Wiggins Interview

Mikey23

Yes but I just want to publically congratulate everyone who has made this thread possible, and everyone who knows me, or might know me in the future

Remarkable

Richmond Racer wrote:

Here's the interview from last Sat

http://t.co/eiHlfG9Mhp

He seemed quite genuine in the interview. Probably quite relieved in a way that Chris is taking the heat from the media instead of him.

Richmond Racer

Remarkable wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Here's the interview from last Sat

http://t.co/eiHlfG9Mhp

He seemed quite genuine in the interview. Probably quite relieved in a way that Chris is taking the heat from the media instead of him.

Said it before, gonna say it again. Froome might not be me fave, but I cant think of many other riders who'd have kept their cool in every interview and press conference from stage 8 right through to Pareeeee. Wiggins would have exploded in a most spectacular and violent way, and Viz could have got a whole new profanisaurus out of him*



*which would have been highly entertaining but which just might not have helped the cause that much

jimmythecuckoo

I wonder if like a number of people on this forum, he is warming a little to Froome.

If I were Bradley I would have watched with some admiration as his team mate handled both the mountains and the press with a lot of control but also a bit of vulnerability to keep the public on side (in the main).

mike6

Richmond Racer wrote:

Remarkable wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Here's the interview from last Sat

http://t.co/eiHlfG9Mhp

He seemed quite genuine in the interview. Probably quite relieved in a way that Chris is taking the heat from the media instead of him.

Said it before, gonna say it again. Froome might not be me fave, but I cant think of many other riders who'd have kept their cool in every interview and press conference from stage 8 right through to Pareeeee. Wiggins would have exploded in a most spectacular and violent way, and Viz could have got a whole new profanisaurus out of him*



*which would have been highly entertaining but which just might not have helped the cause that much

There again, I can empathise with Wiggins. How many times could you cope with stupid journalists asking the same stupid questions, calling you a cheat, basically ,and not taking any notice of what you say????? I am a pretty relaxed personality but I would have been reduced to profanities given the same circumstances.

Mikey23

Yup I can empathise too and would probably react badly if put under such pressure but even that in itself is a story so they gotcha every way...

mike6

Mikey23 wrote:

Yup I can empathise too and would probably react badly if put under such pressure but even that in itself is a story so they gotcha every way...

I am with you Mikey23, but I don't recall him being pushed so hard by the hacks after his outburst. If they are not prepared to accept his answer to there question, what else can you do? Give them blood and urine samples on the spot?

dilemna

If truth be told Wiggins must be frooming that Sky dropped him as their GC contender for the TdF.

cal_stewart

What was wrong with the interview? Massive storms in Bidons

cyclingsheep

Well I might be in the minority here but I have some sympathy with the OP. I read an article about the Wiggins interview and from the tone of the article had exactly the same response as the OP but I hadn't 'seen' the interview which has a very different tone throughout. This is like the difference between an email/text and a personal conversation exchange where humour can be missed in the former due to missed inflection. However I feel in this case the missed inflection may well have been intentional on the part of the journalist to embellish the story a little.

RideOnTime

d.mart wrote:

Not sure but 'mountain' and 'mole hill' may be rather apt here...

montagne d'une taupinière

jonomc4

Whilst people spout about their idea of what people should and should not say and manners - I think actions speak louder than words and I think Wiggins has done a great job in the past couple of days as a super domestique and he has shown himself to be a team player.

adamfo

I bet Froome can't do this 8)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJXc7OoRMeE

rodgers73

No matter what the guy "should" or "shouldn't" have done post Froome's victory (depending on what camp you're in), I think the public silence from Wiggins after the final stage still looked like poor manners. Whether he meant it or not, 20 seconds typing a tweet saying congratulations is a pitifully small amount of effort to expect of someone, particularly when they're on the same team as the winner.

Whatever Brailsford says about team spirit etc being irrelevant it isn't a lot to expect from someone who was lined up to help Froome win the Tour to say even a brief "well done" afterwards. Also the lack of a public congratulations to the team isn't great form either as he would have been relying on those same blokes to help him win if Froome hadn't been preferred.

The failure to take up the invitation to Paris to celebrate the 100th Tour also leaves me cold. What was he doing instead? Working on his training for the Tour of Poland? If his season is done for anyway, would missing a day or twos training have much of an impact? For the previous years winner to shun such a big occasion is unimpressive.

Imagine if the same sort of occasion arose in tennis this year - if Federer hadn't bothered to show up to celebrate the (hypothetical) 100th Wimbledon when Andy Murray collected the trophy because he was training for the Latvian Masters? Not many people would be rushing to excuse such disrespect.

All of this is small stuff individually, but it does paint a picture of a petty sulker. Calling a crowd of journalists c*nts, having a fashionable haircut and liking Paul Weller doesn't mean that you're somehow so cool that ordinary manners don't apply to you - yet it seems those actions are enough for a large crowd of people to believe that they are. He's lucky the Sports Personality award isn't determined by the actual personality bit!

Pross

So he should have set up an account on Twitter just to publicly congratulate Froome and keep some Internet forum people happy?

rodgers73

No he should have publicly congratulated Froome (via whatever medium) because it would have been good manners to do so.

rickyrider

Pross wrote:

So he should have set up an account on Twitter just to publicly congratulate Froome and keep some Internet forum people happy?

Come on - that's not really what he meant is it... his mention of Twitter was just trying to make the point that a quick congrats was hardly going to take long. The whole public congrats thing is a red herring too. I think its entirely fair to say that for Wiggins not to contact Froome (whether publicly or privately is irrelevant) until a few days after he won the TdF is pretty rude given what Froome did for him last year. Fail to see how anyone can defend that.

Anyway blah blah blah...

RichN95.

rodgers73 wrote:

No he should have publicly congratulated Froome (via whatever medium) because it would have been good manners to do so.

Why does he have to do it publicly? So the likes of you can grant your approval of his character?

rickyrider

rodgers73 wrote:

No he should have publicly congratulated Froome (via whatever medium) because it would have been good manners to do so.

Hey - I was trying to back you up...! It's the lack of sending of congrats that's the issue not whether public or private. I view public congrats as just grand-standing anyway. Private much more meaningful IMO.

Gosh us Brits are an uptight bunch when it comes to manners aren't we?

mfin

Any twitter congratulations would count for nothing, the only valid ones would be private. Social media is a load of sh1te for such things. Twitter is sh1te gossip for gossipy people, okay, you can analyse what and why people say what they do in 140chars, but still that's just yet more gossiping. Yes, it's a phenomenon, but it is still b0llocks.

Yellow Peril

mfin wrote:

Any twitter congratulations would count for nothing, the only valid ones would be private. Social media is a load of sh1te for such things. Twitter is sh1te gossip for gossipy people, okay, you can analyse what and why people say what they do in 140chars, but still that's just yet more gossiping. Yes, it's a phenomenon, but it is still b0llocks.

^This

mike6

Yellow Peril wrote:

mfin wrote:

Any twitter congratulations would count for nothing, the only valid ones would be private. Social media is a load of sh1te for such things. Twitter is sh1te gossip for gossipy people, okay, you can analyse what and why people say what they do in 140chars, but still that's just yet more gossiping. Yes, it's a phenomenon, but it is still b0llocks.

^This

+1.

A wink and a "Well done mate", in passing, mean 100% more than any social media tosh.

ContrelaMontre

rickyrider wrote:

Pross wrote:

So he should have set up an account on Twitter just to publicly congratulate Froome and keep some Internet forum people happy?

Come on - that's not really what he meant is it... his mention of Twitter was just trying to make the point that a quick congrats was hardly going to take long. The whole public congrats thing is a red herring too. I think its entirely fair to say that for Wiggins not to contact Froome (whether publicly or privately is irrelevant) until a few days after he won the TdF is pretty rude given what Froome did for him last year. Fail to see how anyone can defend that.

Anyway blah blah blah...

And what exactly did Froome do for him last year other than make him look a bit stupid by attacking/not attacking his leader? I think there were few occasions where Froome actually did much teamwork as the rivals had already been shelled by the other 7 Sky riders' efforts. Wiggins would've won that Tour without Froome - unless perhaps he'd been riding against him for another team :twisted:

Macaloon

ContrelaMontre wrote:

And what exactly did Froome do for him last year other than make him look a bit stupid by attacking/not attacking his leader? I think there were few occasions where Froome actually did much teamwork as the rivals had already been shelled by the other 7 Sky riders' efforts. Wiggins would've won that Tour without Froome - unless perhaps he'd been riding against him for another team :twisted:

Did you watch it? Froome 'turned himself inside out' for Wiggo. One example from several: Stage 11 La Toussuire: http://youtu.be/RxJ2CcW7-8U?t=20m10s. Froome fetches Nibali, appears to blow, Nibali goes again, Froome recovers to once again drag Wiggo back. Porte was sanctified in some quarters for similar exploits this year.

Granted Froome then lost his mind and attacked them all. You could argue that learning not to make senseless over-exuberant efforts has helped Froome (see stage 9 isolation this year). And you could argue that Wiggo would have made it back to Nibali on his own. But I don't think you can claim that the only thing Froome did was attack his leader.

Richmond Racer

Macaloon wrote:

ContrelaMontre wrote:

And what exactly did Froome do for him last year other than make him look a bit stupid by attacking/not attacking his leader? I think there were few occasions where Froome actually did much teamwork as the rivals had already been shelled by the other 7 Sky riders' efforts. Wiggins would've won that Tour without Froome - unless perhaps he'd been riding against him for another team :twisted:

Did you watch it? Froome 'turned himself inside out' for Wiggo. One example from several: Stage 11 La Toussuire: http://youtu.be/RxJ2CcW7-8U?t=20m10s. Froome fetches Nibali, appears to blow, Nibali goes again, Froome recovers to once again drag Wiggo back. Porte was sanctified in some quarters for similar exploits this year.

Granted Froome then lost his mind and attacked them all. You could argue that learning not to make senseless over-exuberant efforts has helped Froome (see stage 9 isolation this year). And you could argue that Wiggo would have made it back to Nibali on his own. But I don't think you can claim that the only thing Froome did was attack his leader.

Erm...yes. This is kinda the point. Then the antics on Peyragudes which led to the likes of JV tweeting that Froome was humilating Wiggins, and JaJa awarding Froome an oscar 'for his theatricals'.

Froome certainly did help Wiggins lots, but much ended up being over-shadowed by stages 11 and 17.

I suspect that what else has been grating with Wiggins is the number of people (some on here, plenty elsewhere) who bleat on that Froome 'should' have won that Tour, that he 'dragged Wiggins around France'. Think that might grate a bit? I think so

Macaloon

...

Macaloon

Richmond Racer wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Granted Froome then lost his mind and attacked them all.

Erm...yes. This is kinda the point. Then the antics on Peyragudes which led to the likes of JV tweeting that Froome was humilating Wiggins, and JaJa awarding Froome an oscar 'for his theatricals'.

Froome certainly did help Wiggins lots, but much ended up being over-shadowed by stages 11 and 17.

I suspect that what else has been grating with Wiggins is the number of people (some on here, plenty elsewhere) who bleat on that Froome 'should' have won that Tour, that he 'dragged Wiggins around France'. Think that might grate a bit? I think so

Assume Froome was close to 2013 shape in 2012 (not sure if recent power files included 2013 tour), his 'antics' would hardly merit a footnote in 100 TdF Feuds (A. Brown). His one public display of frustration (Peyragudes) was while towing Wiggo and trying to win a MTF stage. On Stage 11 he was in pursuit of 2nd on GC and sat up when Yatesy whistled.

I don't agree with those who say Froome 'deserved' to win the 2012 Tour. Wiggo had done all that was asked of him by the team to prove his leadership credentials for close to 2 years. He rode a faultless season, never mind Tour. He deserved to win.

Pile on the crushing pressure of being The First Brit, a parcours he would have designed himself, and a monastic lifestyle: Wiggo 'deserves' a breather season. It's a shame about the 2013 team leadership stuff (Giro + Tour?) but also understandable if you do feel humiliated. No need for that either.

PuttyKnees

To understand Wiggins' position all you need to do is compare the behaviour of Froome when Wiggins had a moment with the behaviour of Porte when Froome had a moment. See also the behaviour of Froome's PR agent. This should put to bed the idea that Froome is some kind of perfect gentleman contrasting with the "Oik" Wiggins. They're both unstable, the symptoms of which come out in different ways.

Macaloon

PuttyKnees wrote:

To understand Wiggins' position all you need to do is compare the behaviour of Froome when Wiggins had a moment with the behaviour of Porte when Froome had a moment. See also the behaviour of Froome's PR agent. This should put to bed the idea that Froome is some kind of perfect gentleman contrasting with the "Oik" Wiggins. They're both unstable, the symptoms of which come out in different ways.

Different rider and race. Porte was never in with a shout of a podium, or had a sniff of a week 3 stage win. But I agree that even had he been it's unlikely he would have shown any frustration on the road. My point is given how easy the 2012 parcours was for Froome (half the climbing of 2013), his demonstration that 2011's Vuelta was no one-off was quite restrained.

Richmond Racer

Macaloon wrote:

Richmond Racer wrote:

Macaloon wrote:

Granted Froome then lost his mind and attacked them all.

Erm...yes. This is kinda the point. Then the antics on Peyragudes which led to the likes of JV tweeting that Froome was humilating Wiggins, and JaJa awarding Froome an oscar 'for his theatricals'.

Froome certainly did help Wiggins lots, but much ended up being over-shadowed by stages 11 and 17.

I suspect that what else has been grating with Wiggins is the number of people (some on here, plenty elsewhere) who bleat on that Froome 'should' have won that Tour, that he 'dragged Wiggins around France'. Think that might grate a bit? I think so

Assume Froome was close to 2013 shape in 2012 (not sure if recent power files included 2013 tour), his 'antics' would hardly merit a footnote in 100 TdF Feuds (A. Brown). His one public display of frustration (Peyragudes) was while towing Wiggo and trying to win a MTF stage. On Stage 11 he was in pursuit of 2nd on GC and sat up when Yatesy whistled.

I don't agree with those who say Froome 'deserved' to win the 2012 Tour. Wiggo had done all that was asked of him by the team to prove his leadership credentials for close to 2 years. He rode a faultless season, never mind Tour. He deserved to win.

Pile on the crushing pressure of being The First Brit, a parcours he would have designed himself, and a monastic lifestyle: Wiggo 'deserves' a breather season. It's a shame about the 2013 team leadership stuff (Giro + Tour?) but also understandable if you do feel humiliated. No need for that either.

*fist bump*