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Wiggins Discussion thread.

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ferryman said:
Hi Sam and Wrinkly,

Just a wee heads up that anything on doping (and I mean anything remotely drug related) is not welcome in this forum. The Clinic is where it's at. You will find good threads on there to continue your posting views. I hope you 'go over' and contribute:)

Thank you for the kind note.:) If you consider the contents of my posts you will see I am well aware of it. The inappropriate response to one of my posts was by someone else. :(

Cheers and the best to you!
 
wrinklyvet said:
That being so, it's amazing he bothered to ride round.

Why are so many people so anxious to put a negative spin on Wiggins' victory?

I suspect there is an elephant in the room.

cineteq said:
What do you mean?

What's your point really?

Contador DNS, Froome was a domestique.

1 Carlos Sastre Candil (Spa) Team CSC
2 Cadel Evans (Aus) Silence - Lotto 0.58
84 Christopher Froome (Ken) Barloworld 2.22.33

The parcours was overly favourable to Wiggins. No HC mountain finishes, 3 mountain finishes, only 2 of which where real mountain stages, still on powerclimbs. Outragious amount of tt kilometers compared to that. The best GT contenders in the world at that time weren't there or were underperforming. Contador and Andy Schleck, the two strongest Tour climbers at the time, weren't there. Evans, defending champ, wasn't too good. His strongest competitor was Froome, and he was his teammate. And as Wiggins was the VIP in Sky, he had to win, and Froome was on the leash. These are all factors decided before the race. competitors had to make up minutes in the mountains without opportunity to do so, not to mention Sky's ridiculous performance.

Sastre actually had to beat other riders. All the great GT contenders were there, except for Contador and Astana. Sastre actually beat someone, (Evans, who had come 2nd before and would later win a tour) Wiggins was attacked once, and that attacked was stopped by a radio call cause you know, it was his own teammate. Nibali never seriously tried to beat him, he was quite happen to podium. Froome wasn't allowed to try and win. JVDB (lol, he never actually tried to win in the Tour) was more than happy to finish 4th, as was TJVG to finish 5th.

Not to mention Wiggins later attempt to win the Giro, which he was sure he could do and which he epically failed in every possible way.
 
Red Rick said:
The parcours was overly favourable to Wiggins. No HC mountain finishes, 3 mountain finishes, only 2 of which where real mountain stages, still on powerclimbs. Outragious amount of tt kilometers compared to that. The best GT contenders in the world at that time weren't there or were underperforming. Contador and Andy Schleck, the two strongest Tour climbers at the time, weren't there. Evans, defending champ, wasn't too good. His strongest competitor was Froome, and he was his teammate. And as Wiggins was the VIP in Sky, he had to win, and Froome was on the leash. These are all factors decided before the race. competitors had to make up minutes in the mountains without opportunity to do so, not to mention Sky's ridiculous performance.

Sastre actually had to beat other riders. All the great GT contenders were there, except for Contador and Astana. Sastre actually beat someone, (Evans, who had come 2nd before and would later win a tour) Wiggins was attacked once, and that attacked was stopped by a radio call cause you know, it was his own teammate. Nibali never seriously tried to beat him, he was quite happen to podium. Froome wasn't allowed to try and win. JVDB (lol, he never actually tried to win in the Tour) was more than happy to finish 4th, as was TJVG to finish 5th.

Not to mention Wiggins later attempt to win the Giro, which he was sure he could do and which he epically failed in every possible way.

I'm sure you're paying Nibali a great disservice by saying he never really tried to win and was happy to just podium. I would have thought a rider of his calibre was there solely to win and nothing else.
 
elfed68 said:
I'm sure you're paying Nibali a great disservice by saying he never really tried to win and was happy to just podium. I would have thought a rider of his calibre was there solely to win and nothing else.

Nibali back then wasn't the rider he is now. Getting a TdF podium was a big deal for him then and while he had tried a couple of attacks, he never risked his podium position.

I think Nibali some comments this year that he was super nervous before the last tt in the 2012 Tour. Riding podium was important for him. I think do think he was happy to podium, that doesn't mean he didn't dream of more.
 
Red Rick said:
Nibali back then wasn't the rider he is now. Getting a TdF podium was a big deal for him then and while he had tried a couple of attacks, he never risked his podium position.

I think Nibali some comments this year that he was super nervous before the last tt in the 2012 Tour. Riding podium was important for him. I think do think he was happy to podium, that doesn't mean he didn't dream of more.

He had a 2010 Vuelta win so was always a potential winner.
 
Big difference between winning a lucky and very weak Vuelta and fighting for the win in the Tour for the first time. It wasn't just any GT podium and winning would require a near suicide attack with very low chance of succeeding. He tried to drop Wiggins, he didn't try to win the Tour. He got the most out of it
 
Red Rick said:
Big difference between winning a lucky and very weak Vuelta and fighting for the win in the Tour for the first time. It wasn't just any GT podium and winning would require a near suicide attack with very low chance of succeeding. He tried to drop Wiggins, he didn't try to win the Tour. He got the most out of it

But Wiggins had never won a GT and failed in the previous Vuelta.
 
Red Rick said:
Sastre actually had to beat other riders. All the great GT contenders were there, except for Contador and Astana. Sastre actually beat someone, (Evans, who had come 2nd before and would later win a tour) Wiggins was attacked once, and that attacked was stopped by a radio call cause you know, it was his own teammate. Nibali never seriously tried to beat him
You're funny. I guess Wiggins didn't beat anyone. Btw, Evans mentally cracked. 3 against 1.

Red Rick said:
Nibali back then wasn't the rider he is now. Getting a TdF podium was a big deal for him then and while he had tried a couple of attacks, he never risked his podium position.
He was very close to the rider he's now. And yes, Nibali did try to beat Wiggins, remember when he connected on the decend to Sagan? Also, he had an injury towards the end of the Tour. As always you miss the true facts.
 
cineteq said:
You're funny. I guess Wiggins didn't beat anyone. Btw, Evans mentally cracked. 3 against 1.

He was very close to the rider he's now. And yes, Nibali did try to beat Wiggins, remember when he connected on the decend to Sagan? Also, he had an injury towards the end of the Tour. As always you miss the true facts.

I am funny indeed, but not in the way you think. It is hilarious how you people take anything the way it suits you even though you know perfectly well it isn't what I mean. In the Tour that Sastre won, there were 5 riders who really tried to go for the win there. Sastre, Menchov, Evans, Kohl and Schleck. Though Evans rode tactically awful on the Alpe, that doesn't mean he wasn't competition to Sastre. Wiggins' victory was never in danger after PdBF. Nibali tried to drop Wiggins, he never tried to win the Tour, he could've attacked on the Grand Colombier to try and destroy him, yet he waited for the descent with Sagan. He was reeled in by Porte on a 5% climb thereafter, while Froome was still as fresh as a daisy. Nibali also waited for the last climb on the Toussuire and on the Peyresourde, whilst he was minutes back already. If he really wanted to win, he would've done something earlier. But in the end, just like the others, he rolled over and surrendered.

The stages I'm referring to are also the stages where wasn't injured yet.
 
Red Rick said:
I am funny indeed, but not in the way you think. It is hilarious how you people take anything the way it suits you even though you know perfectly well it isn't what I mean. In the Tour that Sastre won, there were 5 riders who really tried to go for the win there. Sastre, Menchov, Evans, Kohl and Schleck. Though Evans rode tactically awful on the Alpe, that doesn't mean he wasn't competition to Sastre. Wiggins' victory was never in danger after PdBF. Nibali tried to drop Wiggins, he never tried to win the Tour, he could've attacked on the Grand Colombier to try and destroy him, yet he waited for the descent with Sagan. He was reeled in by Porte on a 5% climb thereafter, while Froome was still as fresh as a daisy. Nibali also waited for the last climb on the Toussuire and on the Peyresourde, whilst he was minutes back already. If he really wanted to win, he would've done something earlier. But in the end, just like the others, he rolled over and surrendered.

The stages I'm referring to are also the stages where wasn't injured yet.
Ok fair enough mate. I think Nibali was counting on others like Evans to make their move earlier and create some space for him. Also Valverde was elimated too early and didn't help his cause.
 
Nov 13, 2014
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Netserk said:
Freshman, not high enough in the hierarchy.

Partially this, I would have thought. I'd expect SKY to put any new signing through a 3 week tour and pick up the numbers/psychology before assigning a leadership role. That should be the case unless there's no other option and it's a hail Mary go out and see what you can do situation.
 
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If Wiggins turns up at the Giro I'd be generally surprised. I know there's a big corporate interest in seeing him in the rainbow stripes hitting the TT, but where's the motivation coming from?

He's achieved all he can in the TT, it's done. I can't see him being that interested in picking it up again for the sponsors. If he isn't interested then there's very little point in the team sending him as he's more than likely to plod around for a top 10.

There's a big misunderstanding that because Wiggins has won a GC, that he will always be a GC rider. He isn't. Going to the Giro will put expectation out with casual cycling fans that he's going there to try and win it and I don't fancy the chances of him fielding those questions well.
 
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DavidR52 said:
There's a big misunderstanding that because Wiggins has won a GC, that he will always be a GC rider. He isn't. Going to the Giro will put expectation out with casual cycling fans that he's going there to try and win it and I don't fancy the chances of him fielding those questions well.

True.
Was a track rider, won it all. Became a GC rider, won the highest there is. Went on to TT, won the 2 biggest ones. Now there's just P-R left, and a retirement filled with beer and chips.

(Oh yes I'm a fanboy)
 

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