wiggo in the red

[Astana1]

Wigan looks set to have another solid Top 35 performance this year.

 

[Pantani_lives]

Wiggins climbed better than Evans and Vino in the Dauphiné, but he couldn't follow VDB and Gesink. I expect him in the second half of the top ten.

 

[UpTheRoad]

He doesn't have the acceleration that they do, and will blow himself up trying to follow them. Best to follow those GC men he's hoping to battle with.

He could try to emulate Nibali on the Zoncolan -- ride steady and don't respond to accelerations and he may be able to ride up to the attackers.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

the thing is the dauphine is only 1 week long and only had 2 proper MTF's. and by the second one wiggins was already showing signs of cracking.

i predict him to crack big time on the last 2 MTF's of the tour

To be fair, that was an especially mountainous Dauphine by recent standards - the reality is the Tour doesn't have that many more serious Mountain stages, even though it's 3 times the length.

Regardless, when people are really trying, Brad isn't good enough.

 

[Cimber]

Hi folks wiggins in great shape but doesnt feel he can match contador or schleck if they attack on the tough sections on a climb just try and bring them back at his pace,
All you people in the know why would this be? .

Cos he aint climbing as well as those two. HE is just a different type of rider. More like an Indurain who killed everyone in the TTs and then followed them in the mountains. Only Wiggins aint as good as Indurain. He wont ever win a Tour. His climbing skills just aint good enough imho.

 

[hatcher]

He could try to emulate Nibali on the Zoncolan -- ride steady and don't respond to accelerations and he may be able to ride up to the attackers.

That's the plan, but of course it's far easier said than done.

Without knowing for sure how close to peaking all the riders at the Dauphine actually were, it's tough to gauge how well anyone is actually going. If he can ignore Contador, the Schlecks, Gesink, and maybe Basso and Sanchez depending how they're going, and just try and hang with the likes of Evans, Hesjedal, the Radioshack guys, then he can get himself a very solid top 10. After that, who knows.

That all said, the entire forum gave him zero chance of hanging on for the Dauphine win, and even less had him finishing 4th in the 2009 Tour.

I don't really know what to expect from him, but I do believe Wiggins with his head on straight is a far, far different rider than Wiggins with his head in a mess.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Fair point Parrulo, I understand what you mean, agree the design was not great, but its the racers that make the race.

With the strength that Astana had in that race, and the almost total neutralisation of the mountains in all but the one excellent stage (Le Grand Bornand), I defy you to show me a rider who could have made that race exciting.

If you take out the infighting and intrigue and leave it solely to what happened on the bike, the 2009 Vuelta was much more interesting than the 2009 Tour. Now that's an indictment.

 

[hfer07]

Wiggo will be in red....due to embarrassment after failing that much in this year's tour

 

[luckyboy]

and even less had him finishing 4th in the 2009 Tour.

I doubt that was limited to this forum.

He can scrape a top 10.

 

[Captain_Cavman]

With the strength that Astana had in that race, and the almost total neutralisation of the mountains in all but the one excellent stage (Le Grand Bornand), I defy you to show me a rider who could have made that race exciting.

If you take out the infighting and intrigue and leave it solely to what happened on the bike, the 2009 Vuelta was much more interesting than the 2009 Tour. Now that's an indictment.

Is this just a chicken/egg thing? You're saying that the behaviour of the racers meant that it was impossible for the racers to make for an exciting race.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

That all said, the entire forum gave him zero chance of hanging on for the Dauphine win[/B], and even less had him finishing 4th in the 2009 Tour.

I don't really know what to expect from him, but I do believe Wiggins with his head on straight is a far, far different rider than Wiggins with his head in a mess.

cool. I don't remember people not giving him a chance. I thought most (myself included) after the itt that he had a great chance to win.

ANd yeah, 4th place at the tour was something, but this is a different course. He wont better his 09' result. Maybe between 7th and 10th.

 

[hatcher]

cool. I don't remember people not giving him a chance. I thought most (myself included) after the itt that he had a great chance to win.

ANd yeah, 4th place at the tour was something, but this is a different course. He wont better his 09' result. Maybe between 7th and 10th.

You're right, some posters gave him a fighting chance. Most had him definitely getting dropped by everyone, and those are the posters still saying what he definitely won't be able to do. Not a big deal.

If he can get 10th he'll have done great, and will have gone a long way to validating his 2009 result.

 

[Kwibus]

You should add a link to the original blog . Great stuff.

 

[Winterfold]

Given the accuracy of this forum in predicting him blowing up the Dauphine, even with 2/3 of the race gone, I hope this bodes well for him .

Obviously in a 'stopped clock is right twice a day' way I got it, other than that IIRC ACF was the only other poster who gave him a chance.

I think the critical thing is the pace of his tempo climbing, it's really hard to tell from watching, but I think his tempo is high - too high for the likes of Gesink VDB etc to properly attack and take big time. Maybe tens of seconds on each MTF, so with the number of MTF finishes it will be close overall.

(Rodrigues) Berty and A Schleck yes can accelerate even when the pace is high - but he is realistic about his chances of dealing with those two in the high mountains. IE NOT.

Also, SKy are not likely to have leadership responsibilities, so there is more chance of EBH or Uran etc being up the road to help out.

If his head is in the right place, then this year the W/kg and absolute power are both there.

 

[lucybears]

What a difference a week makes !

'I am capable of a podium finish,' insists Team Sky's Bradley Wiggins ahead of the 2011 Tour de France
23/06/11
http://www.itv.com/tourdefrance/201...he-is-capable-of-tour-de-france-podium-63255/

"I never talked about the podium on this Tour... "
30.06.2011
http://www.lavoixdessports.com/Spor...ggins-je-n-ai-jamais-parle-de-podium-su.shtml