Richard Moore: The wit and wisdom of a worthy hero When Bradley Wiggins rode his first Tour de France in 2006 he was asked, midway through the race, how he was getting on. "Yeah, alright," he said on his way to finishing 123rd overall. I think I can win this thing. It was an early example of the dry humour that has become familiar to an international audience which now appreciates that a Wiggins quip is not necessarily accompanied by a smile. He is set to finish the Tour not only as a champion but also as something of a new man. In Liège three weeks ago many of us thought his Achilles heel would be his discomfort in the media spotlight. Most of us have experienced the awkward and prickly Wiggins, many have misunderstood his dry humour or misinterpreted his shyness as aloofness or arrogance. But over the course of this Tour he has blossomed. As his confidence increased, his personality emerged. His pithy lines - "Keith Richards said with a gram of smack you can walk through anything," he observed this week - now provoke laughter instead of puzzlement. They "get" him now. Wiggins also "got it," recognising, after several days in yellow, that there are certain responsibilities which come with leading the Tour. After a couple of early wobbles, including his rant against anonymous tweeters who made dark insinuations about doping, he appeared for his daily press conference on Friday, 13 July and made a speech that was as powerful and eloquent as I have heard from any sportsman. On the same day he penned a newspaper column that tackled the doping suspicion head-on. It is difficult to imagine any other Tour winner of the last 20 years putting his name to such an article, or saying what he said in the press room later. But, as Wiggins seemed to realise after a few days of leading the Tour, you don't wear the yellow jersey - you become the yellow jersey, and the suspicion does not necessarily have anything to do with the individual. It is a legacy of the sport's history. "I take it very personally," he said. Perhaps I shouldn't, it's just because of people who've sat here before me. In the end the Tour is set to have a worthy winner and, more importantly, a credible champion. Wiggins talked of the need to "build bridges" and restore faith. And, blessed with what one writer yesterday described as "bolshy panache," Wiggins could be just the man.