HONED on the roads and streets in and around York, cyclist Charlie Wegelius was today back in Italy after completing his second Tour de France.

And while he did not want to see a bike for a good while, the 31-year-old would relish a third crack at the world’s greatest cycle race, which ended with a second successive win for Spain’s Alberto Contador.

Wegelius finished in an impressive 59th place, as he helped to fly the flag for Britain with Bradley Wiggins fourth overall and Mark Cavendish winning no fewer than a record six stages.

The final position of Wegelius was all the more admirable given that he was a last-gasp call-up to the Silence-Lotto team and also that he and seven other team-mates were acting as the donkey-workers for the Silence-Lotto outfit’s principal rider Cadel Evans.

Evans, the highly-rated Australian and one of the pre-Tour favourites, fared poorly.

He finished 30th overall and was not even the top Silence-Lotto rider to finish the gruelling three-week Tour which ended in its traditional French flurry along the Champs Elysees in Paris.

Wegelius said it was not the time to discuss what had gone wrong. A proper inquest would be done by the team’s backers, riders and support-team over the next few weeks.

But he added he had been thrilled by his own performance following his Tour de France debut two years ago in which he finished the highest British-placed rider when he came home in 45th place.

Said Wegelius: “I am very pleased. I rode a really good race and did the job I was asked to do. I came in to do a specific job and I did that job well, but it was not really the overall result the team wanted.

“However, I don’t think many of us in the team yet know what went wrong. There are several factors and they will be looked at.”

Wegelius has been given extra time off after he was drafted into the Tour de France the day before the event started and after a fine showing in the Giro D’Italia.

Of his second Tour he added: “It was a bit more stressful than the first because in 2007 there were not so many high expectations.

“I’m looking forward to a rest.

“As for a third Tour, as a professional cyclist it’s the one you want to do because it’s the world’s biggest.”