Froome on Wiggins and more

markhewitt1978

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27729769 Wiggins has said he's going to miss the tour.

Pross

markhewitt1978 wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27729769 Wiggins has said he's going to miss the tour.

You're about 3 pages too late

markhewitt1978

haha figured

r0bh

markhewitt1978 wrote:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27729769 Wiggins has said he's going to miss the tour.

WHAT!!??!! Really?

MrT

r0bh Has hit the nail on the head.....I'm sure he's been working hard but if Porte isn't up to it??????
I thought Wiggins did come across well this am...interesting that he and Prudhomme were together at the D Day dinner..obviously entente cordial etc but I wonder what he thinks. Tour will still be massive in England....but whatever you think the British public don't connect the same way with Froome....good (not great..yet) rider that he is.

Gutted but also glad I'm not DB.....tough decisions are what you get paid for....hope they're the right ones.

smokey_bacon

Some suggesting on twitter that they will cancel sky subscriptions because of this :roll:

Turfle

You can see the issue arising in this thread. Everyone seems to be saying Wiggo would be great, and not a distraction, if he's doing that 3rd or 4th last rider role in the mountains, and helping Froome on the cobbles and the flatlands; but then we're also bumping him up to be great insurance if Porte isn't on form. Suddenly he's Froome's most important ally. Well if I was Froome, I think I'd rather Lopez or Nieve got that role if Porte isn't up to it.

Pross

If I were Froome I'd want the person who was going to do the best job in each role and make sure I did the Cavendish thing of publicly thanking them every day. Does anyone on here think Wiggins would have 'done a Froome' if he got selected?

Gazzaputt

coriordan wrote:

Froome is looking like more and more of a primadonna prick.
Wiggins was a shouty plonker at times, but at least he was a likeable rogue.

Here here well said

salsiccia1

coriordan wrote:

Froome is looking like more and more of a primadonna prick.

Why? Is Froome in sole charge of the team? If Brailsford wanted Wiggins in the team, he would have him in it, but all things considered he obviously thinks it's best not to.

coriordan wrote:

Wiggins was a shouty plonker at times, but at least he was a likeable rogue.

The likeable part is debatable. And it sounds like some in the team feel the same, which may be an important reason he's not going to the Tour.

Brailsford is going to pick the best team to win the race, not the best individual riders. And in fairness to him I'm not sure you could rely on Wiggins to kill himself for Froome, which is what would be needed.

Roberto di Velo

Pross wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

Pross wrote:

Mechanism wrote:

It is the logical decision but still I'm gutted.

It's not really logical at all. Leaving a recent winner of the race out of the squad when he's hitting the best form since winning and relying on a rider who has struggled to finish a race all season as the key support rider / back up leader is ludicrous.

That works if you think of the tour squad as a collection of individuals. It's not, it's a team, so making sure they gel is the important thing for Sky.

Did you listen to the Cycling Podcast? They cover it pretty well

To me Wiggins appears to know that he wouldn't be the leader and would have accepted riding in support (I suspect that in reality he would know he doesn't stand a chance of winning). Therefore it seems the only potential clash is in Froome's head as he possibly has a guilty conscience for how he acted 2 years ago. If he had any sense he would be grateful of the experienced support (for flatlands as well as mountains). It all seems really churlish and could backfire on him.

I'm with Pross on this.

That said, I can't really see past Froome as the Tour winner.

t5nel

Gazzaputt wrote:

coriordan wrote:

Froome is looking like more and more of a primadonna prick.
Wiggins was a shouty plonker at times, but at least he was a likeable rogue.

Here here well said

I am going to reserve judgement. I WANT to like (well not dislike) both of them but it seems they are both very sucessful at polarising opinion. We will never know what really happens behind closed doors but as of today I expect Wiggins will be winning the PR and public opinion war.

milton50

I did tell you.

It's just not worth the aggravation of having constant press intrusion trying to stir things up and distracting them from the cycling. Not to mention the tension every night when they get on the team bus undermining team morale. They both come across as insecure people who use up a lot of the team's time and effort.

FJS

iainf72 wrote:

coriordan wrote:

Froome is looking like more and more of a primadonna prick.
Wiggins was a shouty plonker at times, but at least he was a likeable rogue.

To the public maybe. But your description of Froome is how I understand a lot of Sky see Wiggins.

Don't bother, it's getting closer to July, the Sir Wiggo fanbois are out in droves.

Like I said earlier, if there is one rider who has no reason to complain about SKY's rigid one-leader grand tour policy, it's Wiggins

Turfle

If I were Froome I would want the fewest distractions possible on my team. I'd know Lopez and Porte will turn themselves inside out for me; I don't know that Wiggins would, and I know I'd be doubting it every stage. That's lot of energy wasted. It's also worth remembering the last time Wiggins competed against the top climbers was probably Tour de France 2012 - that's a long, long time ago in cycling. He showed bits and pieces pre-Giro last year, but not a lot.

I'd love to see him there, I think he wants to do a team job, but then I have absolutely no idea what has gone on between them away from the cameras at any point between 2011 and now. We need to stop putting all the blame on Froome because we like Wiggo more.

Anonymous

That's the thing. There is no doubt Froome is phenomenally strong, but Wiggo was #1 and that's that. Who cares if you are annoyed?
If he said 'it was an honour to ride for the 1st British TdF winner, I learned loads from Wiggo and I would have liked the chance to go on a breakaway when I felt strong, but unfortunately that was not my decision to make and of course, I am disappointed. I have now won my TdF and am looking forward to winning another as I am feeling exceptionally strong'

Not 'wiggo was weak minded and bodied and I had to sit there any babysit him, but I could have buried him if I wanted.' What a prat.

I like wiggo even if he doesn't excite me on the bike riding as a diesel. I can't get excited about Froome (although I didn't watch THAT stage of the TdF live last year) and I cannot like him as he's so beige.

salsiccia1

Turfle wrote:

If I were Froome I would want the fewest distractions possible on my team. I'd know Lopez and Porte will turn themselves inside out for me; I don't know that Wiggins would, and I know I'd be doubting it every stage. That's lot of energy wasted. It's also worth remembering the last time Wiggins competed against the top climbers was probably Tour de France 2012 - that's a long, long time ago in cycling. He showed bits and pieces pre-Giro last year, but not a lot.

I'd love to see him there, I think he wants to do a team job, but then I have absolutely no idea what has gone on between them away from the cameras at any point between 2011 and now. We need to stop putting all the blame on Froome because we like Wiggo more.

Well said

jimmythecuckoo

If I were Alberto Contador I would be laughing my back off.

In one fowl swoop, Sky have reduced the effectiveness of their team, especially on the first week cobbles and shown that Froome has a mental weakness in fearing his own team-mates.

Advantage Saxo.

iainf72

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

If I were Alberto Contador I would be laughing my back off.

In one fowl swoop, Sky have reduced the effectiveness of their team, especially on the first week cobbles and shown that Froome has a mental weakness in fearing his own team-mates.

Advantage Saxo.

Nonsense. They'll think he's strong enough to leave out Wiggins and strong enough to make unpopular decisions.

Anonymous

foul swoop?
fell swoop?
(I have no idea the correct spelling, but imagine it isn't fowl!)

In seriousness, ^ is all true as well.

jimmythecuckoo

Yeah I was deliberating on that spelling... thanks for correcting me

FJS

jimmythecuckoo wrote:

If I were Alberto Contador I would be laughing my back off.

In one fowl swoop, Sky have reduced the effectiveness of their team, especially on the first week cobbles and shown that Froome has a mental weakness in fearing his own team-mates.

There's a lot of assumptions in there. It's much more likely that Brailsford made the decision to leave Wiggins out to avoid a risk of disunity in the team knowing that others would be able to do a support job Wiggins would do. Froome making the decision 'fearing how own team-mate', not likely IMHO

rickyrider

I'm certainly not Wiggins' biggest fan by any means, and I admire Froome as a rider immensely, However Froome has really come out of this looking like a conniving so-and-so. Of course there will be far more to it than anyone will ever know apart from a handful, but that's how it looks to the public.

iainf72

I'm with FJS = I don't think this is Froome's doing

Interesting that Froome wanted to delay his book til Xmas too

Macaloon

After harpooning the clown fish* in 2013, I think Froome is now taking aim at cult leader Colonel Kurz.



In other sports, management would be ridiculed for their failure to identify and develop such an outlandish talent. I don't think we've heard the last of his 2011 treatment.

* "Bradley don't surf"

above_the_cows

Why does this eventuality automatically make Froome a bad guy and mean that he deserves people shouting at him?

That's just really childish. Surely this is all a lot more complicated than good guy Wiggins and bad guy Froome?

Where is everyone getting their information that Froome engineered this, he's manipulated everything?

Anonymous

Wiggins' place in the tour to me is a shame and I wholeheartedly agree with Turfle.

I'm talking about the w@nker he (Froome) comes across as every time he opens his mouth

Gary Marshall

I hope for Sky's sake their grand plan is still operational after the cobbles.

At least one GC hope will be in tatters after that stage, and I would have though Wiggins would be a better bet than Froome to get through unscathed even at his new lighter weight.

I can see both sides of the argument but considering sky sent Wiggins to California for the publicity value to 21st C. Fox, I am surprised that they haven't pushed for Wiggins to be in the tour, the non-participation of Wiggins is a big step backwards in what was a steamroller of interest in UK cycling.

r0bh

Above The Cows wrote:

Why does this eventuality automatically make Froome a bad guy and mean that he deserves people shouting at him?

That's just really childish. Surely this is all a lot more complicated than good guy Wiggins and bad guy Froome?

Where is everyone getting their information that Froome engineered this, he's manipulated everything?

Because of stuff like this?

"Chris Froome: I sensed mental weakness in Sir Bradley Wiggins": http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/27722064

Love him or hate him Wiggo has kept his head down this year, achieved his targets (Roubaix and California) and not said or done anything controversial in the public eye.

above_the_cows

Gary Marshall wrote:

I hope for Sky's sake their grand plan is still operational after the cobbles.

At least one GC hope will be in tatters after that stage, and I would have though Wiggins would be a better bet than Froome to get through unscathed even at his new lighter weight.

I can see both sides of the argument but considering sky sent Wiggins to California for the publicity value to 21st C. Fox, I am surprised that they haven't pushed for Wiggins to be in the tour, the non-participation of Wiggins is a big step backwards in what was a steamroller of interest in UK cycling.

But Wiggins is not a serious contender to win the Tour is he? Yes he. An out up a good show in the cobbles? So what, so can lots of other riders.

And if British cycling fans are so immature that the non-inclusion of Wiggins is going to put them off cycling then they really need to put their toys back in the pram and grow up.