Wiggins to T-Mobile (Velonews)

iainf72

phil s wrote:

I think you'll find he's talking out of his @rse. I doubt he's ever met Wiggins or indeed anyone from T-Mobile ahd formulates his opinions from message boards.

It's an opinion and people are entitled to them you know. I formulate it based on what I see on TV and read in the press.

Here's the article which made me think "all talk"

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/ ... ho_th.html

As for T-Mobile, LangerDan covers it very well - There are a lot of questions about that team and their commitment to clean anything IMO.

treize vents

iainf72 wrote:

Here's the article which made me think "all talk"

http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/ ... ho_th.html
.

Thanks, I read the article. Wiggins strikes me as a relatively intelligent, honest guy who is a very good track rider and might become a pretty good road rider. Certainly he is one of the very best time trialists in the peloton. He looks good on the bike, as well as going fast. It does not look like he is going to be one of the best in history, but give him time and we shall see. But I still don't get your comment. Even with the help of the dictionary you pointed me to. Seems he has strong views on drug use. Like, don't do drugs. Seems reasonable. And he does produce results, that is "he HAS trousers". From my point of view, to be third and fifth in the prologue and first TT is pretty damn good. Look at the only guys on earth who could beat him. Maybe in Britain, since there are so few good riders at the international level, more hopes are placed on him to be the very best on earth. Maybe a bit like the perpetual way "above average but no champions" like Chavanel and Casar in France. Casar wins a stage and he is on the cover of Velo magazine. Wiggins seems a good, possibly very good rider. Certainly an excellent time trialist. And an intelligent, straight talker. Why not be a bit proud of him instead of bashing him. And do look at his results, they are not bad enough to give the guy a hard time.

iainf72

treize vents wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

But I still don't get your comment. Even with the help of the dictionary you pointed me to. Seems he has strong views on drug use. Like, don't do drugs. Seems reasonable. And he does produce results, that is "he HAS trousers".

He holds strong views on drugs yet crossed the startline in that stage of the Tour to join his friends when the French and German teams were having their protest? Doesn't that strike you as a bit inconsistent? To me, that's someone who talks it but doesn't walk it.

lucretius

I'd be more interested to know if he reported the name of the person who said the French should try taking drugs. If not then why?

Kléber

iainf72 wrote:

He holds strong views on drugs yet crossed the startline in that stage of the Tour to join his friends when the French and German teams were having their protest? Doesn't that strike you as a bit inconsistent? To me, that's someone who talks it but doesn't walk it.

Don't read too much into that.

He says he rode on because he was annoyed that only the French teams (plus I think one or two others) had got together for the protest. No one had told some of the other teams and the sight of his friends, some he swears are clean (like Geraint Thomas), riding up the road was too much, he felt as if it was wrong to protest, to pretend that only the riders staying behind were clean. So he rode on.

BigSpecs

Iain, I thought you only liked the bad boys who took drugs?
Is this new turn of events for Brad not a good sign? rather than a bad one? :twisted:
Surely, Big George the mountain sprinting heavyweight with a Disco past would fit that bill too (and he has a history of rather snazzy jerseys!)
Cheers, Col.

ddraver

Kléber wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

He holds strong views on drugs yet crossed the startline in that stage of the Tour to join his friends when the French and German teams were having their protest? Doesn't that strike you as a bit inconsistent? To me, that's someone who talks it but doesn't walk it.

Don't read too much into that.

He says he rode on because he was annoyed that only the French teams (plus I think one or two others) had got together for the protest. No one had told some of the other teams and the sight of his friends, some he swears are clean (like Geraint Thomas), riding up the road was too much, he felt as if it was wrong to protest, to pretend that only the riders staying behind were clean. So he rode on.

IT must have felt weird with all the other guys saying well done - made the right choice etc etc

DaveyL

Wiggins - a victory at the Dauphine Prologue this year, plus great results in the TdF prologue and 1st TT - look at the guys who finished above him - all clean? I think he's doing OK.

Look at what happened to a lot of the guys in the past who have spoken out and named names. They were finished in the sport. It's all very well for us, with no connection to pro cycling, to take the moral high ground on an internet forum about what we think he should be doing. Pro cycling is this guy's occupation and he has to make a living from it. There will come a day when the cheats are in the minority and people will speak out and name names, and we are moving in the right direction at the moment - such a protest would have been unheard of only a couple of years ago. I've tried to put myself in Wiggins's position and think about what I would do, and I'm happy with the stance he's taken and what he's saying and doing.

top_bhoy

Are you basing this on him being clean also? I am sure some will be clean but it is almost impossible to tell which ones, no matter what country they may come from. To say the likes of Wiggins is clean is no more than a guess. Which is why it is important to be hard on all drug use - it injures the innocents reputation and earnings.

DaveyL

If I didn't believe in *any* of the riders, I would ask myself why I continued to follow the sport.

iainf72

BigSpecs wrote:

Iain, I thought you only liked the bad boys who took drugs?
Is this new turn of events for Brad not a good sign? rather than a bad one? :twisted:
Surely, Big George the mountain sprinting heavyweight with a Disco past would fit that bill too (and he has a history of rather snazzy jerseys!)
Cheers, Col.

You know me Colin, super dodgy.

Wiggins is friends with Hincapie, isn't he? I remember him saying that George and him compared SRM data at the Dauphine, which is how he knew him and GH would be close at the TdF prologue.

dave_1

DaveyL wrote:

Wiggins - a victory at the Dauphine Prologue this year, plus great results in the TdF prologue and 1st TT - look at the guys who finished above him - all clean? I think he's doing OK.

Look at what happened to a lot of the guys in the past who have spoken out and named names. They were finished in the sport. It's all very well for us, with no connection to pro cycling, to take the moral high ground on an internet forum about what we think he should be doing. Pro cycling is this guy's occupation and he has to make a living from it. There will come a day when the cheats are in the minority and people will speak out and name names, and we are moving in the right direction at the moment - such a protest would have been unheard of only a couple of years ago. I've tried to put myself in Wiggins's position and think about what I would do, and I'm happy with the stance he's taken and what he's saying and doing.

I think Iain could be right about T mobile to some extent. All I know is professional cyclists are, as a group of athletes ,not people we should trust too easily...that is for sure...Festina 98, then Operation Puerto shows what these guys think of us cycling fans.

Individually, Wiggins looks clean, not a great pro career, Millar is a diminished force on the TT scene, so clean too. Boonen too I think...

I hope Wiggins is granted 2nd place , on the TT stage of the TDF where those shady kazahk characters from Astana placed ahead

jimmythecuckoo

Confirmed by RCUK

http://www.roadcyclinguk.com/news/artic ... 60/v/1/sp/