Tour de Romandie "Spoiler"

DeadCalm

It looked to me as though Sky had made a complete mess of that. They had taken responsibility for chasing the day's break and caught it at about 30km to go (just as they were on a cat 2 climb). A load of attacks inevitably followed with an increase in the pressure at the front and Cavendish, Froome and Thomas promptly disappeared out the back.

Wiggins appeared to have a mechanical with about 20km to go and shortly after there didn't appear to be a single Sky rider left in the main peloton. I may be wrong but I think Wiggins only had Rogers to help him get back on so to go on and win the 'sprint' was doubly impressive.

thamacdaddy

Rough video without sound for anyone interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAheK3FkJ2I

thamacdaddy

DeadCalm wrote:

Wiggins appeared to have a mechanical with about 20km to go and shortly after there didn't appear to be a single Sky rider left in the main peloton. I may be wrong but I think Wiggins only had Rogers to help him get back on so to go on and win the 'sprint' was doubly impressive.

Didn't see this but I saw on feeds that Thomas was dropped towards the end of the climb, given he has been on the track most of the year probably not too shabby and rogers and porte were with wiggins.

rick_chasey

Always a good sign for potential Tour contenders when they win stuff earlier in the season.

pottssteve

thamacdaddy wrote:

Rough video without sound for anyone interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAheK3FkJ2I

Thanks for that. He was really motoring - almost looked a bit embarrassed to win!

rick_chasey

pottssteve wrote:

thamacdaddy wrote:

Rough video without sound for anyone interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wAheK3FkJ2I

Thanks for that. He was really motoring - almost looked a bit embarrassed to win!

He seemed properly pumped about 10 seconds after he crossed the finish line. Kept pumping his fist.

Pross

Been avoiding the spoiler but went on Facebook and saw a photo of Wiggins apparently winning a bunch sprint. I assumed it was a photoshop job so had to come here to check it was real!! Is that the end of the final criticism i.e. that he hasn't won a proper road stage?

rick_chasey

Pross wrote:

Been avoiding the spoiler but went on Facebook and saw a photo of Wiggins apparently winning a bunch sprint. I assumed it was a photoshop job so had to come here to check it was real!! Is that the end of the final criticism i.e. that he hasn't won a proper road stage?

We'll see.

The top 10 is hardly a who's who of fast finishers.

frenchfighter

Brilliant! That will be a photo to save.


They need to ditch these helmets tho:

frenchfighter

Can someone explain how you get dropped on a climb like that? Terribly lightweight.

Froome. Came in last at 11mins down with a handful of others including Cav. Did he get dropped to stopped to help Cav......

rick_chasey

frenchfighter wrote:

Can someone explain how you get dropped on a climb like that? Terribly lightweight.

jonginge

frenchfighter wrote:

Can someone explain how you get dropped on a climb like that? Terribly lightweight.

Froome. Came in last at 11mins down with a handful of others including Cav. Did he get dropped to stopped to help Cav......

Not raced much, been ill:
http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/froome- ... -infection

iainf72

calvjones wrote:

Yeah but iain will hate him now of course.

I've always hated him.

But nice win. Before he became a GT guy I used to get all moody and ask why he didn't try clip off the front on a stage and use his pursuit speed.

Ringo 68

In the last km my missus says "Wiggins is going to win this"

My reply "no chance, he never wins these things" :oops:

What do I know?

jibberjim

DeadCalm wrote:

I may be wrong but I think Wiggins only had Rogers to help him get back on so to go on and win the 'sprint' was doubly impressive.

Sivtsou (or however you spell it) was with Rogers and Wiggins when they arrived back in the bunch and then went to the front with them before being dropped on that last little climb. Porte I never saw get dropped, or be anywhere in the last 20km. I see he came in just 11 seconds down - I'm wondering if that group rather than being split off the bunch actually were catching up.

Actually I see Porte was in the KOM points for the final climb so he must've been there chasing back that little break. Surprised he was the wrong side of a split in the group. Must've been a seriously tough stage despite the size of group at the finish.

Turfle

Porte was there on the last climb pulling people back for Wiggins.

LeePaton

Great to see that, Not really explosive sprinting just slightly quicker than the rest bit wierd really.

Needs to practice the sprint finish celebrations though.

Crankbrother

Bloody good win but he looks like he might be winning another gold medal at the end of August with that helmet ...

sonny73

With you on both counts FF in relation to the pics.
That's a great pic of Wiggins winning.

graeme_s-2

I think he needs lessons from Cav on his win celebrations. Looked like he was going to fall off when he threw his arms up in the air!

Is he wearing a gillet over his jersey in that shot, or is that a sleepless base layer that you can see under his jersey?

tremayne

Awesome finish by bradders! Sprint technique? Questionable! However, this man is on fire right now. If he can improve over the coming months? #justmaybe

Pross

Having now seen it it was an impressive effort from Wiggins, he went way too early but just had too much power for anyone to come past. OK it wasn't a bunch of sprinters but he beat some good riders. He also chased down every attempt to clip off the front in the last few kms. He went to celebrate properly but had to put his hands back down in a hurry as there was a speed hump just after the line!

Tusher

Gulp.
Wiggins in green at the Tour?

greasedscotsman

Well, didn't expect that! Nice one Wiggy! Looks like I'm gonna have to go to the Tour now!

inkyfingers

Respect to Wiggins getting in amongst it. He's super motivated and seems to have the enthusiasm and confidence now to match the ability that he's always had.

Sky's stage results so far this year are certainly more impressive than their classics results.

DeadCalm

jibberjim wrote:

DeadCalm wrote:

I may be wrong but I think Wiggins only had Rogers to help him get back on so to go on and win the 'sprint' was doubly impressive.

Sivtsou (or however you spell it) was with Rogers and Wiggins when they arrived back in the bunch and then went to the front with them before being dropped on that last little climb. Porte I never saw get dropped, or be anywhere in the last 20km. I see he came in just 11 seconds down - I'm wondering if that group rather than being split off the bunch actually were catching up.

Actually I see Porte was in the KOM points for the final climb so he must've been there chasing back that little break. Surprised he was the wrong side of a split in the group. Must've been a seriously tough stage despite the size of group at the finish.

Thanks. I was suffering intermittent power cuts (and thus loss of internet) so was struggling to follow what was happening.

patchy

So I woke up to the news that Wiggins had won a bunch sprint, assumed I must still be dreaming. WTF?

Although it wasn't exactly an explosive effort.

oldwelshman

DavMartinR wrote:

Cav time trialing and Wiggins sprinting???

What the hell is going on??

Wrong on both points
It was a prologue and Cav is well capable of doing a very fast 4km as he is also capable of doing worldclass pursuit time on the track, but its hardly a TT.
Wiggo is a very fast and good lead out man and can do a very fast last couple of kmso with the type of ridersleft today whenhe was staying out of trouble and was behind LG due found himself in position to have a go and with 300m to go kicked hard and no one had speed to go round him, niot so much a sprint as a long dig

bompington

oldwelshman wrote:

not so much a sprint as a long dig

Wiggins wrote:

"I want to win Romandie, that's for sure. I'll take what I can every day and it's really nice to win a sprint like this because normally I only ever really win time trials."

No_Ta_Doctor

So is there a time bonus? Thinking of my PTP... :-)
Very strange win really. If it had been a sprinter winning that, without a leadout, hopping from wheel to wheel in the last kms, we'd be talking about how well he kept his postiton etc. Excellent work!