Will Wiggins Still Win the Giro?

[maxmartin]

I do. When he was a grupetto rider about 4 years ago. Before the "transformation".

SKY fans just ignore that part of history

 

[BroDeal]

SKY fans just ignore that part of history

SKY fans were not cycling fans during that part of history. They are like Americans who started following cycling in 2000.

 

[maxmartin]

SKY fans were not cycling fans during that part of history. They are like Americans who started following cycling in 2000.

that explains

 

[thehog]

SKY fans just ignore that part of history

It never happened.

Don't worry it will be good for him. He can catch up with his old riding buddies in the grupetto.

 

[The GCW]

No, no, no, no.

I voted no for a combination of reasons. I voted for Ryder from the beginning and now after a week of racing I'm more confident that even if Ryder doesn't win, B-Wig-Borg isn't going to win.

*I believe in Ryder. *W-borg has already made at least 3 mistakes (costing Him at least some if not all His TT advantage) and I believe there will be more. *There's not likely to be good weather for the next 2 weeks. *His heart / adrenaline didn't get Him from the ground to the pack fast; doesn't seem focused. *Sky drama must also reduce focus: Froom has to be eating His mind. *This Giro is more of a racers race than a power meter maid's race, this ain't no T de F.

"No, no, no, no, I can't take it no more I'm tired of waking up on the floor...

 

[phanatic]

David Walsh
‏@DavidWalshST
Wrong to say journalists in press room clapped when Wiggins went down. More like a 'wow, big favourite in trouble, this is a story.'

I would've guessed they fell off their chairs laughing rather than in sympathy pangs. I bet if reporters had their way, they wouldn't just take away race radios, but the cars, the mechanics, the soigneurs, and make the stages twice as long just for the nice profile pictures and road maps. But fans and sponsors aren't willing to jettison the camera man just yet, however much the journos plot their revenge. But maybe things are different in Europe.

 

[movingtarget]

Yeah so? I'm not saying the opposite of you. I'm just saying that he is either gonna follow the best climbers and win the giro in the TT's (the 1.30 he lost today wont make an enormous difference since a good Sir should be able to take +- 3 mins in the TT's), or he is gonna get dropped uphill and he will lose more than 5 minutes. The Giro isn't going to be decided by less than one minute, so the time he lost today isn't so much of a deal

The last Giro was won by 16 seconds. Wiggins has wasted the time picked up in the TTT. If he does not perform in the the TT he is history.

 

[shades1]

well he certainly did not enjoy himself yesterday thats for sure .

if the time trial does not go to plan today i predict he will pull out with some lame excuse so he can save himself for the TDF which will open up all the froome/wiggo number1 saga yet again .

 

[Eshnar]

I voted no
But I do think that (if it's dry) he'll wear pink today.

 

[Bernie's eyesore]

Wiggins chance depends on the weather. If we get another wet day in the mountains it's game over. If we don't then he still has an outside chance as long as he has the form and his head in the right place. A lot of ifs though so his chance must be considered slim. If he isn't in pink this evening then it's surely game over anyway.

 

[Zam_Olyas]

If Wigan win the FA cup today i think Wigans will win ll Giro.

 

[Cimber]

Well I do think he will bounce back in the TT and even get pink but I think he will lose it again in the real mountains.

 

[Parrot23]

Must say, Brad's performance in the Giro so far and this entire year has been pretty lame. There's a course to race. Big watts in a straight line, sunny day, etc. Great! Ditto for Geraint Thomas in classics: crashing 3 times in 3 races?

And the Pinarellos? Constant mechanicals. Great name, junk bike or set-up? Who gives diddly squat about their super-duper TT bike if the road bike is sub-par. They're getting noticed for the wrong reasons.

Besides, team can't get gearing right (at Vuelta for Froome/Brad on Angliru, at Tirreno for Froome, at Trentino for Brad on spare bike).

Let's see if they can adjust.

 

[postmanhat]

If you include the Trentino, that's at least the third time Wiggins has had to change bikes in 10 days. Whoever else is at Sky next year, it won't be Pinarello.

But only doing 10 or so days of racing prior to a GT looks even stupider in retorspect. Really hope Wiggins doesn't muck Froome about with the Tour leadership now

 

[Afrank]

How long until Wiggins leaves the race to prepare for the Tour.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

An awful lot of the race now hinges on whether Wiggins starts to feel better or just gives up.

If he leaves, Astana will have a lot of weight on their shoulders and a lot of attacks to chase back. If Wiggins picks up, you would assume that his best chance of taking time is setting the train to full gas and hoping Nibali pops first, which then takes the pressure off Astana.

 

[Jelantik]

maybe froome's prayer is answered... wiggin would possibly not winning the giro. so sir wiggo won't be whinning about doing the feat tour/giro double..

 

[the sceptic]

An awful lot of the race now hinges on whether Wiggins starts to feel better or just gives up.

If he leaves, Astana will have a lot of weight on their shoulders and a lot of attacks to chase back. If Wiggins picks up, you would assume that his best chance of taking time is setting the train to full gas and hoping Nibali pops first, which then takes the pressure off Astana.

Sky train hasnt looked very good this giro. Think he is going to have to attack himself.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Sky train hasnt looked very good this giro. Think he is going to have to attack himself.

I don't think we've seen the terrain to make that judgement, but Siutsov has done some big big pulls, Cataldo has been ill, and Henao & Uran are beyond question so I would say they can drive a very hard pace up the last climb if they wish to - especially as they would be leaving the rest of the day to Astana to pull.

 

[auscyclefan94]

Wiggins only gained 29 and 11 seconds on Evans and Nibali respectively. He won't win the Giro. I think Gesink is the big threat.

 

[movingtarget]

The race is still up for grabs as the mountains are still an unknown. But if Wiggins starts leaking time and bonuses to Nibali and co it's hard to see him winning even if he does a good second TT.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Whatever comes from this, it will be interesting to see, because this is the first time that we've seen the new-look Wiggins have to race from behind in a targeted race (I only half-count the 2011 Vuelta because of Froome, but if you want to include that it's still the first time in a year and a half, and a lot has happened to his palmarès, his self-belief, his ego and his team's standing in the sport in the intervening period), so how he reacts will be very interesting. That he's 1'16 back after a week is surprising, but nevertheless it is nothing like as apocalyptic as you might guess from some people's reactions.

 

[Waterloo Sunrise]

Wiggins only gained 29 and 11 seconds on Evans and Nibali respectively. He won't win the Giro. I think Gesink is the big threat.

I agree it's very unlikely, but to play devil's advocate, how much time do you think he gave away in the corners today?

No benchmark to really know how to quantify, but I saw several where he was so agonisingly slow I wouldn't be shocked if he gave away a minute.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I agree it's very unlikely, but to play devil's advocate, how much time do you think he gave away in the corners today?

No benchmark to really know how to quantify, but I saw several where he was so agonisingly slow I wouldn't be shocked if he gave away a minute.

Wiggins is much stronger on the long flat sections, not the technical sections where is not as good as riders like Evans.

 

[Miburo]

Whatever comes from this, it will be interesting to see, because this is the first time that we've seen the new-look Wiggins have to race from behind in a targeted race (I only half-count the 2011 Vuelta because of Froome, but if you want to include that it's still the first time in a year and a half, and a lot has happened to his palmarès, his self-belief, his ego and his team's standing in the sport in the intervening period), so how he reacts will be very interesting. That he's 1'16 back after a week is surprising, but nevertheless it is nothing like as apocalyptic as you might guess from some people's reactions.

Exactly, he can still win this.

Nibali usually has one pretty poor day. And evans is also nowadays not the most reliable person in the mountains.

It's actually very interesting, now we'll see a sky train with a different purpose. Way better this way.