Wiggone!!

carbonclem

Seeing the way the cycling media and social networks exploded when his inclusion was announced puts to bed any doubt over his value for money as a member of Team Sky from a commercial perspective. They'll get more mainstream publicity out of him riding here than they did for the Tour de France this year. Its the equivalent of Beckham playing for LA Galaxy but it does its job.

lostboysaint

TailWindHome wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

I was born in Kenya, lived in England and Scotland, one parent is Welsh, one English and a grandparent from Eire

So...you're Irish then?

Only if he can get them a goal a game!

wallace_and_gromit

TailWindHome wrote:

UK Cycling Expert ‏@ukcyclingexpert · 3h
Brilliant news that Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing the London sportive! Perfect for him now that he doesn't like competitive cycling!

According to what I've read, Marianne Vos is doing the sportive. She's one of the guest starters on Sunday (along with the Lovely Laura and Sarah Storey) and presumably doesn't want to waste a day when there's some closed roads and 20,000 blokes to dish it out to!

pinno

I wonder how many in the sportive are going to go hell for leather so they can say 'I beat Wiggo, the 2012 Tdf winner' ?

deejay

pinarello001 wrote:

I was born in Kenya, lived in England and Scotland, one parent is Welsh, one English and a grandparent from Eire and people think it's odd when I say that I am 'European' and a Europhile. If they think that it's odd, does that speak of the insularity of some of the inhabitants of this insular island?

So, How many Passports do you hold.
You havn't got a European passport but at least a couple more.
The indigenous people of this insular island are a proud people that have stood apart from Europe as they have had to watch them at war and somehow because of signatures on European Treaties become involved when they go backstabbing each other.
We have withstood Napoleon, The Kaiser and Hitler who couldn't gain access to these Larger Islands but now we find we might be governed by them anyway and they think as they built a tunnel to this Island we must be European also.

Odd of course not, a Europhile born in Kenya (oh I remember Jomo Kenyatta and his killers the Mau Mau) Jambo old son.
No wonder you don't know where to hang your hat but I do as an Anglo-Saxon Englishman. (I'm not allowed to have a passport of my Country but am given one of the Queens Realm which is not a country)
I was taught at a young age that i could have to defend my country and now you tell me you don't know which country. :shock: Forgive me for being Indoctrinated but nothing I have read makes a difference and you know what hat I wear.

I love the Commonwealth Games as they have to play my country's Anthem and they did 58 times.
Sieg Heil my fuhrer with a USA Bellamy salute. :roll:

tailwindhome

NURSE!!!

pinno

[Warning: More off topic stuff]
I could talk hours about that insidious bunch deejay. My father fought them. To think they are trying to get 'compensation' makes my blood boil. Nothing you have said provokes me and some of it I agree with except that as a thinking being on this forum, you are not really expressing the views of the many.

I have one passport - British, as the administrators of my home country never offered me one. Funny that. I speak enough French and spent 5 years going back and forward to Sweden as well as travelling a lot to have grown to love Europe. I still don't take for granted walking alone in the street after dark and feeling pretty safe.

“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.”

RichN95.

I play hockey with someone who was born in Kenya, grew up in England and lives in Wales. We refer to him as Alex the Greek. (All true).

Gazzaputt

Back on topic. So Wiggo gets drafted in to Ride Surrey Classic and I bet Sky will want him at ToB all for marketing purposes.

Is it a disgrace that he isn't allowed to ride one grand tour this year? Just because Froome can't handle a bike for toffee and now wants to ride the Vuelta Froome being there vetos Wiggos participation.

I hope he gets a good salary from Sky for the next 2 years while he prepares for Rio as they owe him that at least.

Pokerface

Doesn't Wiggo keep saying he's not going to ride GTs again?

Does he even WANT to ride the Vuelta?

Pross

Gazzaputt wrote:

Back on topic. So Wiggo gets drafted in to Ride Surrey Classic and I bet Sky will want him at ToB all for marketing purposes.

Is it a disgrace that he isn't allowed to ride one grand tour this year? Just because Froome can't handle a bike for toffee and now wants to ride the Vuelta Froome being there vetos Wiggos participation.

I hope he gets a good salary from Sky for the next 2 years while he prepares for Rio as they owe him that at least.

I'm no fan of Froome but that's a ridiculous statement. Froome's initial crash was caused by another rider taking him off and the subsequent crashes were due to him being unable to operate the brakes properly as a result of broken bones in his wrists. Wiggins has had a fair few falls including the one that put him out of the Tour de Suisse.

ManOfKent

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

UK Cycling Expert ‏@ukcyclingexpert · 3h
Brilliant news that Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing the London sportive! Perfect for him now that he doesn't like competitive cycling!

According to what I've read, Marianne Vos is doing the sportive. She's one of the paid starters on Sunday (along with the Lovely Laura and Sarah Storey) and presumably doesn't want to waste a day when there's some closed roads and 20,000 blokes to dish it out to!

FTFY. Based on a rumour I've heard.

DeVlaeminck

If you take what Wiggo is reported as saying his non- participation in the Vuelta is down to Froome's selection rather than his own choice. WhetherFroome can handle a bike or not there does seem to be a Froome veto on selection.

RichN95.

DeVlaeminck wrote:

If you take what Wiggo is reported as saying his non- participation in the Vuelta is down to Froome's selection rather than his own choice.

Has he said that though? I've not actually seen him mention the Vuelta since the beginning of the season, and that was only as training for the Worlds.

deejay

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ah I miss the times on this forum where Brit success was so weak that it was all about liking cycling and not some tribal sport.

Before my time, but with you on it anyway.

I'm with you also but I'm puzzled by your 2010 dates as your posts Predate that date. :?:

Another bit of Off Topic but inline with the above.
Boardman was early Nineties but that became the personality and not his palmares as the French/Belgians would expect me to be there to support him. Not even at Fleche Wallonne with his long breakaway.
No, I would say (in part embarrassment as he often fell off) I support Roger Hammond on that Belgian Team who is an Ex World Junior Cyclocross Champion. (I think Wiki is wrong as I'm sure I watched Roger in Belgium before 1998)
Anyway it was a pleasure to mix on the roadside with locals of the main cycling nations but who wants to be on a mountain these days with all those idiots and their camper vans.

Wiki, Wiggins wrote:

He joined the Archer Road Club, where his father had been a member in the late 1970s. He raced at Herne Hill Velodrome and on the road around Crystal Palace National Sports Centre. He gained domestic sponsorship from Condor Cycles's Olympia Sport and then Team Brite.
He represented Westminster in the London Youth Games as a teenager,

I could well have had Wiggo on my Crystal Palace start line at the London Youth Games or at Herne Hill Track.
In earlier years I used to race at those tracks and also Paddington Rec track so I knew a couple of Irish Bars in Kilburn.

I like the fact that Wiggo is an enthusiast of Wigan Rugby Football as I was a Boulevard boy.

wallace_and_gromit

ManOfKent wrote:

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

UK Cycling Expert ‏@ukcyclingexpert · 3h
Brilliant news that Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing the London sportive! Perfect for him now that he doesn't like competitive cycling!

According to what I've read, Marianne Vos is doing the sportive. She's one of the paid starters on Sunday (along with the Lovely Laura and Sarah Storey) and presumably doesn't want to waste a day when there's some closed roads and 20,000 blokes to dish it out to!

FTFY. Based on a rumour I've heard.

Doesn't seem unreasonable. The organisers want the "lustre" of a being able to quote the name of a top rider as a "starter", so a greasing of palms seems reasonable. It's not like the event was hard to sell to punters, as it's massively oversubscribed, so having Vos there makes sod all difference to the participants, I expect. (Unless she's going to be handing out rainjackets at the start as well. That might be useful!)

deejay

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

Doesn't seem unreasonable. The organisers want the "lustre" of a being able to quote the name of a top rider as a "starter", so a greasing of palms seems reasonable. It's not like the event was hard to sell to punters, as it's massively oversubscribed, so having Vos there makes sod all difference to the participants, I expect. (Unless she's going to be handing out rainjackets at the start as well. That might be useful!)

Much like the various City Marathon runners around the world.

No_Ta_Doctor

deejay wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Ah I miss the times on this forum where Brit success was so weak that it was all about liking cycling and not some tribal sport.

Before my time, but with you on it anyway.

I'm with you also but I'm puzzled by your 2010 dates as your posts Predate that .

Holy Cheeses, have I been here that long?

Wiggins was already at Sky when I first turned up, I think. So he'd got a podium finish in the Tour already. That's a fair bit of success compared to the eighties and nineties!

salsiccia1

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

ManOfKent wrote:

Wallace and Gromit wrote:

TailWindHome wrote:

UK Cycling Expert ‏@ukcyclingexpert · 3h
Brilliant news that Sir Bradley Wiggins is doing the London sportive! Perfect for him now that he doesn't like competitive cycling!

According to what I've read, Marianne Vos is doing the sportive. She's one of the paid starters on Sunday (along with the Lovely Laura and Sarah Storey) and presumably doesn't want to waste a day when there's some closed roads and 20,000 blokes to dish it out to!

FTFY. Based on a rumour I've heard.

Doesn't seem unreasonable. The organisers want the "lustre" of a being able to quote the name of a top rider as a "starter", so a greasing of palms seems reasonable.

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiggins' decision to ride was encouraged by the waving of a few ponies, either

RichN95.

I expect that quite a few races pay appearance fees to big stars (proper races not criteriums). Particularly ones outside Europe.

hangeron

wind/rain....wiggo descending box hill.......

hmmmm what could go wrong

Pross

Yep, he's only ever any good in the dry like on the Tour of Britain last year and this year's National TT. One or two falls on a wet race and a temporary loss of confidence and everyone makes out you are the world's worst bike handler. Contador must be even worse as he crashed on a dry road. That other rider that falls off all the time according to internet people, Geraint Thomas, managed a soaking wet race on a slippery city centre circuit without any mishaps. I'm amazed how many riders get labelled 'crap bike handlers' when they have a few falls.

DeVlaeminck

RichN95 wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

If you take what Wiggo is reported as saying his non- participation in the Vuelta is down to Froome's selection rather than his own choice.

Has he said that though? I've not actually seen him mention the Vuelta since the beginning of the season, and that was only as training for the Worlds.

That was my reading of this :
"After missing the Tour, Wiggins had originally been expected to ride the Vuelta a España, but the presence of Chris Froome – who was forced to abandon the Tour through injury – appears to rule out the prospect.

“I don't think I'm doing the Vuelta any more now so I think that could be it, yeah,” Wiggins said in Glasgow, according to the Independent."

I agree though I've never seen him say he'll race it to win just as training.

pinno

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

iainf72

pinarello001 wrote:

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

Almost none from what I've heard. The Paris-Roubaix and Olympics thing has been on the cards for a while I believe.

Wiggins is a brand, and he's got some good people controlling the message that comes out.

No_Ta_Doctor

iainf72 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

Almost none from what I've heard. The Paris-Roubaix and Olympics thing has been on the cards for a while I believe.

Wiggins is a brand, and he's got some good people controlling the message that comes out.

You are Macaloon, and I claim my five pounds.

pinno

No tA Doctor wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

Almost none from what I've heard. The Paris-Roubaix and Olympics thing has been on the cards for a while I believe.

Wiggins is a brand, and he's got some good people controlling the message that comes out.

You are Macaloon, and I claim my five pounds.

I hope you are referring to iainf72 or i'll have to pay you in instalments.

deejay

No tA Doctor wrote:

You are Macaloon, and I claim my five pounds.

You sure it's five pounds as I think he pays out in Euro's.
.

No_Ta_Doctor

pinarello001 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

Almost none from what I've heard. The Paris-Roubaix and Olympics thing has been on the cards for a while I believe.

Wiggins is a brand, and he's got some good people controlling the message that comes out.

You are Macaloon, and I claim my five pounds.

I hope you are referring to iainf72 or i'll have to pay you in instalments.

So, after all that Kenyan-Mexican stuff we finally nail a nationality for you: Scottish.



I was of course referring to Iain re. Wiggo's PR machine.

pinno

No tA Doctor wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

No tA Doctor wrote:

iainf72 wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

How much of Wiggins's decision to quit the road was influenced by his exclusion from the Tdf? Maybe he is feeling a little bit aggrieved (all be it a lot of hindsight) with Froome's premature departure.

When someone mentioned the worlds - TT or RR? I presume TT.

Almost none from what I've heard. The Paris-Roubaix and Olympics thing has been on the cards for a while I believe.

Wiggins is a brand, and he's got some good people controlling the message that comes out.

You are Macaloon, and I claim my five pounds.

I hope you are referring to iainf72 or i'll have to pay you in instalments.

So, after all that Kenyan-Mexican stuff we finally nail a nationality for you: Scottish.

I'm not tight, just skint. Which, by your logic would make me Romanian.

So back to the Wiggo conundrum. How do you cross the aspirations of the track (power, speed, intensity) with a classic (stamina, luck, tactical nous, determination) ?