Wiggins Discussion thread.

[Jspear]

Wiggins' list of accomplishments is impressive for several reasons:

1. He has been at or near the top of his sport for a long time.
2. He has won at the highest level in disciplines that are more varied than most other riders.
3. When he sets a goal, he achieves it more often than not.

Few riders can make those three simple claims.

In P-R yesterday, he was there in the finale. He fizzled a bit (as did everyone else other than Terpstra) in the final 5k, but he was better than 150 or so others, many of whom call themselves cobble specialists.

P-R was such an amazing race this year and Terpstra is a very deserving champion, but it could have easily gone to any of the final group. Terpstra saw it and took it. Still, Wiggo helped make the race what it was, as did so many others who rode brilliantly. Terpstra's victory must be all that much more satisfying knowing the quality of competition he soundly beat.

Many of the 150 riders do not consider themselves cobble specialists. They consider themselves domestiques for their captains who are cobble specialists. There are of course a few exceptions, some teams have multiple "specialists," but most of the riders of cobbled races aren't "cobble specialists."

 

[RiccoDinko]

they are good riders but definitely not top of the bill imo in what other type of races has boonen ever done well except sprints, which I barely call quality anyway, or knaven, terpstra, ogrady.

and that is just roubaix, which is a far harder race to win than flanders, which is the most overrated.

don't get me wrong. I love watching the races.

How about a World Championship, two of them, road race and team tt. Do you pay attention to anything? What GT GC racer wins classics? Most of the racers these days are one trick ponies.

 

[Fight.The.Power]

Am I the only one thinking Wiggo should Sh*t-can the Tour of California and go for the Giro??

With the amount of ITT he could put at least 5 minutes into Quintana?

With Horner out of the Giro, it is a relatively weak field (compared to The Tour) overall and looks a no-brainer to me ?

 

[Gloin22]

He's not a climber anymore... His GC days are over .His goal is gaining weight for Track in rio and Roubaix ( and he achieved that however that goal is still obviously going )

 

[dlwssonic]

Am I the only one thinking Wiggo should Sh*t-can the Tour of California and go for the Giro??

With the amount of ITT he could put at least 5 minutes into Quintana?

With Horner out of the Giro, it is a relatively weak field (compared to The Tour) overall and looks a no-brainer to me ?

Quintana will put more than 5 minutes into wiggins with his current climbing form to be honest.

 

[dlwssonic]

He's not a climber anymore... His GC days are over .His goal is gaining weight for Track in rio and Roubaix ( and he achieved that however that goal is still obviously going )

yup wiggins should just **** the climbs, and become a full time cobbled classics specialist. That will be damn fun to watch

 

[Fight.The.Power]

yup wiggins should just **** the climbs, and become a full time cobbled classics specialist. That will be damn fun to watch

Yeh, I think I would like to see that !!

 

[Fight.The.Power]

He's not a climber anymore... His GC days are over .His goal is gaining weight for Track in rio and Roubaix ( and he achieved that however that goal is still obviously going )

I know your right. Maybe I just need closure.

 

[rainman]

Am I the only one thinking Wiggo should Sh*t-can the Tour of California and go for the Giro??

With the amount of ITT he could put at least 5 minutes into Quintana?

With Horner out of the Giro, it is a relatively weak field (compared to The Tour) overall and looks a no-brainer to me ?

Are you forgetting last year so soon. A day of rain in the mountains and he's history. He must have superb skills to top 10 PR but give him a wet descent and he's crying.

 

[elfed68]

Wiggins to lead the Giro team?

 

[Wallenquist]

Wiggins to lead the Giro team?

No. He's going to ride California.

 

[elfed68]

I know that's been planned but in view of the team difficulties with Porte dropping out, could they be secretly planning a Giro start, as they're stuck for a leader.

Or is it the plan to try and gain publicity by taking the USA race a bit more seriously than in past outings?

I also really can't see how they can leave Wiggins out of the Tour team, for a few reasons. As Porte hasn't been showing great form of late he would be an excellent plan B.
And also, seeing as the tour starts in the UK this year, Team Sky would be committing PR suicide by leaving him out.

 

[Afrank]

I wouldn't mind Wiggins starting the Giro (purely for comedic releif reasons ). But don't see it happening. Wiggins is through with contending in GT's. Just doesn't have the motivation for it. Which also makes Cali, the perfect race for him to demonstrate to Sky management whether he still has the stage racing/climbing ability.

 

[Gloin22]

He's not a climber anymore... His GC days are over .His goal is gaining weight for Track in rio and Roubaix ( and he achieved that however that goal is still obviously going )

10characte

 

[elfed68]

I wouldn't mind Wiggins starting the Giro (purely for comedic releif reasons ).

Doesn't everybody underestimate this guy's abilities?

He's always saying different things to the press, for all we know his programme for the year could be different to what we think?

I know I come across as a Wiggins fanboy, which I admit I am, he's one of the sport's individuals which in this day and age are quite rare, guess every sport's got one.

 

[Matdum94]

Doesn't everybody underestimate this guy's abilities?

He's always saying different things to the press, for all we know his programme for the year could be different to what we think?

I know I come across as a Wiggins fanboy, which I admit I am, he's one of the sport's individuals which in this day and age are quite rare, guess every sport's got one.

It's normal that people hate him, they are only jealous. It's rare for a rider that can be so successful and clean at the same time. Just like Froome and Porte.

 

[Afrank]

Doesn't everybody underestimate this guy's abilities?

He's always saying different things to the press, for all we know his programme for the year could be different to what we think?

I know I come across as a Wiggins fanboy, which I admit I am, he's one of the sport's individuals which in this day and age are quite rare, guess every sport's got one.

Yes, he probably gets underestimated on a number of things (like PR). I know I'm probably guiltyof underestimating him (sometimes in jest, sometimes serious). One thing i think that could be fairly said about Wiggins, when he sets his mind to someting and really commits himself, he more or less acheives it. But I don't think he'll set his mind on placing well in a GT at all anymore. Good domestique for Froome at best.

 

[Afrank]

It's normal that people hate him, they are only jealous. It's rare for a rider that can be so successful and clean at the same time. Just like Froome and Porte.

Jealous? I very highly doubt that. Dislike of him is more to do with his riding style, comments made in the press, and other reasons that won't be brought up here. :seriousmodface:

 

[elfed68]

Surely Team Sky need a good plan b with Contador riding so well?
I doubt Wiggins could get motivated to ride for Froome, which I don't blame him, hopefully he'll be offered a free role in the Tour.

As for Wiggins the classics man(cycle racing not literature), Team Sky look very promising, with their squad having Thomas, Stannard, Swift and EBH(if he's still there). A bit like OPQS in that they'll have more than one rider capable of winning the race.

 

[Wallenquist]

Surely Team Sky need a good plan b with Contador riding so well?
I doubt Wiggins could get motivated to ride for Froome, which I don't blame him, hopefully he'll be offered a free role in the Tour.

As for Wiggins the classics man(cycle racing not literature), Team Sky look very promising, with their squad having Thomas, Stannard, Swift and EBH(if he's still there). A bit like OPQS in that they'll have more than one rider capable of winning the race.

Wiggins have just finished Roubaix, there are not many riders that are doing both Roubaix and Giro in the same year. That's the first thing. Second of all even if Wiggins didint put much weight to ride on cobbles he's for sure far from his climbing form that was last seen a year ago in Giro (Tour of Britain is something else). So there is no chance he will ride for a win and very small chance he will ride at all.

 

[Rollthedice]

Doesn't everybody underestimate this guy's abilities?

He's always saying different things to the press, for all we know his programme for the year could be different to what we think?

I know I come across as a Wiggins fanboy, which I admit I am, he's one of the sport's individuals which in this day and age are quite rare, guess every sport's got one.

He is overestimated and overhyped by the media and by his own team, failing to deliver since 2012. What do you expect? And when you consider that in the 2012 Tour Froome was stronger you have the underestimation picture complete. On the other hand PR was the race in quite a while since he showed that he can still put up a fight regardless of his abilities. Maybe he can become a classics rider with a limited success but my take is that his GT days are over and I don't think he'll be a domestique.

 

[elfed68]

Wiggins have just finished Roubaix, there are not many riders that are doing both Roubaix and Giro in the same year. That's the first thing. Second of all even if Wiggins didint put much weight to ride on cobbles he's for sure far from his climbing form that was last seen a year ago in Giro (Tour of Britain is something else). So there is no chance he will ride for a win and very small chance he will ride at all.

Such a shame as I can't see the non cycling public rooting for Chris Froome as they would Wiggins, and as I said earlier a PR fail for Team Sky.

 

[movingtarget]

He is overestimated and overhyped by the media and by his own team, failing to deliver since 2012. What do you expect? And when you consider that in the 2012 Tour Froome was stronger you have the underestimation picture complete. On the other hand PR was the race in quite a while since he showed that he can still put up a fight regardless of his abilities. Maybe he can become a classics rider with a limited success but my take is that his GT days are over and I don't think he'll be a domestique.

If Wiggins is overestimated what do you call Andy Schleck ? Froome was stronger in the mountains in 2012 Tour on some stages but it was no certainty he would have won the race. The route was a good one for Wiggins. Wiggins is not targeting GTs at the moment so why do people keep bringing it up ? He has admitted that all year.

Cadel Evans has not done much either since his 2011 Tour win and his third in last year's Giro. He probably could have ridden the Ardenne classics instead and maybe the shorter stage races but BMC has Gilbert and Evans has always seen himself at a GT rider.

Schleck has done absolutely nothing since coming second to Evans in the 2011 Tour. Wiggins should be able to pick his program and if he wants to ride classics and the track one last time so be it. He always said he was not sure whether he could make the sacrifices he did to win the 2012 Tour all over again. His Giro was a failure and he has since moved on.

 

[Jspear]

If Wiggins is overestimated what do you call Andy Schleck ? Froome was stronger in the mountains in 2012 Tour on some stages but it was no certainty he would have won the race. The route was a good one for Wiggins. Wiggins is not targeting GTs at the moment so why do people keep bringing it up ? He has admitted that all year.

Cadel Evans has not done much either since his 2011 Tour win and his third in last year's Giro. He probably could have ridden the Ardenne classics instead and maybe the shorter stage races but BMC has Gilbert and Evans has always seen himself at a GT rider.

Schleck has done absolutely nothing since coming second to Evans in the 2011 Tour. Wiggins should be able to pick his program and if he wants to ride classics and the track one last time so be it. He always said he was not sure whether he could make the sacrifices he did to win the 2012 Tour all over again. His Giro was a failure and he has since moved on.

Wiggins is overestimated. Shleck is OOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEERRRRRRRRestimated.

 

[The Hitch]

Wiggins could still outclimb most gc riders easy. His problem isn't that he magically lost climbing form overnight. Its that he got pushed out of leadership on the team he was was getting all the right, errr "training" and handwashing techniques, on.

He showed this when last year he tried to desperately steal the TDF leadership from Froome.

If he had really given up on the TDF like his blindest fans claim to save face, he wouldn't have done that. He still managed to ouclimb Scarponi on the first mtf, while half arsed and having done little pre training.

Put him on the full sky TDF programme (that is err, "racing programe") and he'll be flying away from Nibali again like before.