Pulling a Wiggins

[Dear Wiggo]

I'm sure you would think about and prepare yourself, no? I mean he was already famous amongst sports fans just not the full 'general public' so had had experience of attending events, being asked for autographs pictures etc, the Tour winner just mean it was then on a bigger scale.. Have you never thought about what it would be like to be famous? I have.

His team should have been doing that. But they were equally as clueless.

 

[RownhamHill]

I'm sure you would think about and prepare yourself, no? I mean he was already famous amongst sports fans just not the full 'general public' so had had experience of attending events, being asked for autographs pictures etc, the Tour winner just mean it was then on a bigger scale.. Have you never thought about what it would be like to be famous? I have.

But the question isn't whether you've thought about being famous, but whether you've been famous? (Especially Wiggins 2012 type fame). Personally I've thought about being that famous, and couldn't think of anything worse - but who knows, if it ever happened to me maybe I'd quite like it? The point being until you're in a position to experience what it's like in the goldfish bowl it's hard to know exactly how you might react to that.

 

[SundayRider]

But the question isn't whether you've thought about being famous, but whether you've been famous? (Especially Wiggins 2012 type fame). Personally I've thought about being that famous, and couldn't think of anything worse - but who knows, if it ever happened to me maybe I'd quite like it? The point being until you're in a position to experience what it's like in the goldfish bowl it's hard to know exactly how you might react to that.

Yeah but the point I was making is that he had already had a strong dose of what it would be like - double Olympic champion, 4th place at the Tour, had experienced riding the Tour in Britain and being one of the favourites to wear yellow after the prologue. It's not like he shot to stardom overnight, his fame gradully grew and grew over a period of about 10yrs. He will have known it would increase if he won the Tour and gold at home Olympics. It's like a footballer is already famous but then gets a transfer to a bigger club and plays for England his fame will increase with that.

 

[Franklin]

His team should have been doing that. But they were equally as clueless.

Do we know if they gave him media training?

Because in their defense, I know from firsthand experience (somewhat famous "friend") that being trained to handle the fame is not surefire effective. Some people simply can't handle it no matter the coaching.

And so far Wiggins seems to me to be firmly in the sane side of the equation, both financially and privately, though I could be very misstaken there (I simply don't know enough about him).

Also: I'm not of the opinion of what he says is so strange or strong. It changed his life and of his family and sometimes he doubts if that's a good thing. That's not an unhealthy outlook on life. Beware those with no doubts

Bleh, if there's anything I'd pin on him in the media it's his much more important 2007-2012 chnage of opinion on dopers and dopers teams. To me that's a swerving moral compass.

 

[simoni]

His fame grew gradually from a nobody to moderate fame generally - he was one member of a very successful team. But in Britain the interest in cycling and Wiggins grew immeasureably throughout that tour and then the Olympics straight after took it up a further level. Yes, it was coming, and yes, perhaps he could have been prepared for it better but I think that the focus on initially winning the actual races and the unexpectedly high level of interest probably left him a bit overwhelmed. I don't think you underestimate how things changes for him over that month. He went from moderate sporting fame to full on household name.

The previous olympic stuff was one thing but he was one of many medal winners and, in cycling terms, the main focus was on Hoy and his overall olympic record. In 2012 it was about him individually - big difference.

 

[William H]

After the Athens Olympics Wiggins got "depressed" (not clinically) and drank heavily because his life didn't change very much

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Do we know if they gave him media training?

Because in their defense, I know from firsthand experience (somewhat famous "friend") that being trained to handle the fame is not surefire effective. Some people simply can't handle it no matter the coaching.

Media training can help you deal with press intrusion, but at the end of the day, if you don't like having the tabloid press following you, then you don't like it.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Yeah but the point I was making is that he had already had a strong dose of what it would be like - double Olympic champion, 4th place at the Tour, had experienced riding the Tour in Britain...

I was at the top of the first climb on the first stage of the 2009 Tour of Britain when Wiggo came past. There was a bit of cheering from the modest crowd that had gathered once he was spotted. He gave us a friendly nod and looked rather embarrassed if truth be told.

If the reaction post Tour de France in 2009 ranks 10 out of 10 on the fame scale then the reaction that day at the top that hill ranks about 0.1 out of 10.

 

[RownhamHill]

Yeah but the point I was making is that he had already had a strong dose of what it would be like - double Olympic champion, 4th place at the Tour, had experienced riding the Tour in Britain and being one of the favourites to wear yellow after the prologue. It's not like he shot to stardom overnight, his fame gradully grew and grew over a period of about 10yrs. He will have known it would increase if he won the Tour and gold at home Olympics. It's like a footballer is already famous but then gets a transfer to a bigger club and plays for England his fame will increase with that.

But so what? Maybe as he was already 'famous' he didn't give the impact of winning the tour and olympics a second thought, and then was surprised when he found his fame at orders of magnitudes greater than before? Whatever.

But more to the point, what does it matter how he coped with becoming really famous? You seem to be knocking him for living his life and experiencing emotions. I don't really get why.

 

[William H]

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=/m/03qz3b&cmpt=q

Google trends is pretty illustrative of how things changed for him in 2012

 

[Catwhoorg]

Looks like he will add a (another) Commie Games Silver to his collection.

The Aussie TP squad looked far and away ahead of England.

 

[Catwhoorg]

http://www.google.com/trends/explore#q=/m/03qz3b&cmpt=q

Google trends is pretty illustrative of how things changed for him in 2012

Interesting to see.

Very interesting to compare Wiggins and Froome.

 

[Dear Wiggo]

I can see Wigans being stronger simply due to the road but I can also see him being slower due to the endurance nature of road cycling over the pursuit.

Wigans wouldn't be the first to experience this if it's true, will be interesting to see where he fits in the lineup. I'm guessing he'll be third or fourth off instead of first like in his IP heyday.

Ed Clancy led the team out of the blocks, but it was Wiggins who was doing the big pulls – a tactic they had used in the morning session, too.

However, tired from chasing the Australians, things began to break up. They lost a man and began swapping out every half a lap

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-happy-with-return-to-track-at-commonwealth-games

Didn't see it but am guessing they didn't lose Wiggins.

 

[thehog]

Dopers regret? Surely he must have known how famous he would become being first Briton to win the Tour? Especially in an Olympic year in which sport was such big news.

Sir Bradley Wiggins says there have been times when he wishes he had never won the Tour de France and Olympic gold in 2012 that brought him national fame.

The 34-year-old aims to win his first Commonwealth Games gold medal on Thursday, two years after those feats.

"It was nice people saying 'it changed my life' and hearing things like 'the Wiggo effect'; that was a positive.

"From a personal point of view, there's been times I wish I'd never done all that," he told BBC Sport.

"I left for the Tour de France that year relatively unknown in the general public's eyes. When I came back, for a week or so I felt like the most famous man in the country.

"It's quite hard that level of fame, when you just want to do normal stuff with the children, things like that. That was hard but I think you learn to deal with it."

Perhaps he could release another autobiography to tell the world how sick he is of all the attention?

He has dopers remorse big time! He got it bad.

 

[msjett]

Perhaps he could release another autobiography to tell the world how sick he is of all the attention?

He has dopers remorse big time! He got it bad.

Well it would be if at some point they retroactively test and he is caught out.

But I do wonder if he thought going back to the track would be the fix he needed...

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Didn't see it but am guessing they didn't lose Wiggins.

Clancy dropped off after his last turn at the front with 500m to go.

It was an odd race. Australia were down to 3 after 2250m and then increased their advantage faster with 3 than 4. I think England went off too hard, to try and get some pressure of the Aussies and paid the price in the final kilo.

A further oddity is that it would appear that winning a Commonwealth Games gold is the toughest task in cycling. Wiggo has World and Olympic track golds galore, the Olympic TT gold, a decent slew of World Tour stage races and the Tour, but he's not got a Commonwealth Games gold to go with his 4 silvers.

England did 3:59 in qualifying and then 4:00 in the final, which doesn't raise too many questions about how Wiggins has got up to track speed so quickly, as he's not really up to speed yet. Bobridge dropping back into the Aussie quartet and almost ripping the formation apart with his pulls mid-race in 3:54 might raise more questions, one might think!

 

[SundayRider]

Perhaps he could release another autobiography to tell the world how sick he is of all the attention?

He has dopers remorse big time! He got it bad.

To be honest I thought 'the most versatile, talented, not a hint of doping, I'll win what I want cyclist' might have beated Australian on his own.

 

[42x16ss]

Clancy dropped off after his last turn at the front with 500m to go.

It was an odd race. Australia were down to 3 after 2250m and then increased their advantage faster with 3 than 4. I think England went off too hard, to try and get some pressure of the Aussies and paid the price in the final kilo.

A further oddity is that it would appear that winning a Commonwealth Games gold is the toughest task in cycling. Wiggo has World and Olympic track golds galore, the Olympic TT gold, a decent slew of World Tour stage races and the Tour, but he's not got a Commonwealth Games gold to go with his 4 silvers.

England did 3:59 in qualifying and then 4:00 in the final, which doesn't raise too many questions about how Wiggins has got up to track speed so quickly, as he's not really up to speed yet. Bobridge dropping back into the Aussie quartet and almost ripping the formation apart with his pulls mid-race in 3:54 might raise more questions, one might think!

Bobridge has always been quite punchy, where Wigans has been riding in a much more diesel style since 2009. I suspect that the start/finish acceleration isn't there at the moment, even if the strength in the middle of the race is.

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Bobridge has always been quite punchy, where Wigans has been riding in a much more diesel style since 2009. I suspect that the start/finish acceleration isn't there at the moment, even if the strength in the middle of the race is.

Agreed. I was just teasing Dear Wiggo, who I think was looking forward to Wiggo powering the team to a 3:51 so he could claim further proof that talent levels on the track are low as a roadie with a few weeks training can drop straight back in at world record pace.

 

[TheSpud]

Clancy dropped off after his last turn at the front with 500m to go.

It was an odd race. Australia were down to 3 after 2250m and then increased their advantage faster with 3 than 4. I think England went off too hard, to try and get some pressure of the Aussies and paid the price in the final kilo.

A further oddity is that it would appear that winning a Commonwealth Games gold is the toughest task in cycling. Wiggo has World and Olympic track golds galore, the Olympic TT gold, a decent slew of World Tour stage races and the Tour, but he's not got a Commonwealth Games gold to go with his 4 silvers.

England did 3:59 in qualifying and then 4:00 in the final, which doesn't raise too many questions about how Wiggins has got up to track speed so quickly, as he's not really up to speed yet. Bobridge dropping back into the Aussie quartet and almost ripping the formation apart with his pulls mid-race in 3:54 might raise more questions, one might think!

If England went off too hard at the start then Aus were bloody amazing as they were about 8 tenths up at the first split!

It was odd that England lost more ground when they had the extra man.

I think the issue for Wiggins with winning a TP Commonwealth gold is that it is an England team usually against an Australian team and England just aren't strong enough, whereas a GB team in the Olympics / Worlds would be (although not always). 2008 Olympics GB did 3:53 from memory, not sure the England team have ever been anywhere near that.

 

[Catwhoorg]

Clancy dropped off after his last turn at the front with 500m to go.

It was an odd race. Australia were down to 3 after 2250m and then increased their advantage faster with 3 than 4. I think England went off too hard, to try and get some pressure of the Aussies and paid the price in the final kilo.

A further oddity is that it would appear that winning a Commonwealth Games gold is the toughest task in cycling. Wiggo has World and Olympic track golds galore, the Olympic TT gold, a decent slew of World Tour stage races and the Tour, but he's not got a Commonwealth Games gold to go with his 4 silvers.

England did 3:59 in qualifying and then 4:00 in the final, which doesn't raise too many questions about how Wiggins has got up to track speed so quickly, as he's not really up to speed yet. Bobridge dropping back into the Aussie quartet and almost ripping the formation apart with his pulls mid-race in 3:54 might raise more questions, one might think!

Maybe for someone from team GB for the bold

The Aussies, Kiwis etc are at full strength.

Team England is somewhat weaker than the full UK team. London there was 2 English, 1 Welshman, 1 Manx.

 

[SundayRider]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/commonwealth-games/28476411

Wiggins finished with 'cut throat road, bled it dry'.

 

[ebandit]

poor

poor wiggo..............nice guys always finish last

Mark L

 

[Wallace and Gromit]

Maybe for someone from team GB for the bold

The Aussies, Kiwis etc are at full strength.

Team England is somewhat weaker than the full UK team. London there was 2 English, 1 Welshman, 1 Manx.

It was a tongue in cheek comment. As it happens, this year, the top GB lineup would all be English, unless Thomas and Kennaugh were induced back to the boards (which seems unlikely).

 

[Catwhoorg]

G and Kennaugh and full time roadies now, that much is sure.

I am mentally acknowledging that the track 2016 medal count (for team GB) will be down on 2012 and 2008, as so much of the talent now has more of a road focus (women included).

Both a good thing and a bad thing.

Who is doing the IP for England ?