So Wiggos now gone...

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  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    It was about 8 pages long!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • ddraver
    ddraver Posts: 26,660
    Yeah we re not setting a deadline, just share the love rather than PMing it

    Great work on the Dutch by the way, pretty shameful of me
    We're in danger of confusing passion with incompetence
    - @ddraver
  • disgruntledgoat
    disgruntledgoat Posts: 8,957
    I'm doing a seperate thread for it!
    "In many ways, my story was that of a raging, Christ-like figure who hauled himself off the cross, looked up at the Romans with blood in his eyes and said 'My turn, sock cookers'"

    @gietvangent
  • debeli
    debeli Posts: 583
    I was one of those who was surprised he tried road racing. The switch from the track is very hard and few make it.

    Once he'd got a Paris Podium, I thought it odd that he was vaunted as a likely future winner of the TdF.

    I have nothing but admiration for his wonderful record on track and tarmac. He was already a great before he left the track - and now he is greater. He is a track cyclist who won the TdF, rather than a great 'homme du tour' in the old tradition. Remarkable things he did, but only for very few years.

    The hubbub around him (for all his qualities) still slightly perplexes me. He has a certain something about him, but so do others.

    I do not find myself drawn to Froome in the same way, but somehow (I write as a VERY unskilled person) he is more the athlete and less the 'rouleur' than Wiggins. Wiggins looks like a bike rider and talks like a bike rider and somehow breathed bikes. Froome comes across as a thin, quick, fit guy who was born and raised at altitude and works hard. Impressive, but not the same.

    As to the passing of Wigins, he didn't really register for me as GT rider. During his 'years' (of which there were very few) I was more interested in Contador, Voeckler, Evans, Millar, Schleck-Schleck and others.
  • Anonymous
    Anonymous Posts: 79,667
    Debeli wrote:

    Once he'd got a Paris Podium, I thought it odd that he was vaunted as a likely future winner of the TdF.

    If finishing on the podium doesn't qualify you as a likely winner of the tour what does? Winning it? I don't know.
  • debeli
    debeli Posts: 583
    sjmclean wrote:
    Debeli wrote:

    Once he'd got a Paris Podium, I thought it odd that he was vaunted as a likely future winner of the TdF.

    If finishing on the podium doesn't qualify you as a likely winner of the tour what does? Winning it? I don't know.


    A perfectly reasonable point, but that is how it seemed to me at the time. Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

    That year, BW inherited the third step after LA was booted out for doping (apparently).

    For the whole of the Tour, he hadn't looked like a winner to me. As it happened, my lack of faith in his ability to win a couple of years later was wrong. Nonetheless, I hadn't seen him as a winner or even a stage racer of any note, sespite his regular little flurries of activity in road races over the years.

    I was wrong about him having what it takes to win a Tour... but no, a first GT podium (inherited or otherwise) at 29 years of age rarely suggests a future winner. He did it; most do not.
  • lloyd_bower
    lloyd_bower Posts: 664
    disgruntledgoat wrote:
    The sport needs characters and the top level has just lost a big one.

    Probably the best male cyclist Britain has ever produced, imagine what he could have acheieved if the BC/Sky infrastructure had been set up in 2000!

    Also, I don't think he's ever sought or received credit enough for the money he put into Wiggle Honda on the women's side

    IF we assume Sky are clean, then if the BC/Sky infrastructure was set up in 2000, doubt he'd have achieved anymore, certainly wouldn't have been keeping up with the drug fueled Lance Armstrong in the tours, and his equivalents at the Vuelta, and the Road TT.
  • lloyd_bower
    lloyd_bower Posts: 664
    sjmclean wrote:
    frenchfighter wrote:
    mididoctors wrote:
    contador is a great competitor...way more ambitious and driven than wiggo, his duels with froome are great sport viewing

    BUT in 20 years time wiggins is still going to be the important character from this era and will grow in time.

    In the eyes of a British person maybe.
    In the eyes of the real cycling fan, Wiggins doesn't come close to Contador.
    He has one one Grand Tour vs Contador's 8.
    No one cares overly much about the olympics rr and the world's itt is great but not that big a deal.
    His track medals - amazing but no road racing fan really cares.

    Contador is the greatest stage race rider of his generation. Bar none.


    Contador is a cheat. A doper. None of his GT's can be taken seriously. In my eyes he has 0 wins in his whole career, as he is a cheat. Same goes for anyone with a doping conviction on their record. If I had my way, all results annulled and lifetime ban from all professional sport.

    +1 Contador equals drugs cheat. The greatest stage race rider of his generation in the same way Lance Armstrong was.
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    frenchfighter wrote:
    mididoctors wrote:
    contador is a great competitor...way more ambitious and driven than wiggo, his duels with froome are great sport viewing

    BUT in 20 years time wiggins is still going to be the important character from this era and will grow in time.

    In the eyes of a British person maybe.
    In the eyes of the real cycling fan, Wiggins doesn't come close to Contador.
    He has one one Grand Tour vs Contador's 8.
    No one cares overly much about the olympics rr and the world's itt is great but not that big a deal.
    His track medals - amazing but no road racing fan really cares.

    Contador is the greatest stage race rider of his generation. Bar none.

    maybe s, but he hasn't won 8 GTs, unless you think Lance has 7?
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • tom3
    tom3 Posts: 287
    To me, what is not in question is that Wiggins got the most out of his ability physically and mentally, when both were aligned.

    Many many riders waste their talent, Wiggins played to his strengths and won.

    He was only ever going to win one tour and one Worlds TT and all roads pointed to one big career peak in 2012.

    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.
  • inseine
    inseine Posts: 5,788
    tom3 wrote:
    To me, what is not in question is that Wiggins got the most out of his ability physically and mentally, when both were aligned.

    Many many riders waste their talent, Wiggins played to his strengths and won.

    He was only ever going to win one tour and one Worlds TT and all roads pointed to one big career peak in 2012.

    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.

    You could argue that he could've won in 2011.
    http://cyclinganddesign.blogspot.fr/
  • wallace_and_gromit
    wallace_and_gromit Posts: 3,390
    tom3 wrote:
    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.

    This does raise the question of whether to judge a sportsman by their peaks or by their consistency. I favour the former, but I can see why there are those who criticise Wiggo when he fails to "turn up".
  • above_the_cows
    above_the_cows Posts: 11,406
    inseine wrote:
    tom3 wrote:
    To me, what is not in question is that Wiggins got the most out of his ability physically and mentally, when both were aligned.

    Many many riders waste their talent, Wiggins played to his strengths and won.

    He was only ever going to win one tour and one Worlds TT and all roads pointed to one big career peak in 2012.

    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.

    You could argue that he could've won in 2011.

    That will always be one of those, what if he hadn't crashed out questions...
    Correlation is not causation.
  • Daz555
    Daz555 Posts: 3,976
    inseine wrote:
    tom3 wrote:
    To me, what is not in question is that Wiggins got the most out of his ability physically and mentally, when both were aligned.

    Many many riders waste their talent, Wiggins played to his strengths and won.

    He was only ever going to win one tour and one Worlds TT and all roads pointed to one big career peak in 2012.

    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.

    You could argue that he could've won in 2011.
    Shane Sutton felt that 2011 was Wiggo's only chance of winning it, and when it all went pear shaped he thought that was it - Wiggo would never win the TdF.
    You only need two tools: WD40 and Duck Tape.
    If it doesn't move and should, use the WD40.
    If it shouldn't move and does, use the tape.
  • salsiccia1
    salsiccia1 Posts: 3,725
    Daz555 wrote:
    inseine wrote:
    tom3 wrote:
    To me, what is not in question is that Wiggins got the most out of his ability physically and mentally, when both were aligned.

    Many many riders waste their talent, Wiggins played to his strengths and won.

    He was only ever going to win one tour and one Worlds TT and all roads pointed to one big career peak in 2012.

    During 2012, Wiggins gracing a TT bike in yellow in the shape he was in will live with me for a while. Breathtaking to me personally.

    You could argue that he could've won in 2011.
    Shane Sutton felt that 2011 was Wiggo's only chance of winning it, and when it all went pear shaped he thought that was it - Wiggo would never win the TdF.

    But then ASO did him a favour in 2012...
    It's only a bit of sport, Mun. Relax and enjoy the racing.

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