Wiggins realises the Tour is his
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Brad Wiggins has allowed himself to start thinking about the Tour de France title. But Wiggins’ brief moment of joy on the last major climb of this year’s Tour was short-lived.
He expressed his frustration during Thursday’s post-stage media conference when asked about who is not at the Tour, rather than his impending win.
Wiggins admitted after stage 17, the last day in the Pyrenees, that as he and Sky teammate Chris Froome were on the climb to the summit finish at Peyragudes his mind was elsewhere.
Froome wanted to hunt down Spaniard Alejandro Valverde, who would win the stage, but Wiggins was enjoying his rare lapse of concentration.
They had just dropped Italian Vincenzo Nibali, who is third overall, and it suddenly occurred to Wiggins that barring some catastrophe, in three days’ time the title is his.
A year after Cadel Evans became the first Australian Tour winner, Wiggins will achieve the same feat for Great Britain. “I heard on the radio that we were alone, just the two of us (himself and Froome) – it surprised me a little bit,” Wiggins said.
“At that point, the first time in this whole Tour since I’ve led this race, I thought maybe I’ve just won the Tour.
“All the fight went out of the window, everything to do with the performance.
“And that’s when it starts getting hard then because you lose concentration. It was an incredible feeling. It really was.”
But Wiggins quickly returned to reality at his media conference.
There were questions about former winner Alberto Contador, who missed this Tour because of a doping suspension.
“After everything I’ve done this year you still have to justify… ‘so you might’ve won the Tour but is it ever going to be remembered for these people not being here, this, that and the other’,” Wiggins said.
“I don’t think all the people that came out from the UK to stand on the climbs for the last couple of weeks give a monkeys about that.
“For me in a positive sense, no-one’s actually praised me yet.
“No-one’s actually said: ‘You know what, Brad, good on you mate. You’ve answered all these doping questions as articulately as you possibly can’.
“No-one’s actually patted me on the back yet, it’s all still in a negative sense.”
© AAP 2013
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The Crowd Says (4) | Page 1 of Comments
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July 20th 2012 @ 6:53am
Dscaper said | July 20th 2012 @ 6:53am | Report comment
Think Wiggins is echoing what the many clean riders on the tour have been thinking throughout.
Even as a Wiggins fan, I don’t quite agree with his delivery, but the sentiiment is true. The press need to get a grip, step down from the moral high ground and pay respect where respect is due. The longer it continues, the more it detracts from folks like Cadel, Wiggins and all those that have won the Tour honestly.
July 20th 2012 @ 1:27pm
tonysalerno said | July 20th 2012 @ 1:27pm | Report comment
I feel sorry for Chris Froome he has to play second fiddle to the soon to be champion but he is the next best challenger.
July 21st 2012 @ 3:40pm
William Goat said | July 21st 2012 @ 3:40pm | Report comment
Catch-22 mate, play second fiddle for a chance to be recognised or play lead fiddle & possibly get lost in the peleton.
Froome seems savvy enough to realise he is putting money in the bank , he gets reflected glory from being a key player in the team effort of a Wiggins win & earns himself either a lead ride with another team or a more profitable contract upgrade to stop him leaving.
The idea that he has earned Wiggins support for future years is bunkum to me, do we honestly think that as defending champ that Wiggins won’t be expecting the same team dynamics next year & probably for many to come ? Of course he will.
Froome’s dilemma is clearly illustrated by the BMC performance this year. Does anyone doubt that Evans could have won again ? I don’t, but for all the celebrated domestiques Evans appeared to have ridden alone for much of this le Tour. Even with the efforts of van Garderen he really needed more from the rest of his squad. Froome would have likely suffered a similar fate if he was in a different team.
Sky might not be everyones cup of proverbial tea but you can’t deny they have put themselves on the line to win. Froome has excelled & I hope he gets a chance to really show his wares in future but I doubt it will be at Sky. Wiggins clearly has years left at the top of his ( or his teams’ ) game, so becoming a domestique or even right hand man looks unlikely. That may well prove to be Froomes’ biggest problem, having shown that he is capable of matching Wiggins he will be asking a now very successful team to either stick with the winning formula or change tack slightly & follow him. Stay as a support man or leave & risk losing the support of the rest of a very good squad which he may not find elsewhere. My unfortunate bet is that Froome may well become cyclings Staurt MacGill.
July 21st 2012 @ 3:52pm
William Goat said | July 21st 2012 @ 3:52pm | Report comment
Although not normally an out & out patriot, I am a keen fan of Cadel Evans & really hoped he would win again. However, outplayed, outgunned & simply off his game this time around, I give plaudits to Team Sky, Wiggins & the whole way they have gone about winning this year. I have blogged a few times & call myself an amateur observer, but I recognise that they had a superior squad, tactics & most importantly performance when it mattered. I find cycling interesting because of its irony, a team sport where an individual is declared winner.
Many other observers have said this years race has been boring, that Team Sky has played it safe & so has the rest of the peleton, but I disagree. They did what they set out to do & no-one else could force them off their chosen tactic, no other team acted in unison to overcome their efforts, so why should anyone else win. Well done Team Sky & Mr Wiggins, I look forward to next year to see if anyone can improve enough to change the situation.