Wiggins Article

frenchfighter

Interesting read

http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2012/ma ... -de-france

The work is at the near maximal intensity he might adopt in a prologue time trial, followed immediately by what amounts to weight training on the bike, a big-gear effort at low-pedal revolutions, at close to breaking point, all at an oxygen-deprived altitude between 1500m and 2,200m. After a rest he repeats it. All this, Kerrison believes, will prepare Wiggins's legs for the steepest climbs on this year's Tour. "When I came in, people believed Brad was only good up to about a 7% gradient; now he can cope with up to 13%."

rick_chasey

Cheers FF.

I always slightly think he gets carried away when talking about his chances when he's training for a big event. Not because he doesn't have a good chance - he does - but because it doesn't need to be said.

In the build up to 2010 he was so bullish, and he didn't need to be.

You wonder why he does that - perhaps he's less guarded with journos than others, or it's a mental thing - he needs that expectation.

alwaystoohot

Another good article today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... rance.html

jibberjim

Rick Chasey wrote:

I always slightly think he gets carried away when talking about his chances when he's training for a big event. Not because he doesn't have a good chance - he does - but because it doesn't need to be said.

Maybe it's part of his motivation, stoke up the pressure, he always had a reputation for being lazy when he was just a TT / prologue specialist, but he reacted pretty well under the pressure of the olympics. So perhaps for him to get motivated personally he needs the external pressure.

rick_chasey

jibberjim wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

I always slightly think he gets carried away when talking about his chances when he's training for a big event. Not because he doesn't have a good chance - he does - but because it doesn't need to be said.

Maybe it's part of his motivation, stoke up the pressure, he always had a reputation for being lazy when he was just a TT / prologue specialist, but he reacted pretty well under the pressure of the olympics. So perhaps for him to get motivated personally he needs the external pressure.

Quite possibly. I certainly do that. It's just I don't see that many pros talk about their chances in that way. I find it interesting.

inkyfingers

I've always felt that for all his confidence and bluster he is still not very comfortable talking to the press and seems to almost say too much sometimes.

Having said that, I think his confidence in himself has never been higher. After the 2009 tour and the 2010 failure he admitted himself that he wasn't sure whether he could repeat that performance, but having won all the races he has won in the last 12 months I think he now genuiniely believes that he can perform at the top level.

It will be interesting to see how he goes in the Dauphine, if anything the parcours this year will suit him even better than last year. Not sure whether winning Paris-Nice, Romandie and the Dauphine would increase or decrease the amount of pressure he feels going into the Tour? His confidence would be Sky high though.

squired

While it will be interesting to see what level Wiggins is at come July, I'm also interested to see how the other guys are performing. If Froome is near to his level from the Vuelta last year he could do very well. Both Rogers and Porte could also be considered as strong top 10 hopes if they are firing on all cyclinders. Whereas last year the team was all based around Wiggo, this year they could easily switch to someone else if he is struggling or crashes out again.

inkyfingers

Froome's problem is that he will either be brilliant or shocking. Porte is a more consistent performer, if he was riding for himself he'd have a good shot of a solid top 10 with all that TTing.

If he's fit and well going into the Tour then I still think Sky will go all out for Wiggins. If Froome or Porte can maintain a high GC position as well and act as a bit of an insurance policy in case Wiggins crashes or gets sick then great, but at the end of the day you need to be careful trying to keep all your options open or you risk falling between two stools like they did to a certain extent in the Vuelta.

Paulie W

jibberjim wrote:

Maybe it's part of his motivation, stoke up the pressure, he always had a reputation for being lazy when he was just a TT / prologue specialist, but he reacted pretty well under the pressure of the olympics. So perhaps for him to get motivated personally he needs the external pressure.

In the past, he has struggled with the pressure that comes with expectation so I'm not usre it is a tactic. In his autobiography, he suggests he nearly cracked before the Olympics when everyone was expecting gold and you could argue that he did crack in the 2010 Tour under the weight of being Team Sky leader and being expected to produce

Pross

Enjoyed that article. I always think of road teams being a bit traditional in their training but it shows that they think about things a lot rather than just going out for hard, long rides in the hills.

BikingBernie

teams such as Liquigas and Astana have left bike bags and cool boxes ready for their next visit.

Anonymous

BikingBernie wrote:

teams such as Liquigas and Astana have left bike bags and cool boxes ready for their next visit.

Go to the hotel, grab a cool box, get some animal blood on it, leave it outside team hotel during Tour. Watch the story go!

shockedsoshocked

I'm always disappointed by how skinny wiggos legs are.

No_Ta_Doctor

Alwaystoohot wrote:

Another good article today:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/others ... rance.html

The article as a whole isn't bad - but the whole intro is about drugs :-(

alwaystoohot

Nice to see Wiggo doing well but where's Cadel hiding up? Haven't seen hide nor hair of him for weeks.

rick_chasey

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

I'm always disappointed by how skinny wiggos legs are.

Spot the Ulle fan.

inkyfingers

ShockedSoShocked wrote:

I'm always disappointed by how skinny wiggos legs are.

His legs are half the size of mine yet he rides twice as fast, it's not fair!

squired

I can't help thinking how our pampered football team would react if sent to a similar location to train without distraction before the European Championships.

Whatever people think about Wiggins and Team Sky, one can't doubt the dedication and focus of him and his team mates. For me, it doesn't really matter what Wiggins does in July, because he has already had a successful season. I'd be very surprised if he doesn't place in the top 5 though.

ocdupalais

Nothing compares to the Tour.

I'm really looking forward to the Olympics - despite all the corporate bullsh!t surrounding them: but Wiggins winning the Tour will eclipse everything.
You know Brailsford would give it the whole "we're satisfied to win the Tour, but we're now looking ahead to the Vuelta/World Champs/Eneco Tour, etc" line: but that would be the post-Tour refreshments gathering to go to, I'd say.

There must be a lot of sneering Sky doubters who are starting to feel mighty twitchy.

inkyfingers

If Wiggins wins the Dauphine again (which he should given his form this season and the parcours) then the pressure will really ramp up another level. I wondered whether Sky might try and deflect this a little by giving Porte or Froome the leadership role at the Dauphine and allowing Wiggins to take more a back seat team role, but I can't see it. He's clearly in the zone, in fact he's in a similar position in the stage races this year and Gilbert was in the classics last year whereby he goes into every one he rides looking like he can win (and more importantly, thinking he can win) so it makes sense to ride the wave as long as possible.

It would be ironic if he won Paris-Nice, Romandie, and the Dauphine only to fail at the Tour and the Olympics, no doubt some would have a laugh, but for most riders that would still constitute an incredible season.

ocdupalais

inkyfingers wrote:

I wondered whether Sky might try and deflect this a little by giving Porte or Froome the leadership role at the Dauphine and allowing Wiggins to take more a back seat team role, but I can't see it.

That's what I thought Sky were going to do at Romandie, hence my nearly point-less PTP pick.

Wiggins stated his policy of going into every race to win (as did Bertie, interestingly: none of this "racing as preparation" stuff).
Scratch the cool, calm and collected exterior of Sky and there's a ruthlessness that reminds me of tales of the British military as they forged The Empire: lots of frightfully spiffy chaps (including some really rather super colonials) working out how they conquer all before them.

Sky have proven that they're no chumps; I think what we're seeing is the still relatively early days of a cycling empire being created.

Turfle

With regards to getting pressure off Wiggins, the first article stated one of Sky's goals this year was to hold leaders jerseys in races for as many days as possible, so that leading races doesn't become a big deal.

For me the difference is that due to the Dauphine-Vuelta-ParisNice-Romandie run Wiggins now has real confidence based on real racing results, not based on how training numbers might translate to racing situations.

BikingBernie

OCDuPalais wrote:

Nothing compares to the Tour.

Exactly!

Plenty of others have shone in races like the Dauphine only to 'crash and burn' in the Tour. Just look at some of Chris Boardman's performances in the Dauphine, coming in the top 3 or 4 on the big mountain stages, only to see 'one hundred riders just ride away from me' come the big climbs of the Tour.

Only time will tell!

iainf72

BikingBernie wrote:

Plenty of others have shone in races like the Dauphine only to 'crash and burn' in the Tour. Just look at some of Chris Boardman's performances in the Dauphine, coming in the top 3 or 4 on the big mountain stages, only to see 'one hundred riders just ride away from me' come the big climbs of the Tour.

Only time will tell!

Ahhh, the Dauphine Effect.

nevman

This was the key para from the Telegraph article that had me thinking

Kerrison, an Australian who previously worked for British Swimming, is looking to transform the time-trialist who climbs best into the climber who time-trials best. Invariably, the latter wins the Tour.

Interesting concept given BWs track background.Dont think there is any doubting his commitment to the TdF and the mens road race after.Impressed.