Wiggo broken hearted???

Mccrear

been sitting on the sidelines with this post but was re reading it today and felt i would throw in my pennies worth;

1) the earlier comparisons to england team have some merit - keen fans are aware of shortcomings and although aware of obvious talent, are under no illusion of what is achievable. (did most fans honestly believe england would get out of group?)

2) Another football reference but its not about picking the players who are best in their position, but the players who will work best with others for the team .

3) Wiggo is NOT a domestique. Wiggo is not a grade A climber (although he is still more than decent). Wiggo is NOT good at adapting to unexpected external factors (hence he loves TT+track) which may disrupt his balance, so as a team player and NOT the focal point he is a RISK. It may have worked, but Sky are risk averse, so why would they? (and "froome might crash" is not a good enough reason, or all teams would take mutliple sprint/gc contendors to tours on "what if" basis.)

4) Wiggo is a great character and has loads of talent, but i think we can all agree he is not in 2012 form, nor does the parcour suit him this year the way it does froome, berty or any of the other mountain goats with a decent TT behind them. (see valverde in recent spanish champs).

5) Just because 1/5th of the tour is in the UK is not a good enough reason for selection.

*puts on helmet in expectation of newspaper printed sideburn wearers going mad*

above_the_cows

RichN95 wrote:

Above The Cows wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

Hockey's pretty strong. Six of the ten men's teams were in the recent 12 team World Cup - with mostly the same squads. I'm looking forward to seeing five of my club's first team trying to take on Australia.

Pretty strong being the optimum word. Need the Dutch there to make it a real competition.

Australia stuffed them 6-1 in the World Cup final. (Beat them in the Women's though)

I know but without the Dutch there who else is going to take the Aussie's on?

above_the_cows

ddraver wrote:

Worth watching the video - http://www.rabobankhockeyworldcup2014.c ... -june-2014

I though you liked hockey girls? Why don't you link to the women's game?

Pross

Mccrear wrote:

.....(and "froome might crash" is not a good enough reason, or all teams would take mutliple sprint/gc contendors to tours on "what if" basis.)

Not many teams have a past winner who isn't riding and who should have been fresh having not ridden the Giro (although I would add that he would never have been a contender for anything more than a top 10 placing). I disagree on him not being a domestique though, it's what he was in 2009 and he did it so well he ended up in 4th (3rd?). The only question mark is whether he would have done it properly for Froome, I'm sure he would have done it for Porte.

wombly_knees

ddraver wrote:

Worth watching the video - http://www.rabobankhockeyworldcup2014.c ... -june-2014

I won't watch it. Forgotten that tournament, especially from 68 minutes on in all matches...

FWIW, it may not matter to the big Olympic nations, but a decent/good showing in the Commonwealths is important for the other nations. Even though we'll (India) never win much in the Olympics for the foreseeable, it shows some progress. Also, can't miss a chance to beat the Aussies even if it means getting pummelled in 20 other events.

RoadPainter

Mccrear wrote:

been sitting on the sidelines with this post but was re reading it today and felt i would throw in my pennies worth;

1) the earlier comparisons to england team have some merit - keen fans are aware of shortcomings and although aware of obvious talent, are under no illusion of what is achievable. (did most fans honestly believe england would get out of group?)

2) Another football reference but its not about picking the players who are best in their position, but the players who will work best with others for the team .

3) Wiggo is NOT a domestique. Wiggo is not a grade A climber (although he is still more than decent). Wiggo is NOT good at adapting to unexpected external factors (hence he loves TT+track) which may disrupt his balance, so as a team player and NOT the focal point he is a RISK. It may have worked, but Sky are risk averse, so why would they? (and "froome might crash" is not a good enough reason, or all teams would take mutliple sprint/gc contendors to tours on "what if" basis.)

4) Wiggo is a great character and has loads of talent, but i think we can all agree he is not in 2012 form, nor does the parcour suit him this year the way it does froome, berty or any of the other mountain goats with a decent TT behind them. (see valverde in recent spanish champs).

5) Just because 1/5th of the tour is in the UK is not a good enough reason for selection.

*puts on helmet in expectation of newspaper printed sideburn wearers going mad*

1 - yes. Uruguay aren't very strong and Italy in Manaus looked a nailed on draw to most.
If the 1st 2 games had been the other way around, we'd have got 4 points I think (Uruguay without Suarez, Italy 2nd game syndrome). As it was, we narrowly lost 2 games which could've gone either way.
Media don't do that storyline, so it was 'disastrous'

tailwindhome

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

tailwindhome

TailWindHome wrote:

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

Apparently Coppi won in 1952 and never rode it again

RichN95.

TailWindHome wrote:

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

Rene Poitier (1906) - commited suicide in early 1907
Roger Lapebie (1937)
Sylvere Maes (1939) - World War 2
Fausto Coppi (1952)

dish_dash

TailWindHome wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

Apparently Coppi won in 1952 and never rode it again

Well I guess that's not bad company to be in...

deejay

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

Rene Poitier (1906) - commited suicide in early 1907
Roger Lapebie (1937)
Sylvere Maes (1939) - World War 2
Fausto Coppi (1952)

I'm not quite sure what I'm getting into but

Fausto Coppi Won the TDF in 1949 and 1952.

RichN95.

deejay wrote:

RichN95 wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

Any other Tour winners (exc. bans) who never rode the Tour again?

Rene Poitier (1906) - commited suicide in early 1907
Roger Lapebie (1937)
Sylvere Maes (1939) - World War 2
Fausto Coppi (1952)

I'm not quite sure what I'm getting into but

Fausto Coppi Won the TDF in 1949 and 1952.

I know. But we're talking about winners who won and then never returned. After he won in 1949 he returned. (Maes also won twice).

FocusZing

Deleted.