Opinions on Wiggins

[Angliru]

I think you're being unfair there. Given the context it's very clear that he is saying that that if CVV as a rider he is confident is clean can do well then other clean riders (himself fx) can also do well. You have to really want to in order to read that as an attack on CVV.

Just don't trust the man. He consistently rubs me the wrong way with his actions and media chasing dramatics. I have the utmost respect for CVV and its likely Wiggins meant no ill will in his statement, but he's contradicted himself so much in the past year that one doesn't know when to take him seriously or even believe a word that he's saying.

 

[BroDeal]

Just don't trust the man. He consistently rubs me the wrong way with his actions and media chasing dramatics. I have the utmost respect for CVV and its likely Wiggins meant no ill will in his statement, but he's contradicted himself so much in the past year that one doesn't know when to take him seriously or even believe a word that he's saying.

Yup. Wiggins strikes me as a tool who will usually play nice but occasionally make a mean comment and pretend it was a joke or he was misunderstood.

 

[BroDeal]

I took this from the "omerta" thread in The Clinic. I don't recall anyone bringing it up.

Either in this month's procycling or cycle sport he's talking again about his chances. He had an implied criticism for Garmin's DS at last year's tour, saying that Sky wouldn't have been caught out with the head wind split, because they'd warn the riders of turns ahead.

Wiggins just does not know when to shut up.

 

[IntheMidwest]

Like saying he was a 'premier league talent on a champions league team' in reference to garmin - that one right there put wiggo on my douchebag list.

 

[gingerwallaceafro]

Sure does seem like some of you cotton pickin' sons ofa guns have gotten yawlselves into a miiiiiighty fiiiiiiiiine state and all cooked up for no good reason...

It's as if Lance Armstrong (7 time winner of the Tour de France) had said that he'd rather play 'ball for the Redskins in the world series than the Lakers. Dang, ah was sooooo angry...

 

[Wasilij]

So what, if people were offering you more money in your job, even if you did have a contract, you would be trying to find every way out of it, tell your employed to get ****ed and start for the new employer. Good on him if he can get it. QUOTE]

Right, absolutely! Money, as they say, isn't everything, it's the only thing.
I'm sure Ayn Rand is your favorite "author," isn't she? Or don't you know what/whom I'm talking about?

 

[blackcat]

Personally, I don't really consider the contract side of things to influence my thoughts about those involved.
I just assume that if I was to sit down with for a beer, then I'd understand his reasons for doing everthing he has.

So far I see it as:
a) Brailsford & co wish to start a team
b) Sky get involved and it becomes a goer
c) They plan to have a mainly British team
d) They do the maths and realise that in order to get into the GTs they are going to have to win stuff, so they work out that most of the current crop of brits don't assure them of that, so they start looking for some promising young talent who have already shown.
e) They really want to keep the weight of the team british, but it's becoming tricky.
f) they think 'we need a flagship brit' Perhaps Wiggins is the man.
g) Wiggo finds Sky attractive because it's got a lot of his former British Cycling pals in there and some of his current training team. He also likes the fact that there is another 'clean' team and that he would be a 'star'.
h) But neither party can be absolutely sure that he could carry the GT hopes of the team
i) Le Tour performance gives everyone confidence. Sky push the button and Wiggo tells JV
j) Wiggo is assured by Sky that they'll take care of everything legally so he takes a back seat because he really just wants to focus on cycling. I'm sure there is a feeling that moving to Sky feels like the 'right' thing to do and that ultimately Garmin will be ok. Meanwhile, Sky go off gathering the rest of the team as planned.
k) It all takes a lot longer to sort out than anyone had expected, but the ball is rolling now, and it would all be a little sour if Wiggo stayed at Garmin - motivation would be low, so they plough on.
i) Eventually JV gives in to an offer in order to stop the mess from continuing.

Phew!

I'm pretty sire from reading all the comments that Brad/JV/Millar still hold a lot of warmth and respect for each other and that they all would have wanted it to be a bit cleaner.
Ultimately I feel that Brad is in the right place and I think the others all know this too.

For me personally, I wish Sky had a different sponsor, but other than that I think it's nice to be able to cheer for someone local. It's been far too lean while we staggered from R Millar to Yates to Sciandri to Boardman, etc.

On a slight downer though is the fact that now he's a GT contender, it means that we don't get to see him doing interesting stuff the rest of the year (except maybe time trials). It would probably be more fun to be a Norwegian cheering for Eddy.
Still there's always Cav.

lose all credibility right there

 

[blackcat]

So what, if people were offering you more money in your job, even if you did have a contract, you would be trying to find every way out of it, tell your employed to get ****ed and start for the new employer. Good on him if he can get it.

Right, absolutely! Money, as they say, isn't everything, it's the only thing.
I'm sure Ayn Rand is your favorite "author," isn't she? Or don't you know what/whom I'm talking about?

Ayn Rand, she is a trotskyist right?

 

[Runitout]

Ayn Rand, she is a trotskyist right?

That a joke?

 

[BroDeal]

So is Wiggins official nickname now Wigans?

 

[Potomac]

So is Wiggins official nickname now Wigans?

Of course.

 

[gath28]

The John Mayer of cycling. Seems to spend too much time thinking of clever things to say to or trying to outsmart the media.

 

[Big GMaC]

So is Wiggins official nickname now Wigans?

It is when blackcat is in town. I like it, particularly devious with the Wigan pun...

 

[ingsve]

Ayn Rand, she is a trotskyist right?

She's the founder of the cult know as Objectivism...

 

[blackcat]

It is when blackcat is in town. I like it, particularly devious with the Wigan pun...

Wigans, StrongArm, and Schlecklet.

I know the guy who did Schlecklet, he is on here, he takes credit for it over on Dailypeloton. I hate it personally, prefer Schlecklette. Schlecklette is up there with MiniPhinney for dumb nicknames.

 

[blackcat]

She's the founder of the cult know as Objectivism...

I should have emphasised right

 

[theyoungest]

What the hell is wrong with this guy?

Best moment of the day today was my soigneur Txema putting a heated towel on my nut sack for massage, bloody great!

 

[blackcat]

they do everything at Sky, never say this team aint the nut sack professionals. Solipsism in the extreme, this must be the most egotistical media concoction known to man. Does he have a manager, where is his filter. Wigans has proved he is an idiot.

 

[BroDeal]

What the hell is wrong with this guy?

At first I thought things like twitter were just stupid. Does the world really need to be informed every time someone makes a bowel movement? But the new media has proved a godsend. It makes it easy to quickly find out who the idiots are. With no PR screening and no corporate hand holding, people's true personalities and stupidity come through instantly.

Screw college entry tests. Candidates should be given a Twitter account for a month, so the transcripts can be used to decide whether they are smart enough and mature enough to gain entry. Wigans would flunk out on the first day.

 

[Potomac]

At first I thought things like twitter were just stupid. Does the world really need to be informed every time someone makes a bowel movement? But the new media has proved a godsend. It makes it easy to quickly find out who the idiots are. With no PR screening and no corporate hand holding, people's true personalities and stupidity come through instantly.

Screw college entry tests. Candidates should be given a Twitter account for a month, so the transcripts can be used to decide whether they are smart enough and mature enough to gain entry. Wigans would flunk out on the first day.

Wouldn't the very existence of a twitter account disualify you for higher education?

 

[thehog]

I've always had the physical ability to climb, but the big improvement this year is simply from losing weight. One kilogram of body weight over a 30-minute climb is one minute in time. That adds up to about 10 minutes over a three-week race, and if you start to add up the fact that you are shifting less weight every time you go up those little rolling hills we had on Thursday, every time you sprint out of a corner, it accumulates to a heck of a lot of time and energy.

I was climbing fairly well in the 2007 Tour, but I've lost seven kilos since then: 78 to 71. It's taken nine months, in little increments, without any sort of crash diet. I've had regular check‑ups with Nigel Mitchell, the nutritionist at the Olympic team, to make sure I'm only burning fat, not any muscle. The last one was the day before the national championship, 28 June. He said I didn't have an ounce of fat left on my body. I was at 4% body fat, which is just at the point where you begin to burn muscle because there's nothing else left. It's not a very healthy level to be at, but it's only for these four weeks. It's been perfectly timed. As soon as the Tour is finished, my wife Cath is going to tie me up and force‑feed me cake.

I'm also more efficient on the road because I have done no track work since Beijing. I used to be like a Formula One car, I could go very fast for a short time and when the petrol ran out that was it. Now I'm like a diesel, I can go all day. Rather than four minutes flat out, it's six-to-seven hours, riding at threshold for one or two hours in a mountain stage.

 

[carrai]

Bradley surprised me quite a lot last Tour de France, and i still wonder how it could be possible. Today he tried some attack with 3 km to go in Tour of Basque Country but it was really weak. I don't trust he can repeat such a good performance in this year's Tour. Anyway, maybe it's too early to evaluate his season.

 

[Digger]

I've always had the physical ability to climb, but the big improvement this year is simply from losing weight. One kilogram of body weight over a 30-minute climb is one minute in time. That adds up to about 10 minutes over a three-week race, and if you start to add up the fact that you are shifting less weight every time you go up those little rolling hills we had on Thursday, every time you sprint out of a corner, it accumulates to a heck of a lot of time and energy.

I was climbing fairly well in the 2007 Tour, but I've lost seven kilos since then: 78 to 71. It's taken nine months, in little increments, without any sort of crash diet. I've had regular check‑ups with Nigel Mitchell, the nutritionist at the Olympic team, to make sure I'm only burning fat, not any muscle. The last one was the day before the national championship, 28 June. He said I didn't have an ounce of fat left on my body. I was at 4% body fat, which is just at the point where you begin to burn muscle because there's nothing else left. It's not a very healthy level to be at, but it's only for these four weeks. It's been perfectly timed. As soon as the Tour is finished, my wife Cath is going to tie me up and force‑feed me cake.

I'm also more efficient on the road because I have done no track work since Beijing. I used to be like a Formula One car, I could go very fast for a short time and when the petrol ran out that was it. Now I'm like a diesel, I can go all day. Rather than four minutes flat out, it's six-to-seven hours, riding at threshold for one or two hours in a mountain stage.

Well then, if this was his starting point, what was he at the end of the three weeks? He must;ve been eating into muscle stores, or he's telling porkies...I wonder what........

 

[William H]

Bradley surprised me quite a lot last Tour de France, and i still wonder how it could be possible. Today he tried some attack with 3 km to go in Tour of Basque Country but it was really weak. I don't trust he can repeat such a good performance in this year's Tour. Anyway, maybe it's too early to evaluate his season.

I don't think it was a weak attack but he's probably not in top form. He's only doing this race because he missed Catalunya with an illness

 

[theyoungest]

Bradley surprised me quite a lot last Tour de France, and i still wonder how it could be possible. Today he tried some attack with 3 km to go in Tour of Basque Country but it was really weak. I don't trust he can repeat such a good performance in this year's Tour. Anyway, maybe it's too early to evaluate his season.

Ya think?!