Wiggins Discussion thread.

[rghysens]

So then, what do we make of his performance today?

It was pretty good.
Granted, he lost 26" to some of the best climbers around. But I think that's what we should expect from Wiggins on a long, multi-climb mountain stage with a mtf. It's comparable with his performance to La Toussuire last years tour. No need to worry for his Giro build-up (unless Quintana and Rodriguez suddenly decide to participate in the giro, but there's still 70km itt to take advantage of).

 

[Winterfold]

If there was a 30-40km time trial tomorrow - game over.

 

[Richeypen]

If there was a 30-40km time trial tomorrow - game over.

Exactly. He seems to be in the same sort of form he was in his warm up races last year. Just lacking the TT kms to actually win.

 

[Pentacycle]

To be clear, Wiggins is probably still far from top shape, and he only lost time to one rider who's riding the Giro. Nothing wrong with that. This is just training for him, and he was already better than expected.

 

[webvan]

A 40k ITT ? Make that 15 ! The mountain goats (and others) would be obliterated ;-)

@Dazed and Confused - yes a bit of action is always entertaining even if it's bound for failure, or relative failure like Gesink and VDB2 today...on the other hand the 2012 Giro was a complete snooze fest apart from the Stelvio stage and it had many attackers, including Purito, so it's not necessarily Sky's fault. In any case no one should be blamed for riding to their strengths.

 

[King Of The Wolds]

Given his ambition before today's stage, I'd say that might have been his worst day in the saddle since breaking a collarbone in the 2011 TdF. I reckon he's got work to do to be where he wants to be and I'm not sure he's got time to do it.

 

[webvan]

He told you what his ambition for today was? Got a link?

I was under the impression based on his official statements up to now that after winning everything he tried his hand at last year, like the TDF, the CD, TR, PN, etc...his ambition for 2013 was to win the Giro and see what happens in the TDF rather than win a meaningless one stage race with no ITT.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

@Dazed and Confused - yes a bit of action is always entertaining even if it's bound for failure, or relative failure like Gesink and VDB2 today...on the other hand the 2012 Giro was a complete snooze fest apart from the Stelvio stage and it had many attackers, including Purito, so it's not necessarily Sky's fault. In any case no one should be blamed for riding to their strengths.

Without a counter weight J-Rods style is very dull. Predictable all the way and the Giro last year was very poorly raced. Parcours didn't help.

Point is this. It takes riders who want to win in adversity to make a great race. Parcours not ideal? Well, get out of the comfort zone. Behind in the GC? well, make a grand plan to get significant time back etc. Risk taking is the key. Today we saw riders taking some risk and racing was instantly more entertaining for fans (neutral fans perhaps?).

And then my pet issue: There are way too many placement riders in today's peloton. Riders just hanging on for as long as possible. No other plan.

 

[JRanton]

He told you what his ambition for today was? Got a link?

I was under the impression based on his official statements up to now that after winning everything he tried his hand at last year, like the TDF, the CD, TR, PN, etc...his ambition for 2013 was to win the Giro and see what happens in the TDF rather than win a meaningless one stage race with no ITT.

His ambition was to win the race. The two Sky DS's made this quite clear with their interviews before the race.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

He told you what his ambition for today was? Got a link?

http://velonews.competitor.com/2013...t-attack-in-the-mountains-at-catalunya_278361

 

[Jelantik]

To be clear, Wiggins is probably still far from top shape, and he only lost time to one rider who's riding the Giro. Nothing wrong with that. This is just training for him, and he was already better than expected.

who? Ryder?.. this is ryder first race.. what do you expect. We won't see him up with the group.

 

[Angliru]

He told you what his ambition for today was? Got a link?

I was under the impression based on his official statements up to now that after winning everything he tried his hand at last year, like the TDF, the CD, TR, PN, etc...his ambition for 2013 was to win the Giro and see what happens in the TDF rather than win a meaningless one stage race with no ITT.

I could be mistaken but I thought he went into this event with the intention of winning. He was his team's protected rider/leader. How does a race become meaningless after stating the intention is to win prior to it's start? Nothing is a given so these WT races I would think do carry a degree of significance. I wouldn't call the results a failure but it falls short of their stated goals of dominating.

 

[Duartista]

No, not really a awful individual performance for Wiggins. Certainly not a good performance, but not really bad either.

However it was an awful performance for the Sky team and their train IMO. Their control everything and neutralize all attacks didn't really work this time. If only Purito and Quintana were going to the Giro. Then we would have a real race.

According to the Sky website, they had to do a lot of work to bring the gap to the break back down after Valverde's crash, hence their relative weakness on the final climb. However, as Wiggins will likely be the Giro leader after the time trial, they'll most likely be in the same position there (albeit with a stronger team).

 

[del1962]

According to the Sky website, they had to do a lot of work to bring the gap to the break back down after Valverde's crash, hence their relative weakness on the final climb. However, as Wiggins will likely be the Giro leader after the time trial, they'll most likely be in the same position there (albeit with a stronger team).

From how I read it.

Movistar had the break under control until the crash, the peleton was delayed while they waited for Valverde, this meant the chase would be much harder and Sky were the ones who had to do it, thus depleting their train.

Anyway Wiggins looks in decent shape, I suspect some attacks like on stage 1 from him at some point.

 

[Dazed and Confused]

Anyway Wiggins looks in decent shape, I suspect some attacks like on stage 1 from him at some point.

I would welcome a fightback from Wiggins. And there are opportunities.

 

[webvan]

I could be mistaken but I thought he went into this event with the intention of winning. He was his team's protected rider/leader. How does a race become meaningless after stating the intention is to win prior to it's start? Nothing is a given so these WT races I would think do carry a degree of significance. I wouldn't call the results a failure but it falls short of their stated goals of dominating.

The DS did get a bit carried away I think in that interview after the first day, I certainly never head Wiggins claim he was here to win although being the competitor he is he would naturally want to go for it like he did last year with all the one week races he won (they all had an ITT of course).

I don't think anyone here rates his chances of winning a stage race very highly without an ITT, here or elsewhere. Catalunya is meaningless" in the greater scheme of things, i.e. GTs. It's mostly good training for GTs.

 

[Parrot23]

I bet he's disappointed.

But two big mountain stages back to back and he's down 36 secs. after being isolated and really tested (each time in which he helped close a key gap somewhat by the line). Whoopy do! In my books, that counts as an improvement.

And yesterday, mounting an attack on a climb against pure climbers is a watershed for him. This is a guy putting himself on the line where he is weaker. Kudos to him.

When's the last time we saw a pure climber going into a race with no climbs but several TTs (if there were such a race) and still aiming for the overall? Wiggo is doing the equivalent here in a race with no TTs to backstop him.

Guts, I would say. Props to him.

 

[Carols]

The DS did get a bit carried away I think in that interview after the first day, I certainly never head Wiggins claim he was here to win although being the competitor he is he would naturally want to go for it like he did last year with all the one week races he won (they all had an ITT of course).

I don't think anyone here rates his chances of winning a stage race very highly without an ITT, here or elsewhere. Catalunya is meaningless" in the greater scheme of things, i.e. GTs. It's mostly good training for GTs.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/hunt-sky-is-at-volta-a-catalunya-to-win

Maybe the headline is a bit misleading but I can see why folks thought they were here to win.....with Wiggo....

Poor performance today considering the expectations, that is all.

 

[18-Valve. (pithy)]

The DS did get a bit carried away I think in that interview after the first day, I certainly never head Wiggins claim he was here to win although being the competitor he is he would naturally want to go for it like he did last year with all the one week races he won (they all had an ITT of course).

I don't think anyone here rates his chances of winning a stage race very highly without an ITT, here or elsewhere. Catalunya is meaningless" in the greater scheme of things, i.e. GTs. It's mostly good training for GTs.

Unlike several other GT specialists (Hesjedal, etc.) Wiggins doesn't race to train.

"So the philosophy became: don't go to the race to train, but train first, go to fewer races, and go there to win" Bradley Wiggins; My Time, page 56


This race isn't important in itself, but it was obviously an important test for him, given the statements from the two (not one) sports directors. And it's safe to say that his performance in the hardest stage was disappointing.

And there were posters here who thought Wiggins would prove to be the best, or a top-2 climber in this race.

 

[Winterfold]

I bet he's disappointed.

But two big mountain stages back to back and he's down 36 secs. after being isolated and really tested (each time in which he helped close a key gap somewhat by the line). Whoopy do! In my books, that counts as an improvement.

And yesterday, mounting an attack on a climb against pure climbers is a watershed for him. This is a guy putting himself on the line where he is weaker. Kudos to him.

When's the last time we saw a pure climber going into a race with no climbs but several TTs (if there were such a race) and still aiming for the overall? Wiggo is doing the equivalent here in a race with no TTs to backstop him.

Guts, I would say. Props to him.

I agree. Difficult to see him beating J Rod in this race but sky have said he's here to win without the a team train then given it a crack and moved on a bit.

In order to beat him in a GT or stage race with a lot of TT J Rod needs to eg enter Duo Normand with Moreno - and say hes there to win

 

[webvan]

Good points, by "entering a race to win not to train" I think he really means he'll gice it a shot and is not going to be riding grupetto like AS or Ulle back in the day, having said that he clearly did not enter Oman to win, so...

Due to the crappy coverage we didn't see what happened in his group yesterday after Quintana took off, was he leading riding tempo not burying himself, struggling behind Stetina? It's safe to assume that if this was the Giro or the Tour he would have dug deeper.

Anyway it's nice to see him ride without a powerful train not that I had any doubts he could do it...reading some posts last year you were under the impression he was an average IP/ITTer being dragged to the top by his teammates, right...

 

[JimPanzen]

I was sceptical when I saw Wiggins in Oman. But he improved dastically towards Catalunya and is in contention with the likes of JRod here. If he's able to further improve his form towards the Giro, he might really have a chance there...which at first I didn't consider as possible. Let's see...

 

[RownhamHill]

Good points, by "entering a race to win not to train" I think he really means he'll gice it a shot and is not going to be riding grupetto like AS or Ulle back in the day, having said that he clearly did not enter Oman to win, so...

To be fair wasn't he working for the team, rather than leading the team in Oman, and didn't his team, ermm, win that race?

 

[Duartista]

Good points, by "entering a race to win not to train" I think he really means he'll gice it a shot and is not going to be riding grupetto like AS or Ulle back in the day, having said that he clearly did not enter Oman to win, so...

Due to the crappy coverage we didn't see what happened in his group yesterday after Quintana took off, was he leading riding tempo not burying himself, struggling behind Stetina? It's safe to assume that if this was the Giro or the Tour he would have dug deeper.

Anyway it's nice to see him ride without a powerful train not that I had any doubts he could do it...reading some posts last year you were under the impression he was an average IP/ITTer being dragged to the top by his teammates, right...

If you look here, a fan has posted some photos of the race. Scarponi was leading Wiggins' group. Obviously, Stetina and Danielson would not have done any work.

 

[Pricey_sky]

I've been quite impressed with Wiggo over the last 2 days. Hasn't lost a great deal of time considering he has been totally isolated. With a nice long Giro TT he will leave the better climbers for dead.

I'm sure like others he has left a little work to do over the next moth to get him 100% in Italy.