brad wiggins has been boring this year.

Team Banana Spokesman
Team Banana Spokesman Posts: 538
edited April 2010 in Pro race
i'm disappointed after all the hype.

why do you have to be boring if you are targetting the tour?

contador hasnt been.
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Comments

  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Team Banana Spokesman wrote:
    i'm disappointed after all the hype.

    why do you have to be boring if you are targetting the tour?

    contador hasnt been.

    It's easy being exciting if you're the best in the world by miles.

    Observe: Contador & Cancellara.

    Wiggins was exciting because he was a totally unexpected podium contender.

    Now we all know he is one, a podium will just meet expectations, rather than surpass them.

    (despite the fact it'll be harder for him to do so this year, given that now he's a known quantity, the route, etc).
    _
  • Team Banana Spokesman
    Team Banana Spokesman Posts: 538
    sure.

    but not attacking at all in the classics?

    he says hes building up slowly for the tour. what does this mean?
  • Le Commentateur
    Le Commentateur Posts: 4,099
    "Don't expect anything before July."
    Un uomo solo al commando
  • paulcuthbert
    paulcuthbert Posts: 1,016
    I thought he was pretty boring in the Tour last summer anyway
    The most painful climb in Northern Ireland http://sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs200.snc1/6776_124247198694_548863694_2335754_8016178_n.jpg
  • Team Banana Spokesman
    Team Banana Spokesman Posts: 538
    Le Commentateur wrote:
    "Don't expect anything before July."

    he really said that?

    my comment stands then

    booooring.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    It's all about July for him. He's riding the Giro so we might see something then, especially in the back end of the race. We'll see.

    Other outsiders for the podium have been having equally boring seasons. The likes of Kloeden, Menchov, Vande Velde and others are almost invisible too.

    But I can't help wondering if it nags him, to see Evans and Contador rack up wins already.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    He's never been particularly exciting. I'm a bit of a hater, but I have no reason to doubt the Sky coaches etc know what they're doing. Wiggins said after LBL he's in better shape than he was this time last year.

    I reckon he's keeping how powder dry for an assault on pink at the Giro, at least for a few days.

    VDV has been riding like a sack of spanners this year but you can't write him off.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • squired
    squired Posts: 1,153
    I hope he manages something. Too many riders base their season around the Tour and get nothing. It is great basing your season around one race, but you could crash out of the race on the first stage or get sick before a key mountain stage.

    It did make me laugh though reading that Bradley couldn't do well last week because they weren't the right kind of hills for him. I thought his power to weight ratio was such that he could climb anything with the best now?
  • FJS
    FJS Posts: 4,820
    Kléber wrote:
    Other outsiders for the podium have been having equally boring seasons. The likes of Kloeden, Menchov, Vande Velde and others are almost invisible too.

    But I can't help wondering if it nags him, to see Evans and Contador rack up wins already.

    Interesting to note the generational split there among TdF top-5 contenders:
    Menchov, Sastre, Vandevelde, Wiggins, LA, Kloeden, Leipheimer, Basso all having slow, under the radar preparations to the Tour
    Contador, Andy S, and Gesink, even Kreuziger and Nibali, having at least a go at some early season results.
    With Evans as exception. And Valverde obviously - but he needs to bag as much as he can in case he's taken out.
  • fastercyclist
    fastercyclist Posts: 396
    If he could win without it costing him, he would be.

    That, combined with other rivals actually winning races, is very telling about Wiggins actual strength. Don't get your hopes up. :)

    I also find it strange that you go through a season without winning anything then suddenly win the biggest race around. Something about that just doesn't make sense to me :?
    The British Empire never died, it just moved to the Velodrome
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    By putting all his eggs in the Tour podium basket, he's taking a big risk.

    Unless he podiums (is that a word?), his season will be a write-off, as he's done nothng of note to date and I can't see him targeting the Vuelta big-style (like Evans last year), as he's riding the Giro. The late season classics don't really suit him either and he's already opted out of the Worlds.

    Seems as though Sky are sending him to the Giro in good nick with no pressure and if he's well placed going in to the final week, then they may have a change of strategy and go all-out. If he's cooked, then they can revert back to the "we're focussing all our energy on the Tour" line.

    That all said, it's a little unfair to compare him to Bertie and Cancellara, who are once-in-a-generation riders, who are head-and-shoulders above the rest.
  • iainf72
    iainf72 Posts: 15,784
    pedro118118 wrote:
    Seems as though Sky are sending him to the Giro in good nick with no pressure and if he's well placed going in to the final week, then they may have a change of strategy and go all-out. If he's cooked, then they can revert back to the "we're focussing all our energy on the Tour" line.

    I think their plan is for him to go all our for 2 weeks - Then kick back a bit in the final week. Maybe give it a go on a mountain stage or two but not too much.

    If he got pink early, then regardless of what happened in the Tour, Sky could spin it positively. So it's quite a sensible plan.
    Fckin' Quintana … that creep can roll, man.
  • camerone
    camerone Posts: 1,232
    i read somewhere that Wiggins has to be dangerously on the limit of what his body can do to be a tour podium hopeful, so its something he can only do for a very short period... his fragility when in top form was evident with his virus the week before olympics..
  • Gazzaputt
    Gazzaputt Posts: 3,227
    I'd have him target the Giro and forget the TDF. A grand tour win for Sky would be great but a poor placing in the TDF will be looked on as a failure.
  • Neil McC
    Neil McC Posts: 625
    edited April 2010
    I think there's something in the theory of him having a bit of a go at the Giro and seeing where he is going into the final week.
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    If you think Wiggins is boring, have a look at Carlos Sastre. :roll:
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,623
    Pokerface wrote:
    If you think Wiggins is boring, have a look at Carlos Sastre. :roll:

    Do you actually follow cycling?

    Sastre is a climber, so the opportunities for him to win races is very limited, yet he's managed to win stages in the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, a feat which even Alberto Contador has been able to match.
  • calvjones
    calvjones Posts: 3,850
    andyp wrote:
    Pokerface wrote:
    If you think Wiggins is boring, have a look at Carlos Sastre. :roll:

    Do you actually follow cycling?

    Sastre is a climber, so the opportunities for him to win races is very limited, yet he's managed to win stages in the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, a feat which even Alberto Contador has been [un?]able to match.

    to be fair, Sastre's been trying a lot longer.

    I don't think he has the head for 1 dayers. He could certainly have a go at a Lombardy physically.
    ___________________

    Strava is not Zen.
  • Kléber
    Kléber Posts: 6,842
    Sastre is a real diesel who slowly climbs his way into the lead, he needs a three week race where others slowly get tired and he stretches out a lead. As for being boring, he's actually a very nice guy who does a lot of behind the scenes for charity.
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    andyp wrote:
    Pokerface wrote:
    If you think Wiggins is boring, have a look at Carlos Sastre. :roll:

    Do you actually follow cycling?

    Sastre is a climber, so the opportunities for him to win races is very limited, yet he's managed to win stages in the Giro, the Tour and the Vuelta, a feat which even Alberto Contador has been able to match.


    I was talking about this year (SEE THE TITLE OF THE THREAD!!!). Sastre has been a ghost. There are lots of races he could have ridden that suit his abilities.


    Last time I checked, we haven't had a Giro, Tour or Vuelta this year - something you would know if YOU followed cycling. :lol:
  • dulldave
    dulldave Posts: 949
    Pokerface wrote:
    If you think Wiggins is boring, have a look at Carlos Sastre. :roll:

    You mean the Carlos Sastre that won the Tour by attacking at the foot of the Alpe and winning the stage? The Sastre that one two mountain stages in the Giro last year in order to finish on the podium?

    Remind me which tour stage Wiggo won again?

    My interest in Wiggo he's British and I believe he's clean. In truth I'd prefer he was a bit more like Sastre in terms of riding.
    Scottish and British...and a bit French
  • Pokerface
    Pokerface Posts: 7,960
    Again - before you jump all over me - read the title of the thread.



    As you were.
  • andyp
    andyp Posts: 10,623
    Pokerface wrote:

    I was talking about this year (SEE THE TITLE OF THE THREAD!!!). Sastre has been a ghost. There are lots of races he could have ridden that suit his abilities.


    Last time I checked, we haven't had a Giro, Tour or Vuelta this year - something you would know if YOU followed cycling. :lol:

    Fair point. I believe the internet term you are looking for is 'pwned'. :wink:

    I really should have coffee before posting on here of a morning. :?
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    Kléber wrote:
    Sastre is a real diesel who slowly climbs his way into the lead, he needs a three week race where others slowly get tired and he stretches out a lead. As for being boring, he's actually a very nice guy who does a lot of behind the scenes for charity.

    "...slowly climbs..."
    Not sure Cadel Evans would agree!

    Sastre is good when the going gets tough - both in terms of terrain, but also the final weeks of GTs, when others are fatigued. I wouldn't call him boring though - he is prepared to attack (some succeed, some don't) when the opportunities arise.
    Don't think I saw Wiggins attack once (in ernest) during the whole of the 09 Tour..........or any Tour before that come to think of it. Well......except the kamikaze lone breakaway when he was a bottle-carrier at Cofidis.

    Then again, diff'rent strokes and all that - Wiggo is hoping to hang on in the montains and gain time against the clock...............certainly worked for others in the past - most notably the likes of Indurain, Antequil, Ullrich etc. And there's nothing wrong with that. Except that that pesky Spaniard is better against the clock and in the mountains!!!
  • dulldave
    dulldave Posts: 949
    Pokerface wrote:
    Again - before you jump all over me - read the title of the thread.



    As you were.

    :oops:
    Scottish and British...and a bit French
  • pedro118118
    pedro118118 Posts: 1,102
    Agreed.
    Sastre has been anonymous this year.
    Then again, he doesn't really have anything to prove to anyone (exept perhaps himself). He's a proven high-profile winner and perennial GT contender.

    That's not the case with Wiggo - there's a lot riding on him this year in terms of faith, focus, investment...............it's only reasonable that Sky (and others, not doubt?!) will want to see a significant return and if it all goes sour at the Tour, he hasn't 'banked' anything else.

    I'll be watching the Giro with particular interest this year for this very reason.
  • micron
    micron Posts: 1,843
    Sky are languishing in the UCI team rankings (3 places behind RS FFS! Man U they aint) and the 'New Merckx' missing the Classics was an epic fail. There will be a colossal amount of pressure on Wiggins to perform in the GTs.

    Unless he delivers something extremely special it looks like Vaughters got the best end of the deal
  • El Imbatido
    El Imbatido Posts: 144
    + Vaughters got a bucket load of money too. Double win :D
    Do you have any Therapeutic Use Exemptions?
    No. Never have.
    Never? What about the cortisone?
    Well, obviously there was the cortisone
  • zammmmo
    zammmmo Posts: 315
    Certainly, other than the period where all flights were grounded, the number of 'tweets' seems to have dropped off (haven't checked VERY recently)...I suspect its the lull before the storm for Wiggo and I'm sure he's being quietly prepped by Sky. I get the impression Brad likes to play his cards in this respect quite close to his chest.
  • rick_chasey
    rick_chasey Posts: 75,660
    Sastre's 35 isn't he?

    And we haven't had a mountain stage yet, let alone a 3rd week mountain stage.

    Go figure.
    _

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