Galic Ho said:
I swear, sometimes people make it seem like anyone can win a GT.
Not at all, my point was when has Menchov put
real time into a proper climber who was contending the GC on a big climb in a GT?
He hasn't, he hung in there with some good riders, and nicked seconds off the likes off Sastre and Di Luca on the less mental stages, but, like pretty mcuh everyone else, he has no chance of sticking with Contador and A Schleck when they go at it. Yet he has still won two GTs.
That's canny riding and playing to his strengths.
(I admit wheelsucking was a bit unfair - he knew he didnt really have to take the initiative cos he would take Di Luca in the TTs, and he chose to mark Di Luca rather than follow Sastre when he really went on the attack, I guess he calculated Sastre would not make enough of a gap and he was correct.)
Why can't Wiggins get on the podium with more focus and belief (and other things, depending on your ivew on that)? He is a similar kind of rider, he is at least as powerful, and he falls off quite a bit less.
As no Brit has ever podiumed on a GT, that's all he has to do - I dont care if he does it on a comparatively easy parcours in a year when all the best GC riders have their attention elsewhere.