General News Thread

[Netserk]

Pathetic. He had his time, got his attention and made his buck. Find something else.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Hasn't he literalled have had a team and is on the motorbike/studio in for many races? Also there seems to be a lot former riders still very much affiliated with the sport in some way or the other, and Im sure it would be relatively easy for a rider with his stature to get a decent job

 

[Izzyeviel]

His team has long ceased to be. & yeah he was a TV pundit - i guess Blythe was cheaper. Pick a sport, any sport, theres thousands of former pros & very few pundit/coaching jobs going. Nevermind the stars, you've spent your whole life being good at just one thing, then in your mid 30's you're on your own. I wholly support the idea of coming up with a support system or something for former pros to help them adapt to normal life & find a new career.

 

[Valv.Piti]

Might be a decent overall point, but when it specifically comes to Wiggins, I dont buy that for one second. He could become a DS, trainer, pundit, commentator or whatever if he wanted to with his resume. He just seemed to piss his opportunies and money away, and that's his own failt tbh.

 

[Rob5091]

Hasn't he literalled have had a team and is on the motorbike/studio in for many races? Also there seems to be a lot former riders still very much affiliated with the sport in some way or the other, and Im sure it would be relatively easy for a rider with his stature to get a decent job

Wiggins has a strong love/hate relationship with cycling so the normal post-riding careers are not really his thing. He's blown a small fortune from what I've read so that does not help. If WT-teams through the UCI are compelled to some time dedicated to education or work-training for retiring cyclists, then it could help the less well off.
I seem to remember that the French have a system for retiring riders (maybe it was Mr Ring who wrote about it) so that they have at least a good education for a second career. Pozzovivo famously has degrees and should not have problems after this, his last, year in the peloton.

 

[RedheadDane]

What a tragedy. Speculating that it might be TV2, Discovery or a pro team, but I have no clue. Actually thinking about it its probably a pro team

Probably a pro team that what?

 

[Valv.Piti]

Probably a pro team that what?

That what what?

 

[RedheadDane]

That what what?

The thing you're speculating about in the post I quoted...

Why are you speculating?

 

[Valv.Piti]

The thing you're speculating about in the post I quoted...

Why are you speculating?

Because he has gotten a new job, so I wonder what that job is. Thats pretty normal.

 

[RedheadDane]

Because he has gotten a new job, so I wonder what that job is. Thats pretty normal.

I only read about it here, and I thought he was just... stopping. A chance to watch some cycling without needing to write whole novels before and after each race.

 

[Netserk]

I only read about it here, and I thought he was just... stopping. A chance to watch some cycling without needing to write whole novels before and after each race.

Afaik, this is all that he has written:

Sidste ordinære optakter
Dagens tre optakter bliver de sidste ordinære optakter fra min hånd, inden min tid på Feltet.dk desværre får en ende på næste søndag. Naturligvis kommer der i løbet af næste uge stadig de sædvanlige ”tipskuponoptakter” til de nationale mesterskaber i både enkeltstart og linjeløb, men disse bliver i dette forum de sidste i dette helt klassiske format. Det har været en fornøjelse at skrive til jer igennem alle årene. Jeg håber, at I har nydt at læse dem i samme omfang, som jeg har nydt at skrive dem.

 

[Red Rick]

Yes, cycling, the sport with one of the worst revenue models out there should set up a fund for when one of its top 0.1% earners blows through all his money

 

[RedheadDane]

Afaik, this is all that he has written:

He hasn't written anything here. I only read about it here. On this forum.

 

[tobydawq]

Afaik, this is all that he has written:

He expanded in the last update from Tour de Suisse:

Der kommer stadig spørgsmål til min fremtid, så jeg må hellere lige gentage denne besked



Der kommer virkelig mange kommentarer og spørgsmål til min fremtid efter den melding, jeg gav i optakterne i går. Tusind, tusind, tusind tak for de pæne ord. De varmer. Det er også ufatteligt svært for mig at forlade dette job, jeg elsker - og at forlade dette forum.



Men jeg vil gentage det, jeg skrev i et svar nedenfor, så det også kan ses af dem, der har slået spørgsmål fra. Jeg er desværre forhindret i at sige, hvad fremtiden byder på. Jeg kan sige, at jeg ikke er blevet fyret, ikke er arbejdsløs, ikke har fået førtidspension og ikke har arbejdet længe nok til at får Arne-pension. Jeg kan også sige, at jeg fortsætter inden for cykelverdenen, men mere kan jeg desværre ikke sige lige nu. I må væbne jer med lidt tålmodighed



Og jeg fortsætter jo altså en uge endnu og vil gøre mit bedste for at dække de nationale mesterskaber så godt som muligt.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

There's a case to be made for there being a welfare system in cycling, but there is zero case to be made for someone who earned as much as Wiggins did being eligible for such a system. I genuinely feel sorry for him, but you can't expect people who earned a tenth of what he did to help clean up the mess he's made for himself.

 

[Netserk]

He expanded in the last update from Tour de Suisse:

Der kommer stadig spørgsmål til min fremtid, så jeg må hellere lige gentage denne besked



Der kommer virkelig mange kommentarer og spørgsmål til min fremtid efter den melding, jeg gav i optakterne i går. Tusind, tusind, tusind tak for de pæne ord. De varmer. Det er også ufatteligt svært for mig at forlade dette job, jeg elsker - og at forlade dette forum.



Men jeg vil gentage det, jeg skrev i et svar nedenfor, så det også kan ses af dem, der har slået spørgsmål fra. Jeg er desværre forhindret i at sige, hvad fremtiden byder på. Jeg kan sige, at jeg ikke er blevet fyret, ikke er arbejdsløs, ikke har fået førtidspension og ikke har arbejdet længe nok til at får Arne-pension. Jeg kan også sige, at jeg fortsætter inden for cykelverdenen, men mere kan jeg desværre ikke sige lige nu. I må væbne jer med lidt tålmodighed



Og jeg fortsætter jo altså en uge endnu og vil gøre mit bedste for at dække de nationale mesterskaber så godt som muligt.

That sounds very much like being hired by a team.

 

[wheresmybrakes]

The Cannibal and some say the G.O.A.T. is 79 today - a happy birthday to him!

Is this this some sort of trick from Pog to let his rivals think he's over the hill, so they have a chance at the Tour?

 

[Sciatic]

There's a case to be made for there being a welfare system in cycling, but there is zero case to be made for someone who earned as much as Wiggins did being eligible for such a system. I genuinely feel sorry for him, but you can't expect people who earned a tenth of what he did to help clean up the mess he's made for himself.

Many young people in the US. will likely have little to no corporate or govt-funded support system when they retire, so it’s on them to take part of what they are earning at present and build their own retirement support system with a 401k, IRA, etc investment account.
Pro athletes are in a similar position except they will “retire” at a much younger age.

 

[Devil's Elbow]

Many young people in the US. will likely have little to no corporate or govt-funded support system when they retire, so it’s on them to take part of what they are earning at present and build their own retirement support system with a 401k, IRA, etc investment account.
Pro athletes are in a similar position except they will “retire” at a much younger age.

Let me put it in a GRAPES-compliant phrasing: the fact that something is done in a certain way in the US doesn't mean it has to be done in the same way elsewhere. And definitely not in a sport to which the US is somewhat peripheral.

 

[Red Rick]

There's a case to be made for there being a welfare system in cycling, but there is zero case to be made for someone who earned as much as Wiggins did being eligible for such a system. I genuinely feel sorry for him, but you can't expect people who earned a tenth of what he did to help clean up the mess he's made for himself.

Dude could probably get a few easy ambassador gigs for good money. Besides, the only reason he's broke is cause he's awful with money. You give him a pension he's gonna waste it completely and ask for more.

 

[Armchair cyclist]

Many young people in the US. will likely have little to no corporate or govt-funded support system when they retire, so it’s on them to take part of what they are earning at present and build their own retirement support system with a 401k, IRA, etc investment account.
Pro athletes are in a similar position except they will “retire” at a much younger age.

I would have thought it a basic duty of care of a sports agency/management company to be pointing athletes, once they are earning more than a hand-to-mouth salary, to long term investments. Of course, if the individual tells them that they aren't interested, there's probably not much they can do.

 

[Sciatic]

Let me put it in a GRAPES-compliant phrasing: the fact that something is done in a certain way in the US doesn't mean it has to be done in the same way elsewhere. And definitely not in a sport to which the US is somewhat peripheral.

Thank god other countries don’t have to do things the way they do here!!!!

But it’s an analogy—some people should know there is no built-in retirement $ safety net, and have responsibility to plan accordingly. But that would be hard for a racer to be motivated to do mid-career when money is fairly plentiful and a rider probably imagined they will have success post-career,

 

[Sciatic]

I would have thought it a basic duty of care of a sports agency/management company to be pointing athletes, once they are earning more than a hand-to-mouth salary, to long term investments. Of course, if the individual tells them that they aren't interested, there's probably not much they can do.

That true, but athletes—like many folks—sometimes make crazy investments that leave them broke.

 

[Rob5091]

That true, but athletes—like many folks—sometimes make crazy investments that leave them broke.

Crazy investments? nah, my money's all in on INDX coin - bound to be a winner!

 

[Sciatic]

Crazy investments? nah, my money's all in on INDX coin - bound to be a winner!

😆