gutted wiggins fanboy

[Christian]

yep, lovkvist was off the back but caught wiggins up and rode him in.

That's interesting - I would have expected Lövkvist to stay with the group a little longer. Same as Fuglsang, Fränk Schleck predicted before the Tour that Fuglsang would be able to stay with them and Contador on Tourmalet, so he still has some work to do until then.

But then again they both were probably tired from domestique tasks. Fuglsang could take it easy though whereas Lövkvist kept working for Wiggins - good job by the Swede!

 

[Thee_chisa]

That's interesting - I would have expected Lövkvist to stay with the group a little longer. Same as Fuglsang, Fränk Schleck predicted before the Tour that Fuglsang would be able to stay with them and Contador on Tourmalet, so he still has some work to do until then.

But then again they both were probably tired from domestique tasks. Fuglsang could take it easy though whereas Lövkvist kept working for Wiggins - good job by the Swede!

maybe also a reflection of the heat today and the high tempo

 

[Angliru]

maybe also a reflection of the heat today and the high tempo

I was going to say the same thing. The heat can suck the energy out of you. I know the older I get the more it effects my performance. That could explain both Contador's and Wiggin's performances...and maybe a couple of others. We'll likely hear alot more details from the riders since tomorrow's a rest day.
It will be interesting to hear the reactions from the riders to action of today.

 

[Willy_Voet]

At least he's placed higher than Wigan, or we'd never let him live that down.

Oh, wait...

 

[metaCYCLE]

He put in one that I can recall last year but it was really, really non-threatening to see. He appeared to be spinning too easy a gear so it looked like he was spinning away but going no where.

now that you mentioned this i remember him trying something in the Giro but that turned out to be irrelevant because he was only testing himself and because he ended up waaay back at the end of the stage. it might have been the terminillo stage i don't remember exactly.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

i am not giving up, but i think if he wants podium he needs to be with the top guys rolling into a stage like todays. having said that, i am hoping he was having a bad day and will recover. if he can keep this as his "bad day" and keep up in the next mountains he may have a chance. can't see him challenging conta and schleck though. i think his rivals are levi, menchov, kreuzinger, etc. top 2 places seem to be sown up, but then again, lots of racing to be done yet! roll on tuesday, i may even get a couple of hours on the bike tomorrow

I don't think guys like Wiggins react as well to the first climbs of the Tour as the pure climbers like Contador, Navarro, Schleck, etc.

I think Wiggins has to become acclimated to that type of riding. I do think he will do better after the rest day.

Any contender ahead of Wiggins better have at least 2 minutes lead going into the last TT. I think they know it and will make every effort to distance him, especially in the Pyrenees.

 

[richwagmn]

You guys are insane giving up on Wiggins already.

I think he will struggle a bit on the Pyrenees, but he has to be a favorite for the TT. It's long and flat, perfectly suited to his track racing background. He will put 2-3 minutes into Schleck easily.

Yea, but the Pyrenees will be even harder and possible hotter. Wiggins could come out 5 minutes down easily on AC and AS. Not a contender at all in my opinion. Too many quality riders ahead of him.

 

[the vagabond]

You guys are dreamers. Wiggins is another Bobby Julich, no disrespect to either. He'll never finish higher than his 4th of last year. He loses 1.45 in 3km to a dozen great riders and you expect him to come back? Not a prayer.

 

[erader]

You guys are dreamers. Wiggins is another Bobby Julich, no disrespect to either. He'll never finish higher than his 4th of last year. He loses 1.45 in 3km to a dozen great riders and you expect him to come back? Not a prayer.

yep. wigans "won" his TDF last year. most of the huge expectations on wigans are there because of his big mouth. even garmin, who can't hit their **** with both hands, are having a good belly laugh tonight at wigan's expense.

ed rader

 

[Bennyl]

Wiggans has never yet gone on the attack in a GC to win time or a stage over any big names, so unless he creates a first here, it all comes down to the time trial. being over 2 minutes down already is not a good start, as he cannot lose any more time between now and stage 20. I think he will finish top 10 at best.

 

[santacruz]

It seemed like the high pace his team deliberately set, simply helped to weed himself out of the finale, lol.

 

[BroDeal]

I think most people forget last year everybody soft-pedalled in the mountains due to several tactical factors and Wiggins actually was dropped when things got serious in the Le Grand Bornand stage. I'd say he did OK today. So OK in fact that I would not write him off just yet, even though just yesterday I thought he was Jaskula mark 2.

For a long time I have been saying that Wigans will lose twenty minutes in the mountains. People laughed at me. I stick by it. Last year's route was a joke. It was designed to keep Armstrong in contention as long as possible. The only "real" mountain stage was the La Grand Bornand stage, and Wigans lost a big chunk of time.

Today he was tailed off a large group. He lost lots of time in very few kilometers. When the big boys really turn it on, Wigans will lots of time.

The riders on Team Wigan are probably still laughing.

 

[Anonymous]

You guys are insane giving up on Wiggins already.

I think he will struggle a bit on the Pyrenees, but he has to be a favorite for the TT. It's long and flat, perfectly suited to his track racing background. He will put 2-3 minutes into Schleck easily.

I have to disagree. The only way Wiggins puts that much time into Andy is if he's so far off the back in GC that he's fresh as a daisy by the time of the TT.

Wiggins will turn himself inside-out trying to keep pace in the Pyrenees and will likely have dug such a deep hole that if he'll be a dead man walking by then.

Could be wrong tho. Would'nt be the first time.

 

[Boeing]

i must admit to being a bit gutted by wiggins' failure on the latter part of the climb. after last year i expected him to stay with the top guys.

i really dunno what his plans are now.

he needs to keep riding and hoping that some of the others in the top 10 get trailed off and have a bad day like he did.

on the bright side he is only a few seconds behind sastre and basso and still within 1.30 of contador and the other guys like that.

i was disappointed by the lack of team he had - but credit to TL for staying up there.

i think the stage on tuesday will suit him better as it is not a mountain top finish and the weather should be cooler.


3 Alberto Contador Velasco (Spa) Astana 0:01:01
4 Jurgen Van Den Broeck (Bel) Omega Pharma-Lotto 0:01:03
5 Denis Menchov (Rus) Rabobank 0:01:10
6 Ryder Hesjedal (Can) Garmin - Transitions 0:01:11
7 Roman Kreuziger (Cze) Liquigas-Doimo 0:01:45
8 Levi Leipheimer (USA) Team Radioshack 0:02:14
9 Samuel Sánchez Gonzalez (Spa) Euskaltel - Euskadi 0:02:15
10 Michael Rogers (Aus) Team HTC - Columbia 0:02:31
11 Robert Gesink (Ned) Rabobank 0:02:37
12 Carlos Sastre (Spa) Cervelo Test Team 0:02:40
13 Ivan Basso (Ita) Liquigas-Doimo 0:02:41
14 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Sky Professional Cycling Team 0:02:45

there is 1.43 over those riders, i can see the following riders having a bad day VDB, ryder, levi, sanchez, rogers, gesink, basso, and i think he'll take time out of a lot of these riders on the TT.

still, interesting to see what develops. it is nice to have a british rider to cheer on after all the years in the wilderness since millar (robert).

still gutted though

a lot of blabber about "Shack Failure" but Sky pinning it on the first cat was just ***

 

[Anonymous]

A bit dissapointing, 1m45 behind contador who i beleive will be the eventually winner, but if that was his bad day that 2 minutes isnt too bad. We saw in the giro that the GC changed dramatically between week 1 and week 3

Will brad win the tour. No. Will he finish 2nd. No. But I think the podium spot is completely up for grabs. Cadel has a good lead but Im not convinced after the effort he put in in the giro that he has the strength to go 3 weeks, Menchov has the ability to gain minutes but lose ten minutes just as easily, Hesjedal, who knows.

I think contador and Schleck will be first and second, but I think the 3rd step on the podium is anyones. Everyone will have a bad day.

But, any dissapointment I had for brad was completely outweighed by watching Lance Backwards. Brad could have fallen off his bike and it still would have been a wonderful day.

 

[marquac]

Are people maybe expecting too much from him? Not to put him down but this is his first full year where he is considered an honest to goodness GC man.

Does he have the tactical skills for the mountains yet? I am wondering if he maybe needs another year of being the total leader under his belt before he is going to be able to not only shine in the TT but be able to attack in the mountains and put time into his rivals there.

 

[Cerberus]

I have to disagree. The only way Wiggins puts that much time into Andy is if he's so far off the back in GC that he's fresh as a daisy by the time of the TT.

Wiggins will turn himself inside-out trying to keep pace in the Pyrenees and will likely have dug such a deep hole that if he'll be a dead man walking by then.

Could be wrong tho. Would'nt be the first time.

I think you're right, but even if we're both wrong the fact is Wiggins is already 2 minutes 25 seconds behind Schleck. He needs to gain 3 minutes in the TT and lose very few seconds in the mountains to beat Schelck. That is really really unlikely.

 

[ingsve]

That's interesting - I would have expected Lövkvist to stay with the group a little longer. Same as Fuglsang, Fränk Schleck predicted before the Tour that Fuglsang would be able to stay with them and Contador on Tourmalet, so he still has some work to do until then.

But then again they both were probably tired from domestique tasks. Fuglsang could take it easy though whereas Lövkvist kept working for Wiggins - good job by the Swede!

What Löfkvist can have trouble with are tempo changes and that's why he was dropped yesterday. The group accelerated and he just kept his own tempo. He didn't just falll off the back quickly like many others but actually rode fairly well even after being dropped. He was with Hesjedal and would probably have finished with him had Wiggins not dropped so that Löfkvist instead paced Wiggins to the line.

 

[ingsve]

People are saying that riding hard on the first climb was a mistake but it's very easy to be wise after the fact. At the time it wasn't a bad move since Wiggins was feeling very well at the time and being able to dictate the tempo is never a bad thing. It might have been even worse for them if some other team had set an even higher tempo or if there had instead been a lot of attacks intead of an even pace.

 

[theyoungest]

there is 1.43 over those riders, i can see the following riders having a bad day VDB, ryder, levi, sanchez, rogers, gesink, basso, and i think he'll take time out of a lot of these riders on the TT.

None of these riders are more likely to have a bad day than Wiggins himself. Last year's Tour was relatively "easy", this year it promises to be hard fought between the stronger climbers of the bunch. And let's be honest, Wiggins isn't one of them.

 

[Animal]

Watching the stage, I couldn't help thinking that a black team kit was not a good choice for a stage race under the baking July sun. They need to redesign it in negative.

Oh, yes, and Yates's "tactics" were boneheaded.

 

[Benotti69]

BroDeal has this one right. Wiggins will blow in the Pyrennees, if he makes top 10 he'll have done well. He didn't want to dig too deep today, but why if he has a rest day tomorrow and could have lost less time..Roche gave it absolutely everything.

I would not bet on Wiggins doing too well in TTs this year either...taking big time out of GC contenders. nope

 

[sida-mot]

People are saying that riding hard on the first climb was a mistake but it's very easy to be wise after the fact. At the time it wasn't a bad move since Wiggins was feeling very well at the time and being able to dictate the tempo is never a bad thing. It might have been even worse for them if some other team had set an even higher tempo or if there had instead been a lot of attacks intead of an even pace.

I agree. I think Wiggins wants the pace high and steady and they do seem to have the team for shredding the peloton, so why not ride at the pace their captain prefers?

The heat might have something to do with it. Lots of riders reported they had problems with it. Some probably worse than others. I think Löfkvist said somewhere that Team Sky had been assigned hotel rooms without air condition the last two nights as well. It's way too soon to tell how Wiggos form really is.

 

[hrotha]

Disagree. No matter how strong Wiggins was or thought he was, he had absolutely nothing to gain from speeding things up. Nothing. He's the time trialer type, he needs to limit his losses in the mountains. A rider like him doesn't go attacking unless it's clear he's the strongest in the group. His tactics made no sense. Wiggins should ask himself, "What Would Indurain Do?"

I think he'll probably get better and possibly end 7th-11th, which will be a very good result. It won't be spectacular but it'll be confirmation that last year's Tour wasn't just dumb luck, and then he can work from that.

 

[Francois the Postman]

i must admit to being a bit gutted by wiggins' failure on the latter part of the climb. after last year i expected him to stay with the top guys.(

Funny how we all get different things out of watching the same race.

After last year I totally expected him not to be able to stay with the top guys.

Last year was an odd one, with next to no serious racing during several of the mountain stages. Wiggins did well though, where others failed. And I thought he put in a titanic effort to hang onto his spot on the last climb, but I just don't get why people expected him to repeat that feature for GC this year. It's more crowded near the top, and there are better riders maturing nicely to boot. And cycling for fourth throughout the entire Tour is very different from clinging onto fourth on the last few kms of the last climb.

That Andy took time off Contador spells bad news for Wiggins too (and others who would prefer the mountain stages to be less full throttle). I can only see yesterday as a jolt up the ambitions and hopes of several of the more able climbers. It was the best thing that could happen to the Tour, the whole thing ought to become more lively from this point in, compared to the same stage in which Contador would have been able to counter the Schleck attack with ease. Then a few people might not have bothered with putting themselves out on a limb on upcoming stages if the display had been "awesome a expected". We should see a lot more ambitious limbs now.

But Wiggins won't be showing his, it is one effort above his best station I think. Worse, his GC ambitions will actually suffer as a consequence.