day race in Northumberland, using it as preparation for the Tour de France three weeks later. Wiggins arrived at the Tour de France having lost , and was nicknamed "Twiggo", instead of the usual "Wiggo". He came third in the time trial on stage one in Monaco, 19 seconds behind 's Cancellara and one behind Contador. He then helped to second in stage four's team time trial, despite losing four riders. On stage seven he finished 12th in the first mountain finish and was in fifth place overall at the beginning of the second week. On stage fifteen in Verbier – the second mountain finish, Wiggins finished fifth, rising to third place overall. On stage 17 Contador, Andreas Klöden () and riders Fränk and Andy Schleck attacked on the final climb – the Col de la Colombière, measuring at an average gradient of 8.5%, and was left with 's Lance Armstrong and Vincenzo Nibali of , who let Wiggins do all the work before attacking one-kilometre from the summit. Wiggins failed to gain time on the descent and finished three minutes and seven seconds down on winner Fränk Schleck, dropping to sixth overall. Wiggins moved back up to fourth, after finishing in second place in the time trial on stage 19, finishing in sixth place 42 seconds down on winner Contador. On stage 20 to Mont Ventoux, Wiggins was dropped by the yellow jersey group from the summit, finishing in tenth place and kept fourth overall, three seconds ahead of Fränk Schleck; he held that position in the final stage, equalling Robert Millar's