Wiggins Discussion thread.

[Singer01]

Re: Re:

Currently Wiggins definitely has a much bigger place in cycling history than Froome.

I mean, that guy has gone from I don't remember how many Olympic golds in Track Cycling to a Tour, an Olympic Gold in TT, the Hour Record (untouchable at the moment) and God knows whatelse.

And I'm very very far from being a Wiggins' fan!

No doubt Wiggins is more versatile but three Tours has to count for something with probably more to come plus a couple of previous podiums in the Tour and Vuelta. By the time Froome is finished he will be remembered more than Wiggins as a road rider at least.

With three TDF wins, Froome is getting close to the absolute greats of the sport. Wigans may have been more competitive on other fronts, but Froome has won the most prestigious race there is more often than all but Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain (and Armstrong according to some).

Barring clinic issues, Froome will be remembered for longer.

He hasn't won it more often than the other 3 time winners.

 

[King Boonen]

Re: Re:

Currently Wiggins definitely has a much bigger place in cycling history than Froome.

I mean, that guy has gone from I don't remember how many Olympic golds in Track Cycling to a Tour, an Olympic Gold in TT, the Hour Record (untouchable at the moment) and God knows whatelse.

And I'm very very far from being a Wiggins' fan!

No doubt Wiggins is more versatile but three Tours has to count for something with probably more to come plus a couple of previous podiums in the Tour and Vuelta. By the time Froome is finished he will be remembered more than Wiggins as a road rider at least.

With three TDF wins, Froome is getting close to the absolute greats of the sport. Wigans may have been more competitive on other fronts, but Froome has won the most prestigious race there is more often than all but Anquetil, Merckx, Hinault and Indurain (and Armstrong according to some).

Barring clinic issues, Froome will be remembered for longer.

Froome will outside of Britain, but he needs wins in the other GTs, preferably both to be mentioned along with those other guys.

 

[PremierAndrew]

Cavendish and Froome are both more successful as cyclists than Wiggins imho

 

[Durden93]

As others have mentioned, Wiggins will be remembered for his versatility. Yes, Froome worked for him in in 2012, but he still put nearly 2 minutes into Froomey in the TTs. His 2012 season was incredible. I don't think that Wiggins' legacy will exceed Froome's but that's alright, he did more than enough.

 

[Scarponi]

I am kind of keen for it to be over though, the hype, the whinging and the overall character of the guy has pushed me to have enough. Pretty good cyclist though!

 

[Carols]

Why is he riding Tour of Britain? Riding around 40 odd minutes down is mostly embarrassing!

 

[pastronef]

Re:

Why is he riding Tour of Britain? Riding around 40 odd minutes down is mostly embarrassing!

listen to the roar from the crowd
he´s there for the people, not to race for the win

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54UJrlbPmDA

 

[dastott]

It's basically a last lap of Britain for the country's most popular cyclist after a pretty successful career. He said he could have just retired after Rio but why not show up for one last road race. TBH, he is looking pretty overweight so must have enjoyed celebrating the last gold medal. Will be interesting to see if he can put in a performance in the TT.

 

[del1962]

Re:

It's basically a last lap of Britain for the country's most popular cyclist after a pretty successful career. He said he could have just retired after Rio but why not show up for one last road race. TBH, he is looking pretty overweight so must have enjoyed celebrating the last gold medal. Will be interesting to see if he can put in a performance in the TT.

Not a great TT, I thought he and cav where going to ride the madison in the WC jerseys or have they fallen out again

 

[TMP402]

Re: Re:

It's basically a last lap of Britain for the country's most popular cyclist after a pretty successful career. He said he could have just retired after Rio but why not show up for one last road race. TBH, he is looking pretty overweight so must have enjoyed celebrating the last gold medal. Will be interesting to see if he can put in a performance in the TT.

Not a great TT, I thought he and cav where going to ride the madison in the WC jerseys or have they fallen out again

Yes he (and Cavendish) are supposed to ride some six day races - London and Ghent, I don't know about others.

As for the TT, he clearly wasn't trying - this is him "celebrating" a provisional 6th place:

 

[fantomas]

292 pages without anyone being a fan, suppose. This is RR forum, so I can't imagine Wiggins having a single fan.

 

[elfed68]

OK, Wiggins is vulnerable to his demons, but he is one incredible athlete, with not many who've stated their goals and delivered with such consistency.

Lifelong fan!

 

[dastott]

Sadly, the TT was another parade lap on a road bike and normal helmet, albeit in a skin suit. Was taking it very gingerly on the wet corners. Was hoping for one last trademark TT performance in his last ROAD race before retirement.

 

[MatParker117]

Thanks for everything Sir Bradley, you bought cycling to the masses and achieved many firsts for a British rider. Have a great winter and a long and happy retirement.

 

[Thepirateisgood]

Re:

292 pages without anyone being a fan, suppose. This is RR forum, so I can't imagine Wiggins having a single fan.

A more or less alcoholic guy winning x numbers of olympics golds, the tour and going for Roubaix making the top ten (or so, good enough for me).

I'm not going in a Wiggins shirt, nor am I in a Contador shirt for that sake - but the lack of respect for this guy is frankly incredible.

I'm not afraid of calling myself a fan, and don't underestimate the impact he had to drive cycling into Britain at his point.

He put on 12 Kgs before Rio from last year by his own admission, why anyone thought he would be competitive in ToB this year is beyond me.

You guys with the attitude can take it somewhere else, this guy was always the real goods. And if you look at interviews a real lover of the sport, track or road. He's awesome.

 

[oldcrank]

Re:

I have no problem with Wiggins investing in a women's team - the more high profile names that attach themselves to the sport, the better.

The more pertinent question for me is, am I comfortable with someone with Wiggins' views being in the sport? Is the trade off worth it.

Pragmatically - yes. His involvement, if it happens, should have a positive impact on the sport. All the better if he is the magnet for sponsors and investment but stays behind the scenes. I suspect his commitment to the women's sport is akin to Cookson's - it's a nice piece of PR fluff that makes him look good but doesn't actually have to be actioned. Somewhat like the charity/not actually a charity.

Thanks in large part to Mr. Cookson, there is a very real chance
a women's madison could be on the program at the Tokyo Oly's.

We had a women's madison at the recent UCI World Junior Track
Championships and the event is set to make it's debut at the
UCI World Cup in Glasgow this November.

Perhaps Sir Brad, with his knowledge of madison racing, will be
the coach and mentor of the very first Olympic Champions in
the women's madison.

..............................................................................
Team GB 2016: victoRIOus, happy and gloRIOus

 

[oldcrank]

Happy birthday Sir Brad! Hope you're having a lovely day.

 

[oldcrank]

Best of luck to Sir Brad tomorrow at the sold-out Lee Valley Velodrome
for the British Rowing Indoor Championships. I wonder what Rebecca
Romero thinks about our most decorated Olympian switching sports?

 

[Gigs_98]

From the Valverde thread:

Wiggins? Seriously? I'm not even sure Pisti rates Wiggins over Valverde

Peoples are always view things differently.

Bradley Wiggins careeer is extra-ordinary. Not as many people joined road race so late but still succeed. Not so many people transform from Track/MTB/CX then road and then back to Track/MTB/CX are still in the top of the worlds in 3 sections of careers.

I think I shouldn't talked too much about Wiggins inside Valverde threa. Just a reply there and I will stop.

My evaluation of Bradley Wiggins

He started from Track cycling. He won pursuits and madisons within Velodrome and end his career inside velodrome with olympic 4 olympic gold medals and 7 world championship titles. (Inside Track only)

He turned his attention to road after 2008 Olympic when he was 29 and came back to Track again when he was 34 @ 2014 seasons end.

Within these 5 years, he completed 2 transformations : from Track and then to Track.
He won 4 x WT Stages races and 1 TDF. Podium in Veulta. 1 x Olympic TT and 1 x WCTT under the completion with Tony Martin and Fabian Cancellera.

At 2015, he marked hours record as 54.5km when he was 35. No one could come close.

Within last 2 decades, not that much people could have similar success within 5 years of completion. If you think transformation must take 1 year at least. Wiggins real career in road completion is only 3 years.

Let take 5 of best years from Valverde career, you could see how good Wiggins done.
Wiggins is a king but with 14 crowns.
Valverde is a king without any crown.

Youtube records most of the racing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jYm2ECRk8R4&t=237s
This is a kind of hilly classic king winning... Check out others. For example simon gerrans and Valverde.

I get that in Britain Wiggins is considered one of the greatest if not the greatest cyclist of his country. He won many olympic medals and he is the first British tdf winner but the main difference between how I evaluate his palmares compared to how British people evaluate his palmares is that I don't care if he was the first tour winner of his country and that I don't think track cycling matters that much on the palmares of a road racer. The fact is, track cycling is way smaller than road cycling and for that reason many riders who could be superb track cyclists don't even try that discipline. What if Cancellara had grown up in Britain? He probably would have started his career as a track cyclist and I'm pretty damn sure he would have been successful. I rate mountain bike, cyclocross and every other discipline (except road) on one level with track cycling. So if I would evaluate Wiggins track success to an extend which makes me think he is the greatest of the century I'd have to rate someone like Stybar extremely high too.

I rate his whole track success as high as a tdf and if I'm generous maybe a 2nd minor gt win, but if you do that he still doesn't get close to best rider of this century.

 

[Zoetemelk-fan]

This is heavy stuff

 

[HelloDolly]

Being abandoned as a child dictates your whole life

 

[TourOfSardinia]

The main thing you need to know about my childhood is that I never had a real
father, but I never sat around wishing for one, either. My mother was 17 when she
had me, and from day one everyone told her we wouldn't amount to anything...

Lance Armstrong - It's not about the bike 2000
Wiggo still emulating Lance?

 

[hrotha]

Lance Armstrong - It's not about the bike 2000
Wiggo still emulating Lance?

 

[pastronef]

Tour of Sardinia uses to have this kind of comments towards the Brits. he can't help.
and unlike Armstrong and his tainted legacy, what Wiggo did at Olympics and TDF still echoes today with the young generations of British talents, on the track and on the road, that watched him on tv as kids.
many people can't stand that, but without him, British athletes wouldn't be where they are now.

 

[webvan]

Right, it's too bad he's behaved like a clown pretty much ever since...a real trainwreck, just as bad as Ullrich really but with no "excuse".