Winning a major professional sporting event requires monumental dedication, discipline, and a little slice of luck. However, defending that title once you, or your team, have emerged victorious is arguably even harder.
The reformed European Cup, known as the UEFA Champions League these days, as of the writing of this article has never been successfully defended. Which could be considering quite surprising given the dominance of Pep Guardiola’s all conquering Barcelona team just a few years ago.
Bradley Wiggins is perhaps the perfect case study in just how challenging it can be to maintain the motivation and discipline required to claim back-to-back Grand Tour victories, let alone defend the Maillot Jaune (yellow jersey).
With the Englishman’s priorities now apparently lying elsewhere, so that he may dedicate more time to his family.
Season 2014 could prove to be the toughest yet for Team Sky since their first Tour de France victory with Bradley Wiggins. It may seem paradoxical, with Team Sky proving they could defend Wiggins’ 2012 victory with Chris Froome at the 2013 Tour de France.
However, 2014 shall be the first time that Team Sky tackles the Tour de France with a cyclist not eager to claim their first Tour de France crown.
The burden will be on defending champion Chris Froome to prove he has the resolve to maintain the same dedication and discipline which catapulted him towards his first Tour de France title. With an element of luck also required, as it remains to be seen whether Chris Froome will have a second straight undisrupted and injury free season.
Regardless of the debates that surrounded Cadel Evan’s age during the 2012 Tour de France, there can be little doubt that his interrupted preparation approaching the event was detrimental to his unsuccessful title defence.
As often seen in the Barclays Premier League, someone like Arsenal only need to be one percent off their game for a “lesser” team to snatch a shock result.
With Richie Porte currently pencilled in to chase overall victory in the 2014 Giro d’Italia there will be a few difficult decisions for Team Sky to mull over.
Last year’s assault at the Giro d’Italia by Bradley Wiggins arguably weakened Team Sky’s roster at the Tour de France, and the British outfit are keen to avoid a doing similar during 2014.
Arguably Richie Porte’s involvement in the 2014 Giro d’Italia could be Team Sky’s greatest loss, whether the Tasmanian is involved as a domestique or not at all.
One of the, supposed, secrets to Team Sky’s success involves having their entire Tour de France team physically peak for the event, which would be almost impossible for Richie Porte to achieve.
The recruitment of Mikel Nieve from, the now defunct, Euskaltel – Euskadi could help Team Sky and Chris Froome negate the loss of a physically peaked Richie Porte.
Outside of the Basque Spanish cyclist however, a natural successor to the crucial role of “right-hand man” does not seem quite as readily apparent as during Bradley Wiggins’ 2012 victory.
Make no mistake, Chris Froome is, on paper, still the overwhelming favourite to claim overall victory at the 2014 Tour de France.
However, looking ahead to the beginning of the 2014 World Tour at the Tour Down Under, one cannot help but wonder how well Chris Froome will cope with being the Tour de France’s defending champion.
There is also something to be said about the dreaded “second season syndrome” often seen in football, but we might leave topic that for another time
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The jam-packed month-by-month quiz full of 2022 sports trivia!
Australian Grace Brown has won silver in the women's time trial, the first event at the world road cycling championships.
