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Netserk said:Either you ride away full gas, or you stay but don't whine about it.
scholar said:Unless your aim is to give the impression that you're by far the strongest rider without actually having to prove it.
scholar said:This. Unless your aim is to give the impression that you're by far the strongest rider without actually having to prove it.
scholar said:This. Unless your aim is to give the impression that you're by far the strongest rider without actually having to prove it.
webvan said:And he was lucky because when he tried to prove it at the Vuelta 2012 he made a fool of himself. Granted he would have been tired from the TDF, but still...I guess 2014 is the year of the final showdown ;-)
Netserk said:Yet Contador the year before was much better in his 2nd GT. If luck was on his side he could've won it, so I don't agree with the "we know how difficult it is to do back to back GT's nowadays" especially considering how easy the Tour '12 was compared to the Giro '11.
webvan said:Well the Giro had more climbing but was possibly less tense/stressful as the TDF...anyway my point was more that Froome still managed to get the reigning TDF champ kicked out in 2013 with a weak Vuelta. In the end it worked out ok for Sky but still...Froome really shouldn't be so cocky, at some point it will bite him back, probably faster than he expects.
CycloAndy said:Sums it up for me. Prima Donna Froome sounds like Yaya Toure. Sky had committed to Wiggins for years and he was winning so if Froome felt betrayed, imagine how betrayed Wiggins would feel if they suddenly changed support to Froome.
Pippo_San said:There's a reason why Wiggins is a knight and the other not, and probably never will.
One is a champ. The other is a highly talented rider. And that's that.
Contadoraus Schlecks said:This leads back to the debate of Wiggins TT vs Froomes mountain ability. Do you jeopardise the yellow jersey for the team for the sake of individual ego?
Pippo_San said:There's a reason why Wiggins is a knight and the other not, and probably never will.
One is a champ. The other is a highly talented rider. And that's that.
Pippo_San said:There's a reason why Wiggins is a knight and the other not, and probably never will.
One is a champ. The other is a highly talented rider. And that's that.
Arnout said:That's brilliant. I mean, he knew he had one shot at Tour victory, a once in a lifetime opportunity in terms of parcours, opposition and all. The only thing that stood between him and winning was Froome and Wiggins eliminated him perfectly to win the race even though Froome should've won. Wiggins would've been able to do nothing if Froome rode away but the latter was too scared to do it and is still whining about it.
I don't particularly like Wiggins but I have to commend him on his ability to make the most of the situation.
Walkman said:Wiggins is a champ?
Of all the Tour winner since Maurice Garin back in 1903, I don't think there ever has been a winner that never did go to the front. The only time Wiggins got any wind on his nose was in the time trials….
Champion? The guy was dragged around France by him team and won only because Froome was forced to babysit him an all the climbs. Put Froome on any other team and Wiggins would be 5 minutes behind.
del1962 said:Not actually true I remember him leading on a couple of stages that where not the time trial
del1962 said:Not actually true I remember him leading on a couple of stages that where not the time trial
TomasC said:Yeah and even leading the Cav train. Champ!
Walkman said:Of course I was not meaning literally "only in the time trials" but save stage 21, give me some videos of him being at the front for more than 1 minute, will you?
The Hitch said:Why would they have to change?
This idea that a team must always have 1 dictatorlike leader which every other rider on the team is dedicated to serve and no one else on the team is allowed to do anything was invented by Wiggins in the run up to the 2012 Tour in order to stop Froome from being a challenger.
Ironically the very next year when he was in Froome's position, he directly contradicted that by saying he wanted a free role on Froome's team (hillariously changing the goal posts year to year as he pleases)
In reality it is perfectly normal for teams to give other riders room to do things on certin stages or even during the race even as the rest of the team continues to support the leader.
Allowing Froome to ride in no way required them to change support to him.
And if Sky weren't 50x better than every other team that year and weren't carrying out an orchestrated 1-2, forcing Froome to hang back that year, may have cost them, as it did in the 2011 Vuelta.
Though of course the aim was never to win the 2012 Tour. It was to win the 2012 Tour with a 3 time olympic champion who already had a profile in the country and would thus become the face of the upcoming olympics.