Tour De France 2012: Bradley Wiggins says stage 14 sabotage exposes how vulnerable peloton is One of the many attractions for roadside spectators is their proximity to the peloton, particularly on climbs, but there can be hazards for riders - Wiggins was burnt by a flare on Friday's 12th stage. The Mur de Peguere, a 9.3km category one climb at an average gradient of 7.9 per cent, was making its Tour debut and there was the potential for drama - but no one envisaged what occurred. The gradient of the slope ramps up severely, to 18 per cent, in the second half of the ascent, which is as narrow as a single car and shaded by trees. But none of the overall contenders attacked and at the summit Evans stopped for a wheel change. With an escape up the road seeking the stage win and general classification contenders in the main bunch up ahead, Evans panicked while waiting more than a minute for a spare rear wheel. On the descent Wiggins changed his bike and quickly realised something was wrong, ordering his Team Sky colleagues to slow their pace. Evans, meanwhile, remounted his bike and passed Robert Kiserlovski (Astana), who had tumbled to the tarmac - possibly as a result of a puncture from a tack - and was forced to abandon with a suspected fractured collarbone. The Australian required two further rear wheel changes, finally settling on a clean tyre when his team car caught up with him. In the meantime, there was a split in the peloton and Pierre Rolland (Europcar) attacked. Order was soon restored and Evans' group caught up as the top of the general classification standings remained unchanged, with Rolland, ninth overall, reprimanded by the peloton for his move. Wiggins, who is seeking to become the Tour's first British winner next Sunday, added: "So many guys punctured at once, it became quite apparent very quickly that something was up. I don't know whether he (Rolland) knew or not. I knew straight away something had happened. I just thought it (Rolland's attack) was a little bit uncouth at that time. The stage was gone, we'd been up the climb, which was very tough, no one went away, the race was over. It didn't seem the honourable thing to do, to benefit from other people's misfortune at a part of the race which was over.