Wiggins Discussion thread.

[senatorrick]

Sky will need Wiggo at the Tour because Froome Dawg may get sick from rooming with Porte.

 

[martinvickers]

Kinda interesting....Wiggins is saying his weight right now is the same as when he won the Tour....I thought he wasn't going to be slimming down that much anymore....whatever the case, best of luck to him in Cali. Looks like he'll be tough to beat there. Also if he really is in good form, it's a no brainer for him to support Froomie at the Tour.


http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-fit-lean-and-ready-to-contend-at-tour-of-california

My limited theory is this - he left a race for "mountain training", if memory serves, when Porte started having real 'problems' and Henao was pulled - hunch is Master Wiggins may have internally been re-elevated back up to plan B because of Porte/Henao/Kannaugh problems, especially with a long final TT.

Utter hunch, mind.

 

[martinvickers]

Kennaugh lacks natural talent

As far as the road goes, he was probably the most promising young male talent British Cycling has had.

Have to agree with this. before SuperWiggo arrived in 09, and SuperFroomie in '11 I think they were considering building around a five year plan towards Kennaugh who was at that stage, the best potential climber they had, while supporting Cav in the meantime. Though the arrival of the Yates twins, esp Adam may have changed that future-dynamic for BC, though not Sky.

 

[webvan]

...which makes perfect sense and where he should have stayed in 2013. Actually he should have gone into the 2013 TDF as plan A/B with the road deciding, like LVC did in 1986 and Telekom did in 1997. No wonder he couldn't keep his head together last year after being discarded like a "you had your fun now move on to lesser races". Very disrespectful to him and to the "yellow jersey" really...

 

[Pricey_sky]

The problem is your forgetting a certain someone called Chris Froome, I admire the comeback he has made after a horrible year last year but he can't hold a candle to Froome in the mountains, that isn't being disrespectful to Wiggo because very few can compete with Froome when the altitude starts rising. Maybe Contador this year perhaps we will see.

wiggins will be a worthy plan B with Sky having so many problems, he could well gain time on the cobbled stage and the long iTT but will lose time to the big 2 in the mountains. I'm looking forward to Brad showing what he can do in California this week.

 

[webvan]

Well we'll never know how much time an in form Wiggo would have lost to an in form Froome on the climbs, say in 2012, not necessarily a lot based on what we saw at Toussuire and Peyragudes. My point is that if DB had any real road cycling "education", he would have handled things differently in 2013...it would have made sense to do it like they did at LVC in 1986 and Telekom in 1997, seeing as it didn't work out too badly for these teams that year.

Water under the bridge at this point and if Wiggo needs to rise to the occasion at the TDF this July, he'll do it regardless of how he was treated last year. I just hope he can have Froome's role at the 2012 TDF, i.e. riding behind him except on the odd occasion.

 

[willbick]

...which makes perfect sense and where he should have stayed in 2013. Actually he should have gone into the 2013 TDF as plan A/B with the road deciding, like LVC did in 1986 and Telekom did in 1997. No wonder he couldn't keep his head together last year after being discarded like a "you had your fun now move on to lesser races". Very disrespectful to him and to the "yellow jersey" really...

It seemed to be his decision not to race the tour in 2013

 

[elfed68]

It seemed to be his decision not to race the tour in 2013

Is that really the case though?
Was he told he could only have the Giro as Froome wouldn't ride with him on the TdF?

Dave Brailsford could have managed the situation better I think, given that Wiggins was and still is the highest profile rider at Team Sky.

 

[Afrank]

The decision for Wiggo not to race the Tour in 2013 was probably a management decision IMO. Brailsford knew Wiggins wasn't likely to do much work for Froome, knew Froome didn't want him there, and knew Froome had the better chance of winning of the two.

 

[wirral]

So we have the PR / Marketing reason from Elfed. I can understand that.

And CycloAndy suggesting that his form is great (certainly seems to be) and he can do sterling domestique duties on the flatter sections. I would accept that EXCEPT (sorry about the caps) Wiggins has a strong track record of going missing in action when asked to do domestique duties for Frooome. This is after specifically promising to Sky management he would be there.

So I still feel cons outweigh the pros for taking Wiggins to the Tour.

 

[Pricey_sky]

So we have the PR / Marketing reason from Elfed. I can understand that.

And CycloAndy suggesting that his form is great (certainly seems to be) and he can do sterling domestique duties on the flatter sections. I would accept that EXCEPT (sorry about the caps) Wiggins has a strong track record of going missing in action when asked to do domestique duties for Frooome. This is after specifically promising to Sky management he would be there.

So I still feel cons outweigh the pros for taking Wiggins to the Tour.

I guess we have to to just disagree, I said since the start of the year if Wiggins proves his form (which he has easily) then he deserves to go. Don't forget he will be very useful to Froome on the cobbled stage too. He seems much more relaxed and focused this season, I believe most of the trouble with Froome is now water under the bridge and he will accept working for Froome, he may even win that last TT.

I bet his form this year has come as a relief to Sky with a few others really struggling with form and injuries/illness.

 

[Peter von]

So we have the PR / Marketing reason from Elfed. I can understand that.

And CycloAndy suggesting that his form is great (certainly seems to be) and he can do sterling domestique duties on the flatter sections. I would accept that EXCEPT (sorry about the caps) Wiggins has a strong track record of going missing in action when asked to do domestique duties for Frooome. This is after specifically promising to Sky management he would be there.

So I still feel cons outweigh the pros for taking Wiggins to the Tour.

This could be solved by having them do Dauphine together first.

 

[webvan]

Isn't that the plan? Anyway if all that Wiggins has to do at the Dauphine is ride behind Froome like Froome did in 2012 (I don't believe he took a single turn in the front there in 2012) it can't really be a problem. What could be a problem is Wiggo being in yellow after the 10km ITT in the first stage ;-)

 

[Winterfold]

Froome is now thinking '**** if he is within 2 minutes of me for final ITT' but on the other hand that means Wiggo will try to stay with the lead group as long as possible and is a useful ally...

If Wiggo rides tail gunner like Froome in 2012 and stays close to him on GC then things will be very interesting

 

[pastronef]

I think Sky know that the cobble stage is veeery dangerous, and if something goes wrong with Froome that would fhuck up their chances to win the Tour.
So having Bradley on form as a back up can be very usefull.
If Froome crashes or has a flat, Brad won't wait*. then the climbs will decide.

*and Michelle Cound will get mad again on twitter.

 

[Bavarianrider]

So what's his plan for July?:confused
a) loyal helper to Froome
b) Gc ambitions
c) Stage hunting

 

[webvan]

Why choose? Think Bernie+Lemond 1986 and Riis+Ullrich 1997, can't hurt to have two of the best GT riders on the same team. That's the way it should have been in 2013 BTW if DB (and Froome) had a bit more cycling "education"...

 

[Winterfold]

So what's his plan for July?:confused
a) loyal helper to Froome
b) Gc ambitions
c) Stage hunting

d) all of the above

 

[vedrafjord]

I have to say I find Wiggins utterly compelling, and will be sad when he leaves the world of cycling. I don't like the guy, but he's complex and fascinating in the same way as, say, Richard Nixon.

 

[elfed68]

Let's reserve judgement till we see him climb, hopefully he'll show his class again.

If so I hope Brailsford isn't going to sh*t on him again and leave him out. Hopefully he's got the balls to make him co leader, then we can have a mano e mano fight like 86 and 97!

 

[simoni]

Even if Wiggins is in 2012 form the chances are that Froome will be able to outclimb him anyway and will have the freedom to do so.

Its not impossible that Wiggins will be ahead of Froome at some point but unlikely he'll take yellow before the mountains. Likely he'll be used as insurance and allowed to do his own thing on the cobbled stage while the likes of Thomas/Stannard look after Froome if he falters.

Chances are though that Wiggins will do a job for Froome in the mountains and ship a couple of minutes at least on each MTF and try and come up with something in the final TT.

 

[vedrafjord]

I wouldn't hold my breath. Two leaders = not having everything worked out in advanced = not the Brailsford way. No way Wiggins would be anywhere near the team IMHO if the Sky climbers hadn't been dropping like flies in the last few months.

 

[webvan]

Even if Wiggins is in 2012 form the chances are that Froome will be able to outclimb him anyway and will have the freedom to do so. .

Yes the difference of course with 2012 is that Froome would have total freedom, like he would have had in 2013 like Lemond had in 1986 and Ullrich in 1997.

The other difference with 2012 is that Froome would need even less pacing than Wiggins in 2012 (how much actual lead-out work did Froome actually do in 2012, 5k on Toussuire and a 2k on Peyragudes ?)...of course that would require Porte to be able to ride again in July as well as Kyrienka who was useless last year, but he'd had a very strong spring.

 

[Pricey_sky]

Yes the difference of course with 2012 is that Froome would have total freedom, like he would have had in 2013 like Lemond had in 1986 and Ullrich in 1997.

The other difference with 2012 is that Froome would need even less pacing than Wiggins in 2012 (how much actual lead-out work did Froome actually do in 2012, 5k on Toussuire and a 2k on Peyragudes ?)...of course that would require Porte to be able to ride again in July as well as Kyrienka who was useless last year, but he'd had a very strong spring.

Remember Sky should be able to call on Nieve, Kennaugh and Thomas too.

 

[elfed68]

Yes the difference of course with 2012 is that Froome would have total freedom, like he would have had in 2013 like Lemond had in 1986 and Ullrich in 1997.

The other difference with 2012 is that Froome would need even less pacing than Wiggins in 2012 (how much actual lead-out work did Froome actually do in 2012, 5k on Toussuire and a 2k on Peyragudes ?)...of course that would require Porte to be able to ride again in July as well as Kyrienka who was useless last year, but he'd had a very strong spring.

Porte did a lot of work for Froome in 2013, as much as Froome with Wiggins in 2012.