Wiggins - GT contender?

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  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    I don't think Wiggins has "developed" into a climber, he's crashed-dieted into climbing with a massive weight loss. 7kg is huge and some accounts say he's lost 2kg since the Giro. Very few riders undergo big weight changes like this.
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    Kléber wrote:
    I don't think Wiggins has "developed" into a climber, he's crashed-dieted into climbing with a massive weight loss. 7kg is huge and some accounts say he's lost 2kg since the Giro. Very few riders undergo big weight changes like this.

    Crash dieted into a climber? :shock:

    Of course starve yourself and then tackle the cols that'll work.

    I think there is lot more that goes into developing climbing than a crash diet :roll:
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,541
    @gazzaputt - why don't you expand your argument then, rather than using emoticons to mock?
  • Yorkman
    Yorkman Posts: 290
    Wiggins' behaviour after the Arcalis stage, thumping the team van and looking as taught as a coiled spring, reminded me of Landis when he won at Morzine.
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    andyp wrote:
    @gazzaputt - why don't you expand your argument then, rather than using emoticons to mock?

    No need to expand on a comment that wiggo has 'crash dieted' into a climber as anyone reading that comment can see how absurd it is. The comment for me is only worthy of mockery.

    Wiggo has trained hard to gain his climbing legs and part of that training is weight loss. Crash dieting is something that is done to look good for your hols not to climb cols.
  • blazing_saddles
    blazing_saddles Posts: 22,722
    He's sitting where he is in the GC, after an ITT, a TTT and a diesel's dream climb.
    All a bit premature, if past performances are anything to go by.
    Wait and see.
    However, carrying a stone less up big climbs must be beneficial.
    After all, that was a myth that served LA well, for years.
    "Science is a tool for cheaters". An anonymous French PE teacher.
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    Once we get to a proper stage with another week of riding in the legs and steep climbs that the big GC boys race up a full pelt we will know how Bradley measures up. Everyone said that the climb last Friday wasn't very hard and the stages at the weekend showed nothing. By Tuesday or Wednesday a week from now we will get out chance to see if the new Bradley Wiggins is contender or just a second tier climber. If the latter I do however think that his abilities would be well suited to the shorter one week Pro Tour races with climbs and time trials. In fact he could potentially be extremely successful in them now.
  • zippypablo
    zippypablo Posts: 398
    Well, it seems he surpassed his own expectations then.
    Well done to him, but for the split in the first week might even have made the podium
    (yea, I know ifs & buts, race would've been different tactically etc.)
    If suffer we must, let's suffer on the heights. (Victor Hugo).
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    He's sitting where he is in the GC, after an ITT, a TTT and a diesel's dream climb.
    All a bit premature, if past performances are anything to go by.
    Wait and see.
    However, carrying a stone less up big climbs must be beneficial.
    After all, that was a myth that served LA well, for years.

    Wasn't the LA myth that he'd ever lost the weight? Whereas Wiggo looks a bit scary, and def has...
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • PBo
    PBo Posts: 2,493
    procarbon wrote:
    Kléber wrote:
    Wiggins is still sixth overall, 38 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) and Lance Armstrong (Astana). He is still convinced he can be an overall contender.

    "I'm in the form of my life. I think I go top 15 physically, even top 10," he says.

    "It's just that so much goes in to that, you've got to be on it every day. I lost 40 seconds the other day for lack of concentration. Cadel (Evans) is four minutes behind already for no fault of his own. I'm still there, I'm still in the ball park, so I've got to keep plugging away. I've got to stay with Dave (Millar) and Christian (Vande Velde) because they've got the experience. I've got to try and get through the Pyrenees as close as possible to the best guys."
    From Cycling Weekly

    Exciting stuff. Discuss...

    flying_pig.jpg


    wondered how the punditry was going for you, procarbon? :)
  • Paulie W
    Paulie W Posts: 1,492
    Any thought on Wiggo's prospects next year? Lots is going to happen before next July with teams etc but is this the high watermark of Wiggo's road career or can he build on this to put in a challenge for top spot?
  • Chris James
    Chris James Posts: 1,040
    Gazzaputt wrote:
    andyp wrote:
    @gazzaputt - why don't you expand your argument then, rather than using emoticons to mock?

    No need to expand on a comment that wiggo has 'crash dieted' into a climber as anyone reading that comment can see how absurd it is. The comment for me is only worthy of mockery.

    Wiggo has trained hard to gain his climbing legs and part of that training is weight loss. Crash dieting is something that is done to look good for your hols not to climb cols.

    So he hasn't crash dieted, he trained - which involved massive weight loss?

    A bit pedantic don't you think? After all he has been 'training hard' for years, and a substantial part of the climbing improvement this year is simply down to an improved power to weight ratio.

    I am currently reading In Search of Robert Millar and the comment by Sean Yates about Millar barely eating and training like a dog as the secret to his performance put me in mind of Wiggins.
  • bipedal
    bipedal Posts: 466
    Wiggo's been in talks with Team Sky apparently... bet he's worth rather more cash than he was a few weeks back

    http://www.bikeradar.com/road/news/arti ... tour-22598
  • jim one
    jim one Posts: 183
    Same story on Velo news. Got to be a good thing focusing on the tour especially after he was doing the cobbled classics this year. Cant imagine the schlecks deciding to Roubaix any time soon :lol:

    He has said before he would like to win races like Tiereno Adriatico etc so makes logical sense to have a race programme like the other contenders
  • lucybears
    lucybears Posts: 366
    Kléber wrote:
    Wiggins is still sixth overall, 38 seconds behind Fabian Cancellara (Saxo Bank) and Lance Armstrong (Astana). He is still convinced he can be an overall contender.

    "I'm in the form of my life. I think I go top 15 physically, even top 10," he says.

    "It's just that so much goes in to that, you've got to be on it every day. I lost 40 seconds the other day for lack of concentration. Cadel (Evans) is four minutes behind already for no fault of his own. I'm still there, I'm still in the ball park, so I've got to keep plugging away. I've got to stay with Dave (Millar) and Christian (Vande Velde) because they've got the experience. I've got to try and get through the Pyrenees as close as possible to the best guys."
    From Cycling Weekly

    Exciting stuff. Discuss...

    Did George Hincapie cost Brad a podium place ?

    Stage 3: Marseille - La Grande-Motte
    19 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 5:01:24
    35 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream +0:00:41
    That 41 seconds lost to LA was critical, as Brad was only 37 seconds behind him in Paris.
    Final general classification
    3 Lance Armstrong (USA) Astana 0:05:24
    4 Bradley Wiggins (GBr) Garmin - Slipstream 0:06:01

    Did Hincapie Tell Lance When The Hammer Went Down?

    http://recovoxnews.blogspot.com/2009/07 ... ammer.html
    interview.cyclingfever.com
  • rockmount
    rockmount Posts: 761
    lucybears wrote:
    Did George Hincapie cost Brad a podium place ?

    No ... you snooze, you lose.
    .. who said that, internet forum people ?
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    rockmount wrote:
    lucybears wrote:
    Did George Hincapie cost Brad a podium place ?

    No ... you snooze, you lose.

    Indeed. If you nulled that stage and the TTT, Brad would've still finished 4'th. Frank S. 3'rd and Lance 5'th.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • carbotanium
    carbotanium Posts: 12
    Or maybe Astana would have ridden differently in another stage to put time into those riders it felt needed dealing with :idea: , a bit like Saxobank did on the only real mountain stage .
  • paulcuthbert
    paulcuthbert Posts: 1,016
    calvjones wrote:
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    He's sitting where he is in the GC, after an ITT, a TTT and a diesel's dream climb.
    All a bit premature, if past performances are anything to go by.
    Wait and see.
    However, carrying a stone less up big climbs must be beneficial.
    After all, that was a myth that served LA well, for years.

    Wasn't the LA myth that he'd ever lost the weight? Whereas Wiggo looks a bit scary, and def has...

    Check LA's photos- he definitely lost a lot of weight between a notable photo of his 1993 stage win and his comeback- and he even looked a lot leaner between 1999 and 2002
    The most painful climb in Northern Ireland http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6776_124247198694_548863694_2335754_8016178_n.jpg
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,541
    paulcuthbert wrote:
    Check LA's photos- he definitely lost a lot of weight between a notable photo of his 1993 stage win and his comeback- and he even looked a lot leaner between 1999 and 2002
    It's a myth, check out the Coyle study which shows his weight was consistently around the 75-78 kg mark both before and after cancer.

    He may have loss muscle mass around the shoulders but he gained it elsewhere.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Judging someone's weight by photos is a risky business, it is hardly precise.
  • LangerDan
    LangerDan Posts: 6,132
    andyp wrote:
    paulcuthbert wrote:
    Check LA's photos- he definitely lost a lot of weight between a notable photo of his 1993 stage win and his comeback- and he even looked a lot leaner between 1999 and 2002
    It's a myth, check out the Coyle study which shows his weight was consistently around the 75-78 kg mark both before and after cancer.

    He may have loss muscle mass around the shoulders but he gained it elsewhere.

    Andy
    You do realise that invoking the Coyle study is the cycling equivalent of saying "Candyman" three times?
    'This week I 'ave been mostly been climbing like Basso - Shirley Basso.'
  • PauloBets
    PauloBets Posts: 108
    paulcuthbert wrote:
    calvjones wrote:
    Blazing Saddles wrote:
    He's sitting where he is in the GC, after an ITT, a TTT and a diesel's dream climb.
    All a bit premature, if past performances are anything to go by.
    Wait and see.
    However, carrying a stone less up big climbs must be beneficial.
    After all, that was a myth that served LA well, for years.

    Wasn't the LA myth that he'd ever lost the weight? Whereas Wiggo looks a bit scary, and def has...

    Check LA's photos- he definitely lost a lot of weight between a notable photo of his 1993 stage win and his comeback- and he even looked a lot leaner between 1999 and 2002

    He was more serious about cycling after his illness I think, and it showed...who knows how this made him better in training...but he was fat in pictures I see of him as a rider before he won the TDF, so this must have helped him, losing that weight. He is clean or quite clean
  • aarw
    aarw Posts: 448
    what exactly is quite clean? :lol: :roll:

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