Wiggins press conference

iainf72

Inner chimp not fully under control

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/lat ... rence.html

frenchfighter

What he says is good and direct.

finchy

Maybe, I don't know. After the pavé stage the other day I kind of really want to go back and do [Paris]-Roubaix really. This year I decided to concentrate on the Tour, that doesn't mean the next five years I'm going to concentrate on the Tour. We decided to see if I could improve on last year, or explore a bit more after last year. There's a lot of races on the calendar I enjoy doing, so I'll just carry on really.

Glad to hear him say that. I really hope he wins something big in road racing, but I doubt it'll be the Tour de France. I'd love it if he could take a monument.

Cleat Eastwood

What a refreshingly honest interview. Good on you Wiggins,,,,I wont laugh at your sideys now.

FransJacques

frenchfighter wrote:

What he says is good and direct.

...really...

micron

In the interview he gave the Telegraph there was a lot of talk about how he had been defensive in the mountains last year but was ready to attack this year. Sean Kelly made a comment after yesterday's stage referencing the fact that he was in trouble if he couldn't get the rhythm this early in the race on the climbs. Seems he has had a bit of an honest reassessment about where his strengths actually lie. Though last year may not have been a fluke, he was always going to struggle on this year's parcours so good for him for acknowledging the fact that maybe the TdF isn't the be all and end all

Wonder what Flecha has to say about his desire to switch focus to P-R?

stagehopper

Thought it would help Flecha to be honest - Sky had three men in the last 15 this year only for two to puncture almost simultaneously leaving Flecha isolated.

Flecha, Wiggins, Thomas, Hayman, Cummings, Stannard + two others isn't a bad line-up.

On this year's TdF re: "Though last year may not have been a fluke, he was always going to struggle on this year's parcours" - point is he shouldn't have been struggling with what we've seen so far. The Pyrenees maybe. Just reeks of a bad day or two in the office particularly given his "numbers" were better this year than last going into the race.

Kléber

I can't make up my mind whether he had an off day because of the heat or whether he's simply not as good as last year. After all his prologue time wasn't stunning either.

For a man and a team known for the attention to detail the press conference lacked a bit of detail, apart from when he called L'Equipe w-shaped anchors. Not that we'd get all the wattage details, just a bit more colour about what's happening.

I suppose his legs will do the talking today, we'll know better how his Tour will shape up. With the talk already of riding Roubaix, is this a hint that the "all out for the Tour" strategy hasn't worked?

Also - here's the interesting bit - apparently the Garmin team deliberately put him into classics last year. Even when riding a prologue they found that if he was put off his rhythm by a few gusts of wind or a badly taken corner, then he'd struggle to get back on top of his speed. The idea was to give him a series of races where he'd have to cope with brutal changes in speed and hard weather. All at the same time he was losing weight with an eye on the GC. Now this wasn't some masterplan, just a "it'll do him some good" strategy.

iainf72

For those of you who listen to the Cyclingnews podcast, I think the legend that is the Tan Man raised a good point - He doesn't doubt Wiggins can do multiple mountains, but can he do multiple mountains at race pace?

mididoctors

Kléber wrote:

I suppose his legs will do the talking today, we'll know better how his Tour will shape up. With the talk already of riding Roubaix, is this a hint that the "all out for the Tour" strategy hasn't worked?

yeah quite telling change of focus mid tour.. not very one day at a time eye on the prize speak..

I think the heat has been effecting a lot of the guys out there thou

mididoctors

how many days racing do the guys at garmin do..strikes me as a fair bit?

pedro118118

I think last year's result was a bit of a fluke - a combination of a soft parcours, more TTT/ITT kms and Astana controlling the race to ensure Lance finished well up (I think Vaughters has made this point in the past). Also, there was the utter collapse/non-appearance of the likes of Evans, Menchov, Basso, Sastre et al, which paved the way for a new face in the Top 5.

That said, I'd be happy to see Wiggo prove everyone wrong, but I just don't see him gaining time on the 'heads of state of professional cycling' (?!), so Top 10 is probably a realistic aspiration.

That is not to say that races like the Vuelta, Dauphine, Paris-Nice, Criterium International aren't well within his capabilities, but seems as though he feels he's too big a deal to have those as his big objectives.

His big problem in one-day races/monuments is his lack of a change of pace/sprint, so he'd have to 'do a Cancellara' and ride away + TT to victory...........

Kléber

You can't fluke a top-10 position but as you say, circumstances were near perfect for Wiggins last year.

It happens every year, we get a breakthrough ride from a rider. They then spend the next 11 months building for July and then fail to repeat. Just look at French rider Christophe Le Mevel, top-10 last year and he's spent the year building for more, training to the best of his abilities and carefully planning. Only it hasn't worked.

My view, a bit blunt perhaps, is that if you are a good GT rider than you probably demonstrate this before you are 25 with strong performances. For example seeing Geraint Thomas getting dropped on the road to Les Rousses suggests he's very good but not world class GC material. It's very unlikely someone who suddenly becomes good later on can maintain this change, although I can only welcome exceptions to this.

pedro118118

Fair point - perhaps 'fluke' was the wrong word - but you get my drift.

Thomas looks like the 'new Wiggins' to me - he's clearly got a very big engine and can do everything well, but lacks something at that very top end. That said, he's still very young, so has much more scope for improvement on the road than Wiggins.

So, who's going to be the breakthrough rider this year - Hejsedal? Kreuziger? JVDB?

paulcuthbert

He irritates me...

Pross

Kléber wrote:

You can't fluke a top-10 position but as you say, circumstances were near perfect for Wiggins last year.

It happens every year, we get a breakthrough ride from a rider. They then spend the next 11 months building for July and then fail to repeat. Just look at French rider Christophe Le Mevel, top-10 last year and he's spent the year building for more, training to the best of his abilities and carefully planning. Only it hasn't worked.

My view, a bit blunt perhaps, is that if you are a good GT rider than you probably demonstrate this before you are 25 with strong performances. For example seeing Geraint Thomas getting dropped on the road to Les Rousses suggests he's very good but not world class GC material. It's very unlikely someone who suddenly becomes good later on can maintain this change, although I can only welcome exceptions to this.

What age did LA first show strongly? I think some people develop earlier than others, some who look like the next big thing at a young age never go on to win a GT.

RichN95.

Kléber wrote:

My view, a bit blunt perhaps, is that if you are a good GT rider than you probably demonstrate this before you are 25 with strong performances. For example seeing Geraint Thomas getting dropped on the road to Les Rousses suggests he's very good but not world class GC material. It's very unlikely someone who suddenly becomes good later on can maintain this change, although I can only welcome exceptions to this.

While I agree with you, Geraint did have a very busy first week, so he was probably a bit tired. You didn't see Gesink and Kreuziger leading out sprints. I don't think he'll ever really be a proper GT contender, but he may sneak the odd top ten here and there.

pedro118118

Wiggins has "re-calibrated" his objective for this year's Tour, I hear. The new target is a place in the Top 10 on GC. Still a creditable performance, but not a great return for a whole season's single-minded support and preperation. It was all or nothing for the Tour and (as at 14/07) it looks like nothing.

I can't see him beating the Schlecks and Bertie, whilst they remain fit, healthy and not banned. There's also a new generation of very talented stage racers coming through such as Gessink, JVDB, Kreuziger, Nibali etc and the old guard are still capable of putting in better climbing performances than Wiggo.

Perhaps he'll re-callibrate which races he focusses on next year - I hope so, as he is certainly good enough to win some prestigious races, but he may continue to bet everything on the Tou. In my view, that would be a shame.

pedro118118

Wiggins has "re-calibrated" his objective for this year's Tour, I hear. The new target is a place in the Top 10 on GC. Still a creditable performance, but not a great return for a whole season's single-minded support and preperation. It was all or nothing for the Tour and (as at 14/07) it looks like nothing.

I can't see him beating the Schlecks and Bertie, whilst they remain fit, healthy and not banned. There's also a new generation of very talented stage racers coming through such as Gessink, JVDB, Kreuziger, Nibali etc and the old guard are still capable of putting in better climbing performances than Wiggo.

Perhaps he'll re-callibrate which races he focusses on next year - I hope so, as he is certainly good enough to win some prestigious races, but he may continue to bet everything on the Tou. In my view, that would be a shame.

Pross

Maybe they need to blood Kennaugh next year with a view to him challenging a couple of years further on?

iainf72

Pross wrote:

Maybe they need to blood Kennaugh next year with a view to him challenging a couple of years further on?

Is in a USPS / Astana stylee?

paulcuthbert

pedro118118 wrote:

Wiggins has "re-calibrated" his objective for this year's Tour, I hear. The new target is a place in the Top 10 on GC. Still a creditable performance, but not a great return for a whole season's single-minded support and preperation. It was all or nothing for the Tour and (as at 14/07) it looks like nothing

I remember at the start of the season hearing from a lot of sources that if Wiggins didn't perform well in the Tour (i.e. podium, or better) then Sky's entire season would be a failure.

What do you think?

Kléber

Maybe the light bulbs on the team bus need recalibrating too. A lilac hue for optimal recovery?

Pross

iainf72 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Maybe they need to blood Kennaugh next year with a view to him challenging a couple of years further on?

Is in a USPS / Astana stylee?

Very inappropriate turn of phrase on reflection

iainf72

Kléber wrote:

Maybe the light bulbs on the team bus need recalibrating too. A lilac hue for optimal recovery?

As long as the bus is not at altitude.