Sir Bradley Wiggins’ withdrawal from the 2013 Giro d’Italia – according to Team Sky’s website “on the medical advice of the team doctor due to illness” – raises questions over how Wiggo will be remembered when he hangs up his helmet.
For a man who has won gold medals at three Olympic games, was the first Briton to win the Tour de France and even had the Queen tap a sword on his shoulders and tell him “Arise, Sir Bradley”, pulling out of a race due to illness surely can’t affect his legacy?
But while it may sound laughable for what is perceived as the dirtiest sport in the world with regard to doping, cycling is a sport in which respect is paramount.
You don’t attack a rival if they’ve suffered a mechanical failure. You don’t attack when someone has stopped to answer nature’s call. You allow the man wearing the race leader’s jersey to ride at the front of the peloton, because he’s earned that right.
But, perhaps most importantly, if you start a race with aspirations of winning it, you show that race the respect it deserves by finishing it.
Team Sky Principal Sir Dave Brailsford said, “As a passionate racer [Wiggins] wanted to continue but he is simply unable to do so on medical grounds.”
There is no suggestion Wiggins isn’t sick – the way he was cycling painted a pretty clear picture – but he’s also not the only cyclist to be struck down with illness or injury mid-way through a stage race.
In 2010, Cadel Evans suffered a crash on stage eight of the Tour de France, fracturing his elbow. However Evans finished the race, pulling himself up some of France’s most daunting peaks on a broken bone, out of respect for the great race and for the rainbow jersey he wore as the 2010 world road champion.
Suffering serious illness in the months prior to the 1975 Tour, Eddy Merckx was punched in the abdomen by a spectator at the top of a climb on the 14th stage, but battled on, before vomiting after crossing the line.
Later in the race, on stage 17, he crashed heavily and broke his jaw. Though struggling to breathe, Merckx refused treatment and not only completed the stage but the Tour too, standing second on the podium in Paris.
Even in this very Giro, Wiggins isn’t the only one to be suffering from a chest infection. Aussie Orica-GreenEDGE rider Brett Lancaster has been “coughing and spluttering” his way through the 2013 edition of Italy’s Grand Tour. But will he be pulling out?
“I wasn’t going to finish the Giro to prepare for the Tour, but I think I’m going to go all the way now. ‘Gossy’ [Matt Goss] is going to… Gossy hasn’t got a lot of support.”
Lancaster will finish not for his own glory, but to help his teammate.
Which brings us back to Wiggins.
The first sign things weren’t all good with Brad was on stage seven, when a crash saw the Brit lose over a minute and a half to leader Vincenzo Nibali and the rest of his team drop back to help minimise the time loss.
Among those teammates who dropped back was Rigoberto Uran, who now sits third overall in the general classification. Of course, if not for the 90-plus seconds Uran dropped to help Wiggins, he could very well be sitting in second.
Which raises the question of why he was asked to drop back in the first place?
A man battling a head cold and chest infection before the halfway mark of any Grand Tour isn’t going to win the race.
In a sport where every ounce of energy expended is calculated, a body battling itself to heal cannot compete against fully fit competitors whose fight is only on the road.
Still, Uran did the right thing and helped his team leader. Since it was for nought, Sir Bradley should do the right thing too.
Finish the race.
Uran is Sky’s best hope of a podium finish – and possibly a maglia rosa – but he will struggle to do it if his team is only eight men compared to the nine of Cadel Evans and Nibali respectively.
Wiggins could take it easy for a couple of days at the back of the peloton and even take on the climbs in the autobus – the mini-peloton for sprinters, who struggle in the mountains – before helping dictate the pace on the flats for some of the latter stages.
Sure he may be sick and it would be insane to push on for another nine stages, but what’s sane about doing it when you’re perfectly healthy? Riding 3,405 kilometres around Italy at break-neck speeds is completely nuts.
Especially if your plan is to then do the same thing around France a month later.
But it’s not a sport of sanity, it’s one of hard men who value pain, effort and respect.
And sick or not, Bradley Wiggins has shown a lack of respect to his team and the race by deciding to pack it in.
His teammates will say they understand why he quit and sing praises of his toughness for sticking it out the way he did.
But Chris Froome – who nursed Bradley through the mountains in the 2012 Tour, admirably if frustratingly refusing to attack his team leader – suddenly looks a far stronger candidate to lead a team.
And when the Tour rolls out on Corsica at the end of June, there will surely be no questions in the minds of the Sky riders who they are there to win for – the man who swallowed his pride for the team, not the man who couldn’t swallow a bit of phlegm for them.
Kazzie
Guest
Cadel and Bradley are two different personalities in terms of riders. Cadel has completed the TDF after nasty crashes mid race (one leaving him with a broken elbow), and also last year he completed a race while quite unwell. He has also gone through quite a lot of tough psychologically testing issues as a cyclist which has made him the rider he is - one that does not willingly quit. Though health wise it might have been advisable to rest and recover sooner than he did. Bradley probably did want to complete the race but was withdrawn on medical advice. But the other perspective of whether he quit the race because it didn't go the way he ands his team planned with the chest infection allowing a convenient cover is also another option. I am not going to judge him on his withdrawal from the race as the weather has been bad over there and his health is more likely to be worsened if he has a chest infection. The reason his withdrawal is being questioned is because, instead of quietly going about his business in terms of the race, either he or his team let everyone know what the plan was (Wiggins to be ahead of everyone in terms of time before the time trial) and when this didn't happen, he rode a couple of more days, lost more time then quit the race. If there is one lesson out of this for Sky and Bradley - don't tell everyone what your plan for the race is then people won't question the reason you don't finish the race.
Jonty 23
Guest
Great article Joe! No doubt Wiggens is a polarising figure,and while his individual achievments are without peer when it comes to namely his tour victory last year the obvious was he won a race taylormade for his style (2 long time trials non tourturous hill top finishes) and clearly he wasnt the strongest rider on the team when it counted.When victories are discussed i doubt Sir Brads will be among the memorable or respected ones. No tall poppy syndrome,merely asking questions anyone worth their salt would ask
Bones506
Roar Guru
I think the writers comments on the rider are harsh. His comments about wiggins taking it easy for a few days at the back and helping on the flats is utter nonsense. Does he have any idea the pace that these guys ride at - hanging on is hard enough. A cyclist doesn't have a 'regular' season like a footballer. There is no grand final. They can vary their race season depending on form and health. This Giro has been brutal in terms of weather. Do you actually expect a rider to ride up into the snowing mountains just to show respect to his team mates and the race to potentially de-rail his entire season. The answer is NO. His team mates will absolutely understand why he pulled the pin. You don't want an unwell rider amongst you. It is par and parcel of racing. Does the writer train at 5am in 5 degree weather when he is sick and then go to work and pull an 8 hour day - again. Lets go with a NO.
Eric
Guest
It seems to me that most of the commenters here are being rather harsh on the original writer, given that none of us knows how sick Sir Bradley really was. It doesn't take a hardened cynic to wonder whether Sky might have put some or a lot of spin on the story, and they're the only source we have. Looked at another way, might the outcome have been different if Wiggins had been off to a good start in the race, establishing the significant early lead that he was hoping for? In any event, the underlying issue is an interesting one: should a leading athlete feel free to quit an event when it becomes clear that he's not going to win??
Lee Rodgers
Expert
Hmm, tough one this. It wouldn't be the first time a rider jacked it in because he didn't fancy it. His performances on the descents suggested a little more than a chest infection, more like his head wasn't in the right place. Having said that, there's no doubt that Wiggins is one tough dude, no way he couldn't be after what he's achieved - but he's also a rider who needs his head to be 100%,and I don't think he's there right now...
HardcorePrawn
Guest
+2 Wiggo isn't the first rider to pull out of a race due to illness, and he won't be the last. This article reads like a spiteful bout of Wiggo-bashing by someone who clearly doesn't like the bloke. Is the writer aware that last year's Giro winner, Ryder Hesjedal, pulled out the day before Wiggo with a similar complaint? I wonder why Wiggo's retirement from the race warrants this kind of attack from the writer, but Hesjedal's doesn't?
matt
Guest
Look I'm sure Wiggo was absolutely determined to keep going so he could support his team mate U 'also' Ran, much in the same vein that say, Sebastien Vettel would I'm sure get off his sickbed just to help Mark Webber to an F1 victory.
Bones506
Guest
Do you have any idea the suffering these guys go through. Their immune systems are usually on the limit most of the time and they have been racing in rain and heavy wind for the better part of 2 weeks. He can't win so why run yourself into the ground when he can pull out, rest, recover and get ready for the Tour. With all due respect Joe - when you are sick do you get up at 5am in the middle of winter and keep riding only to run yourself into the ground? I don't think so. Whilst your arguments are controversial - they are flawed at every turn and I question whether you actually race bikes based on your comments.
anopinion
Guest
Really, you think "Harden Up" is a motto for elite athletes? These guys train and race themselves into the ground each and every day for year after year. You make him out to be soft for pulling up short in possibly the toughest cycling event in the world. He is sick and unable to assist the team, best thing he can do is rest and recover. Are you the wanker at work who comes in spluttering and coughing making the rest of the office sick because you are so hard? Perhaps the ret of the team do not want to catch what he has.
dom25
Roar Rookie
The team said that he would have continued but it was under doctors orders that he should stop
Steve
Guest
Bit of a tough call without knowing how sick he is, Sky also have the Tour to consider - why would you weaken Wiggins more at Giro when he is ill when with rest he might win or help Froome win the Tour
midfield general
Guest
+1. Joe you have to find a better angle to the story. So Wiggo is soft because he's not going to ride the mountains with bronchitis possibly in the rain and even snow?
Rabbitz
Roar Guru
Have you considered he is in fact respecting the race and the other competitors? By "having a go" and when he realised he was just not well enough, he decided to pull out — admitting that the race was too tough on the day. Have you ever had a day off on sick leave? Athletes are people too, they do get ill and sometimes they do need to call it a day.
Phelpsy
Guest
The guys sick ... And had pushed on this far and wanted to push on. He has nothing to prove. No wonder he decided to race for England rather than Australia where, as this article is fine proof, the tall poppy syndrome reigns .