Wiggins to Sky

[Anonymous]

So we won't see Wiggo pull VDV up the mountains like I speculated earlier, instead we can look forward to a leadership struggle at Sky. Didn't Lokvist say he expects leadership at the Tour....whuh-oh.

But hey they have beautiful bikes....

These forums need more bike porn, just sayin.

like lofkvist didnt know brad was coming... im sure they have a plan.. i would have thought lofkvist would prefer the giro anyway..

teams skys website is up and running.. nothing there, but its up and running anyway.. http://www.teamsky.com

 

[richwagmn]

So now we know Wiggins is a douche bag too. From Vaughters:

“On a personal level, I am very disappointed to see Brad go,” he said. “Fourteen months ago, I was the only one knocking on his door and the only one who felt that he could go above and beyond where he was in cycling.

Nice gratitude. Enjoy your almost podium finish Wiggo. You won't be that close again.

 

[Anonymous]

tour responsibility shared according to lofkvist..
http://www.cyclesport.se/nyheter.asp?lang=eng&newsid=12886

 

[Galic Ho]

rumour is about £2m... whatever it was, it was more than they paid for him and a nice healthy profit...

Who cares apart from Vaughters. JV gave me the impression from the article I read that they were under pressure and he made a wise move. Not a healthy one as far as contractual rights go, but right for the rider and team.

Was anyone surprised? I said he was going months back. Now is better than next year when in all likelihood he tanks. Switching to Sky was obvious, though the Hog seems to have some insider info. Maybe he is right about Contador.

dimspace seems to hold onto the dream win of le Tour. We can all dream. Top 5 at best. Go that medical program! All the subtle references (Man Utd/Wigan and performance levels) really do look like secret talk for hoping on the juice. Wiggins was dropped by the groupetto in 2006, I have it on DVD with Liggett reminding all of Britain that their boy just popped. No way he wins clean, let alone podiums. But we've been over this before. Hey JV, you still reading these threads. Care to hop on in and defend an ex-rider like you did around July?

In the picture with Brailsford with the team bike, Brad has put on some serious kilos. The tell is his face (always is with most people). I'll button my lip on that issue.

Richwagmn, the douchebag line was used months ago. I used it. Wiggins has taken a cue from the Armstrong PR book. He says enough to keep the local fans hooked and appear genuine. Critical thinkers query and question (look up other threads with Wiggins in them) and call him out on his BS. We'll do it next season to keep the Brits in check. They'll do it to Cadel and Contador, etc. Its about balance. I'll be a bit nicer. Brad has a tendency to be too blunt and give away info he shouldn't. This is why this whole event is no shock. Wiggins is an open book.

 

[Anonymous]

did i say he could win the tour....?

i said he could repeat last year, i even think he could podium, i even think if AC can break a collarbone then it could be a very wide open tour....

i would be surprised if he won, but i would not be as shocked as some... then again, id also be suprised if cadel one..

i will go as far as saying, if pushed, that i would be more shocked if cadel won, than if brad did..

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

yeah...why not...someone could start a thread where we show off pics of our bike...we might as well be able to brag to one another via our uber expensive bikes...my wife doesn't seem to get too worked up over my going on about that new crankset...

Looks like somebody started it in the bikes and gear section. I'll add a picture or two of my bikes when I'm not on a work computer.

 

[ImmaculateKadence]

like lofkvist didnt know brad was coming... im sure they have a plan.. i would have thought lofkvist would prefer the giro anyway..

teams skys website is up and running.. nothing there, but its up and running anyway.. http://www.teamsky.com

He probably did.

As for the link you added in another post, I believe Lokvist, but I see him doing most of the sharing, and Wiggo doing more taking.

 

[Anonymous]

Greg LeMond won the Tour in the rainbow jersey. Gianni Bugno finished third.

You signed up to the forum to tell me two obvious facts?

You missed the point of my post.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

like lofkvist didnt know brad was coming... im sure they have a plan.. i would have thought lofkvist would prefer the giro anyway..

teams skys website is up and running.. nothing there, but its up and running anyway.. http://www.teamsky.com

That sums up the last 18 months of Team Sky perfectly.

 

[Boeing]

So now we know Wiggins is a douche bag too. From Vaughters:

“On a personal level, I am very disappointed to see Brad go,” he said. “Fourteen months ago, I was the only one knocking on his door and the only one who felt that he could go above and beyond where he was in cycling.

Nice gratitude. Enjoy your almost podium finish Wiggo. You won't be that close again.

doubledouche

been saying that all along. wait his first flat. hell throw his bike and cuss out the mech

props to JV for letting him go if he didnt want to be there.

does garmin get an invite now?

 

[Anonymous]

my last thought on the whole thing...

brad has been loyal to the people who have been with him from the start.. from the nineties, the same people have been around him all the way, they are the people he has signed for..

garmin didnt get brad to 4th in the tour, the people hes just signed for did, the weight loss, the training, 75% of it was handled by the guys who are now at sky..

Db has handled brads career for the last ten years, it was british cyclings doctors and dieticians that got the weight off, that showed him how to train.. not garmin ruddy slipstream..

Garmin did damn well out of brad.. 1 year, 4th in the tour, and now 2 million quid in the coffers, not bad considering they signed him to help try win the TTT in the giro..

Brad has held loyal to those who have supported him for 15 years.. hes certainly not been disloyal..

 

[Winterfold]

yes well put dimspace - hired as lead out man for Farrar - maybe JV did see some bigger potential - but the grit shown this year has come from GB. In particular the planned and executed utter demolition of the team pursuit world record in Beijing shows how calculating the setup is.

Can they calculate how to deal with Berty when he decides to go for it 7 click out on the Tourmalet? I doubt it.

 

[pedaling squares]

Personally I think this is Wiggins striking while the iron is still hot. There is a tremendous risk that he underwhelms next year. No TTT. Lots of climbing in the final week. Not a very strong GT team at Sky. This is about money.

Agreed, and I do give him some credit for striking while the iron is hot. His 4th place and the pledge to get a Brit on the top step within 5 years created tremendous pressure for Sky to sign him. I've said how I disliked the way he handled it, but to be fair there were a few parties involved in this soap opera and no doubt many things happened behind closed doors that we have not heard about. 2010 will be tough though. He'll be a marked man from day one and the route is not ideal. He'd better discover the art of cadence to go with that weight loss.

 

[pedaling squares]

Brad has held loyal to those who have supported him for 15 years.. hes certainly not been disloyal..

2001 Linda McCartney Racing Team
2002–2003 Française des Jeux
2004–2005 Crédit Agricole
2006–2007 Cofidis
2008 Team High Road
2009 Garmin–Slipstream

Not a damn bit of help from any of them.

 

[Anonymous]

2001 Linda McCartney Racing Team
2002–2003 Française des Jeux < world champions & commonwealth games - 6 medals.. (he wont a couple of TT's for FdJ
2004–2005 Crédit Agricole (olympics.. again he won a couple of tt's for them)
2006–2007 Cofidis (again.. track worlds.. but he did pick up 3 tt's for them including dauphin prologue)
2008 Team High Road (olympics and track worlds.. barely raced for highroad)
2009 Garmin–Slipstream (first road season)

Not a damn bit of help from any of them.

nah... a bit.. but they all signed him, with the exception of linda mccartney, to try and win time trials, or win the prologue in a tour.. thats all they wanted for him.. he was part time for all of those teams..

of all those above he barely trained with any of them.. he spent most of the year training on the track and turned up to do some time trials for them (and to be fair he won a few ).. i would be willing to bet half the guys on the cofidis or F de J teams wouldnt have even recognised him if they had bumped into him..

His loyalty all the way thorugh has been to DB and british cycling..

as far as i know at none of those teams was he offered a new contract (linda mccartney went bust obviously), and the garmin one is the first one hes broken.. so yes, hes been loyal..
just cos hes had loads of teams, doesnt mean hes disloyal, if none of them offer him a contract renewal whats a guy to do.. :?

 

[blackcat]

nah... a bit.. but they all signed him, with the exception of linda mccartney, to try and win time trials, or win the prologue in a tour.. thats all they wanted for him.. he was part time for all of those teams..

of all those above he barely trained with any of them.. he spent most of the year training on the track and turned up to do some time trials for them (and to be fair he won a few ).. i would be willing to bet half the guys on the cofidis or F de J teams wouldnt have even recognised him if they had bumped into him..

His loyalty all the way thorugh has been to DB and british cycling..

as far as i know at none of those teams was he offered a new contract (linda mccartney went bust obviously), and the garmin one is the first one hes broken.. so yes, hes been loyal..
just cos hes had loads of teams, doesnt mean hes disloyal, if none of them offer him a contract renewal whats a guy to do.. :?

hey Dimspace

he has won Dunkirk tt in 2006 when he took the year off the track. He won a l'Avenir prologue circa '04 with CA I think. Or the previous year. I think he has won only one other chrono, without checking.

This was when I was building the case that Wiggo indulged this year.

But I am backing him for 10 and 11 to still have a bit up his sleeve. And until Cancellara has lost 8 kgs, Wiggo is about the only one who could topple Contador, by defending in the mountains. Andy Schleck is a damn good chrono rider for a grimpeur, and so is Gesink, albeit a level below Schleck. But they need 90 seconds on Contador. Wiggo can take back 60 in the final chrono with the appropriate medical program that matches StrongArm, Schleck and Contador. I still think he has a fair bit of improvement up his sleeve.

And dont count Commonwealth Games medals. They dont count. To shallow a pool. Maybe the win, if the field is complete, but often good riders are in Europe. Hendo and Roulston are never showing.

 

[hfer07]

A lot of people have questioned this move, but honestly he's going where he finds his fit-he's made bad moves in the past with Codofis & CA where he wasn't integrated at all, but as he's matured and developed sharper physically & mentally/emotionally, he's discovered his real potential in the sport-Last year with Garmin and in this case with Sky, he grabbed this great opportunity to be part of a British project, which will be behind him a 100%, and perhaps be a pioneer of what seems to be a boost of cycling in the UK.
Good luck to him, and hoping he can repeat his 09 success with Sky in the years to come.

 

[Anonymous]

i got this for him...

2009 Garmin
1st British National Time Trial Championships
1st Overall Herald Sun Tour
1st Stage 5 ITT
1st Stage 1 TTT, Tour of Qatar
1st Stage 3b ITT, Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde
1st Beaumont Trophy
4th Overall, Tour de France
2008 High Road
Summer Olympics
Gold, 4km individual pursuit
Gold, team pursuit
Track Cycling World Championships
Gold, 4km individual pursuit
Gold, Team pursuit (world record time)
Gold, madison
2007 Cofidis
1st Prologue, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
1st Stage 1 ITT, Four Days of Dunkirk
1st Stage 4 ITT, Tour du Poitou-Charentes et de la Vienne
1st Duo Normand
Stage 6, combativity award
Track World Championships
Gold, 4km individual pursuit
Gold, team pursuit
2006 (Cofidis)
Nothing
2005 Credit agricole
1st Stage 2 ITT, Circuit de Lorraine
1st Stage 8, Tour de l'Avenir
2004 Credit Agricole
Summer Olympics
Gold, 4km individual pursuit
Silver, team pursuit
Bronze, madison
2003 FdJ
1st Stage 1 ITT, Tour de l'Avenir
1st Six Days of Ghent
Track World Championships
Gold, 4km individual pursuit
Silver, team pursuit
2002 FdJ
Track World Championships
Bronze, team pursuit
Commonwealth Games
Silver, 4km individual pursuit
Silver, team pursuit2001
Track World Championships
Silver, team pursuit
2000
Summer Olympics
Bronze, team pursuit
Track World Championships
Silver, team pursuit1998
Commonwealth Games
Silver, team pursuit
1997
Junior Track World Championships
Gold, 2km individual pursuit


shows the improvement.. and the difference in focus during those prior years..

Notable that he has not won a single road race in Olympic years.. says something about his priorities..

 

[blackcat]

3 x tt in 2007
2 wins in 2005
2 wins in 2003

basically a couple for each of the teams..

2009 his first proper road season,

4 time trial wins
the sun tour
and 3th in the tour

shows the improvement.. and the difference in focus during those prior years..

nah, it was not.

He rode 2006. Check it. He deliberately left the track, to try and test his potential

 

[Publicus]

nah... a bit.. but they all signed him, with the exception of linda mccartney, to try and win time trials, or win the prologue in a tour.. thats all they wanted for him.. he was part time for all of those teams..

of all those above he barely trained with any of them.. he spent most of the year training on the track and turned up to do some time trials for them (and to be fair he won a few ).. i would be willing to bet half the guys on the cofidis or F de J teams wouldnt have even recognised him if they had bumped into him..

His loyalty all the way thorugh has been to DB and british cycling..

as far as i know at none of those teams was he offered a new contract (linda mccartney went bust obviously), and the garmin one is the first one hes broken.. so yes, hes been loyal..
just cos hes had loads of teams, doesnt mean hes disloyal, if none of them offer him a contract renewal whats a guy to do.. :?

I don't think that's right. I think Wiggins' focus has always been on the track up until this past year. He's focused on the violent effort involved with the TT not because a particular team forced him into that direction but because that was the most natural use of his track talent.

As for his move to break his contract, I don't fault him for wanting to strike while the iron is hot. I don't know him well enough to question his motives beyond the natural one: his stock has never been higher than this year and it would be foolish for him not to strike the best bargain possible. Whether that meant an extension with Garmin for 'x' pounds or moving to Team Sky, it was the inevitable outcome. In short, he was loyal to his own self-interest.

Plus, I assume JV negotiated a nice buyout/settlement--so while he loses Wiggins' legs, he has dollars to land someone else to help VdV in the mountains (and really, that's what VdV needs more than another diesel) or Tyler in the sprints.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

my last thought on the whole thing...

brad has been loyal to the people who have been with him from the start.. from the nineties, the same people have been around him all the way, they are the people he has signed for..

garmin didnt get brad to 4th in the tour, the people hes just signed for did, the weight loss, the training, 75% of it was handled by the guys who are now at sky..

Db has handled brads career for the last ten years, it was british cyclings doctors and dieticians that got the weight off, that showed him how to train.. not garmin ruddy slipstream..

Garmin did damn well out of brad.. 1 year, 4th in the tour, and now 2 million quid in the coffers, not bad considering they signed him to help try win the TTT in the giro..

Brad has held loyal to those who have supported him for 15 years.. hes certainly not been disloyal..

I don't agree on the Garmin part Dim.

Lets call a spade 'a spade' here.....
DB announced in June 2008 that they would be setting up a road team in time for 2010 - Wiggo announced he signed a 2 year agreement in September 2008!
If he wanted to be part of the new team then he should have signed a 1 year contract.

Garmin did not just sign him for the Giro TTT - as the route wasn't even announced then. Vaughter's allowed him the time and opportunity to concentrate on the Tour. Wiggo finishes fourth and suddenly wants to part of the new Sky team.
There was no buy out in the contract, or any get out clause, nor was their a mutual agreement to release him.
Wiggo acted like a petulant child until there was no point in Garmin retaining his services.

While I am sure Garmin received something for the release - the £2 million was an unsourced rumor from of all papers the Daily Mail. Both Garmin & (even!) Sky immediately denied it.

The signing of Bradley for Team Sky is certainly a good and exciting move - I think both can do well - although I am not sure they can live up to all the hype that they have created.
I just think they way both Wiggo and in particular DB & Sky have acted since July is a bad precedent for future rider transactions.

 

[Anonymous]

ah, come on...he won't do much next year...you guys are dreaming if you think he has a real chance...top ten if he is lucky...like I said it's henman-ia

 

[blackcat]

http://www.cyclingarchives.com/coureurfichestats.php?coureurid=9574

basically I forgot his win in Circuit of Lorraine (deep field there) and in De Panne this year. http://www.cyclingarchives.com/coureuruitslagenfiche.php?coureurid=9574
But I was not counting this year, when I was building my contention.

His timetrialing was vastly overrated, til' he did what he had to do, and then neutralised the continentals. He can win the Tour, but only on the back of the chrono, which is not a contradiction in my thesis, which was more based on "neutralising" and the pursuit as indicator.

 

[Anonymous]

nah, it was not.

He rode 2006. Check it. He deliberately left the track, to try and test his potential

i just edited that fairly dramatically..
what results have you got for 2006, cos i cant find anything for that year..

I don't think that's right. I think Wiggins' focus has always been on the track up until this past year. He's focused on the violent effort involved with the TT not because a particular team forced him into that direction but because that was the most natural use of his track talent..

oh i agree.. they wanted him for TT'ing and that suited him.. it benefit both sides pretty well..

 

[blackcat]

ah, come on...he won't do much next year...you guys are dreaming if you think he has a real chance...top ten if he is lucky...like I said it's henman-ia

I reckon if Tim Henman was Australian or American he could have won. Or he had a little more mental fortitude. The guy was talented but was carrying the hopes of all of England.