gutted wiggins fanboy

[Pedaaldanser]

From http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-limits-damage-in-tour-de-france-test

Asked why his team had worked on the climb to Ramaz, Wiggins replied: "We rode because we knew that if we didn’t do it, someone else would and so we wanted to be at the front end of it."

“I felt good until the last climb but just couldn’t hold on at the end there. I’m happy to admit I wasn’t quite good enough today but there’s still a lot of the race left so we’ll see what happens.”

 

[Reverend_T_Preedy]

I think it was a disapointing day for Wiggins and Sky as a whole.Not sure about the pace setting on the 1st Cat 1 climb but I assume it was to maintain a consistent pace that Wiggins was happy with but it certainly didn't work. The The team looks very weak on the climbing domestique front and Serge Pauwells, expected to be right up there with him, has been poor.

Personally I think Wiggins, as with many others, have been worried about the Pyrenees and is aiming to peak in the last week which might explain his performance a little. I expect him to perform better but also expect more from Contador and Schleck as well.

At the start of the tour I thought a top 10 would be good for Brad and I still thin that's very possible. He just needs to put some time into the other TT'ers (Rogers, Monchov etc) in the mountains.

 

[blackcat]

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.

Bro, I owe you the bet, Wigans has performed as you said.

Brailsford has to deliver the next bloodbags, and hope to hell to save face.

Wigans cant tt like all suggest he can neither, do some research.

 

[simoni]

As a realistic Wiggins "fanboy" I can't see him gaining any significant amounts of time in the final TT, certainly not to Contador, although theres a poss of 1:30-2mins perhaps on Schleck. But thats kind of irrelevant really, because he looks likely to lose a couple of minutes at least on every mountain finish. I'd guess he'll wind up 10-15minutes down which may well be good enough for the edge of the top 10-12.

Overall, it looks like we might be in for a good tour this year. Contador had one strong man with him but with F Schleck no longer with us, Fuglsang not riding as well as some predicted and Liquigas not looking to have the overall depth they had at the giro, it looks like no one team will be able to strangle the death out of the racing and we might see the likes of Basso, Sanchez, Schleck, Gesink etc. having a proper go at AC in the mountains. And that can only be a good thing.

 

[Parrot23]

Bro, I owe you the bet, Wigans has performed as you said.

Brailsford has to deliver the next bloodbags, and hope to hell to save face.

Wigans cant tt like all suggest he can neither, do some research.

Just about covered all bases there:

Wiggins does badly = pathetic rider (tails, you win)

Wiggins does well = doped to the gills (heads, you win)

Great bet. What they call a "one-sided" bet. Betting shops don't offer them for understandable reasons (if they want to stay in business).

But I agree with Bro that what's most likely is that he will ride like a clean rider with a track background and maybe blow up on the Pyrenees stages, no matter what watts/kg he's achieved via weight loss.

Meanwhile it's "Vino 4 Ever" is it?

 

[Angliru]

sean yates

Figures. That had US Postal written all over it, except it helps when you have the horses to do it and the big gun to finish it off. They have neither.

 

[theyoungest]

I think it was a disapointing day for Wiggins and Sky as a whole.Not sure about the pace setting on the 1st Cat 1 climb but I assume it was to maintain a consistent pace that Wiggins was happy with but it certainly didn't work. The The team looks very weak on the climbing domestique front and Serge Pauwells, expected to be right up there with him, has been poor.

Personally I think Wiggins, as with many others, have been worried about the Pyrenees and is aiming to peak in the last week which might explain his performance a little. I expect him to perform better but also expect more from Contador and Schleck as well.

At the start of the tour I thought a top 10 would be good for Brad and I still thin that's very possible. He just needs to put some time into the other TT'ers (Rogers, Monchov etc) in the mountains.

Menchov is a far better climber than Wiggins. Rogers probably is too, to a lesser extent.

 

[Thee_chisa]

Menchov is a far better climber than Wiggins. Rogers probably is too, to a lesser extent.

i think menchov and wiggins are pretty similar climbers, wait for menchov's bad day - it will come!

 

[theyoungest]

i think menchov and wiggins are pretty similar climbers, wait for menchov's bad day - it will come!

Both of them aren't natural climbers, but Menchov is just slightly better in getting his carcass over those cols. He has a few GT victories to show for it, something I don't consider Wiggins capable of doing.

 

[Benotti69]

Both of them aren't natural climbers, but Menchov is just slightly better in getting his carcass over those cols. He has a few GT victories to show for it, something I don't consider Wiggins capable of doing.

Menchov had considerable 'help' to get those i imagine. Not sure Wiggins is on the same 'help'

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

I am not suprised at all.

Like I thought and said all along, the field of the Tour 2009 is so much weaker than this years field.
The level is extremely high this year and certainly too much for Wiggins hope of a top 5. Even top 10 might be out of the question

 

[roundabout]

I'd like to see him get beaten by Hesjedal

 

[theyoungest]

Menchov had considerable 'help' to get those i imagine. Not sure Wiggins is on the same 'help'

Shut up with that BS, firstly because it's clinic material, and secondly because it's based on the ridiculous premise that a stoic Russian who isn't much loved by the Anglophone media has to be on the juice.

If you saw him fighting to hold Di Luca's wheel in the final week of the Giro last year, you know that he's less likely to have had that little something extra that Di Luca did have.

 

[Parrot23]

Menchov sure was strong in the Giro when he squashed di Lucca. Guess that's definitive proof of Menchov's superhuman natural abilities over that jacked di Lucca

 

[sublimit]

I am not suprised at all.

Like I thought and said all along, the field of the Tour 2009 is so much weaker than this years field.
The level is extremely high this year and certainly too much for Wiggins hope of a top 5. Even top 10 might be out of the question

Yes, definatley a stronger field this time, Evans is riding very well again unlike last year and Vino is back. Throw in Sanchez, Kreuziger and Menchov seems to have sorted himself out also.

I always thought top 10 for Wiggens was realistic bit the podium unlikely. Still, losing 1'45 to a rider like Andy on the stage is not a total disaster and nice to see he didnt blow up David Millar style.

 

[ManInFull]

Both of them aren't natural climbers, but Menchov is just slightly better in getting his carcass over those cols. He has a few GT victories to show for it, something I don't consider Wiggins capable of doing.

When I see Wiggins climbing, I always think that he needs to drop a few more kilos.

 

[ErmOkk]

I don't think he rode that bad compared to the likes of LA... Obviously not a potential TdF winner, but everybody knew that before the start already...

 

[Benotti69]

If you saw him fighting to hold Di Luca's wheel in the final week of the Giro last year, you know that he's less likely to have had that little something extra that Di Luca did have.

i disagree

 

[pedaling squares]

I'd like to see him get beaten by Hesjedal

Me too. And wouldn't Vaughters HATE that.

I want Wiggins to do well but I fear this route does not suit him and he's bearing the responsibility of great expectations this time around. I don't see a podium in his future. But I've been wrong before, just reference my mid 50's placing in the fantasy league.

 

[Mongol_Waaijer]

Shut up with that BS, firstly because it's clinic material, and secondly because it's based on the ridiculous premise that a stoic Russian who isn't much loved by the Anglophone media has to be on the juice.

If you saw him fighting to hold Di Luca's wheel in the final week of the Giro last year, you know that he's less likely to have had that little something extra that Di Luca did have.

I can only remeber DiLuca busting a gut with a flushed and agonized expression on his face, and a stoical Russian holding his wheel without appearing to be in too much distress.

There was also a thread in the clinic where a sports physiologist explained that Denis went over 6,2w/kg in that Giro, one of the few times this level has been reached in recent years, and certainly in an area deemed to be borderline.

Your logic is also flawed: clean rider struggles to stay on wheel of doper, therefore must be clean??

 

[theyoungest]

I can only remeber DiLuca busting a gut with a flushed and agonized expression on his face, and a stoical Russian holding his wheel without appearing to be in too much distress.

There was also a thread in the clinic where a sports physiologist explained that Denis went over 6,2w/kg in that Giro, one of the few times this level has been reached in recent years, and certainly in an area deemed to be borderline.

Your logic is also flawed: clean rider struggles to stay on wheel of doper, therefore must be clean??

Of course not--and once again: this is a clinic discussion--but I have no reason to assume he did dope. I get the feeling that Menchov is somehow suspect because he doesn't get the happy-go-lucky publicity that other proven dopers get (Fränk Schleck springs to mind).

And just the 6,2 w/kg doesn't tell you anything, maybe you mean this was the average during an entire climb or something?

All of this in a thread about Wiggins, track rider with no climbing pedigree to speak of turned into GT rider overnight.

 

[**Uru**]

I think Wiggo is going to get exactly what he deserves. He busted out of his Garmin contract after he had one good run at the TdF and got his payday. Now Sky have to live with the fact that they paid loads of cash for an under weight TT specialist. Seeing him fall back yesterday was just foreshadowing what will come. By the time the TT comes up, Wiggo will be at least 10 minutes back. The best he can hope to do is wheel suck (ala Evans from the 2007-2008 tours) up mountains. There are at least 10 riders who can drop him off their wheel and we all know they will this time around.

For the future, Wigan should try to make himself into a classics type rider. Bulk up a bit and immulate guys like Spartacus.

 

[offbyone]

I don't understand all the surprise. This just confirms a fact we already knew, wiggins can't climb with the top climbers. And we haven't even been to the real mountains yet. He will be lucky to finish as a top ten rider. It certainly didn't help him yesterday that his team forced him to climb the earlier col even harder than was necessary.

 

[Moose McKnuckles]

I can only remeber DiLuca busting a gut with a flushed and agonized expression on his face, and a stoical Russian holding his wheel without appearing to be in too much distress.

Was that not absolutely insane? I remember watching that as well thinking what the f*ck is going on? Menchov looked as though he was reading Poe in a library while DiLuca was trying to squeeze a vuvuzela out of his a$$.

 

[Bernardus]

I can only remeber DiLuca busting a gut with a flushed and agonized expression on his face, and a stoical Russian holding his wheel without appearing to be in too much distress.

There was also a thread in the clinic where a sports physiologist explained that Denis went over 6,2w/kg in that Giro, one of the few times this level has been reached in recent years, and certainly in an area deemed to be borderline.

Your logic is also flawed: clean rider struggles to stay on wheel of doper, therefore must be clean??

Before claiming that someone's logic is flawed, you might want to read you own post.

And even if you actually believe a facial expression can prove/disprove doping, how do you explain this?

This is what Menchov looked like after most mountain top finishes.