Anyone been watchin the commonwealth & seen the Bradley interview ?,sounds like he’s made his mind up to cease road riding ,& do a few velodrome events then call it it a day ,or someone’s made it up for him !!!..

Well he was kinda good at it and he has the focus.
He also has a good training track near his holiday home 😉

Wants to go back to the Velodrome, realises that bulking up will affect his Grand Tour prospects.

On going talks with Sky to see if they can accommodate him on the team to supplement his track training.

He certainly seemed to rule out any further grand tours which is understandable and predictable. Clearly not happy with the “cut-throat” nature of road racing. Fair enough really.

Can’t blame him, he seemed to walk right back in the England squad, with more focused training medals in rio a possibility! And team sky seem content leaving him on the sidelines and selecting chris ‘stack master’ froome for the grand tours!

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/wiggins-to-quit-major-road-racing-in-2014

He’s been saying that for a while, I think looking at nibali this year it’s clear there’s no point unless your on the juice and he doesn’t want to do that

and Thibault Pinault is expected to sign for SKY .

what will the doe-eyed mamil sky fans do now? froome is a bit you know ‘foreign’ and mark cavendish rides for some other team now and they are slowly realising that Geraint is never actually going to win anything.
maybe they will start to follow cycling instead?

Don’t blame him, crack on big lad!

Strikes me that its all he has. Doesn’t seem committed to the road any more and is hoping to stretch the career a bit longer. Must admit that I wouldn’t want him on my road team with all the fuss he is making about Rio. Would be surprised if Sky didn’t let him go.

http://www1.skysports.com/cycling/news/15264/9166741/sir-dave-brailsford-backs-sir-bradley-wiggins-to-make-track-return-at-rio-2016-olympics

Good for him !

He’s been there done that , as they say !

Bradley Wiggins. True cycling star / hero in my view. With some proper humour too.

Well done and thanks.

He should stick to the track and quit moaning.

He won the tour on the time trial with Froome dragging him up the hills and now starts crying when Sky pick a team to try and win rather than out of ‘loyalty’.

When the going got tough in the Giro he went home crying and he milked every minute of his ‘fame’ when it suited him. He should drop the beard, forget about Rio, and put his energy into helping younger members of Team GB realise their goals, rather than having a last hurrah at the Olympics and going home with a bronze.

He’s done a lot for British Cycling and I recognise that, just reading his books and hearing his interview’s I just can’t warm to the guy.

I’d say in fairness Sky should have let him go at the end of the season but they seemed to hold him in reserve in case Froome didn’t make it or crashed out before the tour. If he had the chance to go somewhere else I reckon he could have been up there in the tour, probably pissed off that he was strung along.

YorkshireRipper – Member

He should stick to the track and quit moaning.

He won the tour on the time trial with Froome dragging him up the hills and now starts crying when Sky pick a team to try and win rather than out of ‘loyalty’.

Yeah, they’ve been great without him this year. I think I saw Nieve at the front a couple of days back, well, for a few KM.

You post was ridiculous and insulting about a man who won the TDF and the hours not only riding that event, but the training for it too.

Pathetic.

I’ll pull my tongue back from the inside of the side of my mouth…

is that the Edinburgh Defense?

No, I stick by my point that I think he’s a cock, but I don’t for one minute underestimate the achievement of winning the tour.

and the rest
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bradley_Wiggins#Major_results
He didn’t win all that by hanging on to Chris Froome

Sky pick a team to try and win rather than out of ‘loyalty’.

Porte is nearly an hour off the pace. Sky’s selection has been a disaster and they are leaving the tour with nothing, probably the biggest underperforming team on this years TdF.

Wiggins decision is a pretty straightforward one, if he’s not going to get picked in the major events for Sky that’s a lot of road training for very little and as posted above track vs road is different training and physique.

He’s not crying about being dropped – the full quote says he thinks Sky is right to pick the strongest team for the tour rather than include him purely out of ‘loyalty’.

The way it was reported on BBC this morning made him sound much more bitter than appears to be the case. He’s just being pragmatic.

Wiggo’s never really seemed happy with his lot imo. Excellent Road palmares for a bloke that isn’t really that into road racing! Obviously a lot more has gone on behind the scenes than has been aired in public….part of me thinks that if Wiggo weren’t a national treasure then there may have been a much more public spat between him and Team Sky/Fenton.

As a trackie his pedigree is second to none really so it seems like a good move for him…..his interviews now remind me of 2010 when he was thrust into taking the road seriously and really didn’t deliver, Dr Steve Peter’s was brought on board and 2 years later, arguably the most successful stage race season in the history of cycling. Seems like his inner chimp has surfaced again.

I guess that the really unfair thing is that the dithering over whether to put him in the tour team will ahve skewed his training completely – if he has known there was no plan for the tour, then he likely would have aimed to be in peak condition for the spring classics (and they commented last night that he would really love to take them on properly)

I’d love to see him go and do the hour, that would really hold two fingers up at the people who have messed him around!

Dr Steve Peter’s was brought on board and 2 years later, arguably the most successful stage race season in the history of cycling. Seems like his inner chimp has surfaced again.

So nothing to do with the superior coaching, advanced training program and sheer hard work then. 🙄

I’d love to see him go and do the hour, that would really hold two fingers up at the people who have messed him around!

the same people who will help him achieve that?

Rob Hayles seems to think we haven’t seen the last of Brad on the road. Just watching him on the commonwealth coverage this morning talking about Bradley’s decision. He seems to think he needs the road racing to keep his strength and conditioning.

I wonder if we’ll see Wiggo at a new road team sometime soon . . .

Well said martinhutch – it wouldn’t be like the media to want to add their own “spin” to an otherwise sensible and non-headline grabbing comment.

Perhaps one of the contributors on this thread is in the media, or destined for it – the old Brit-media trait of knock the elite when they have an off day or do something “different”. In my eyes he has earned the right to do whatever he pleases. I also wouldn’t be surprised if the bronze mentioned above turns out to be somewhat shinier – it won’t be for the lack of trying!

MrSmith I think we all know that I’m not saying that Wiggo wasn’t training better blah blah……dismissing the massive impact Steve Peters clearly had on Wiggo’s ability to deliver show’s your lack of on real knowledge of the situation though.

Anyway, I’ve warmed to Wiggo a little, and I think that it’s a real shame that he’ll now presumably finish his career minus a world champ TT title. He spent a good amount of time as clearly the best TTer but it never seemed to fall in place for the Worlds.

He should stick to the track and quit moaning.

Yeah… renowned for his moaning, is Bradley. FFS. Did you actually see the interview? Doesn’t sound like you were watching the same one as me. If you listen to what he says, he’s just being pragmatic. And it sounds like going back to the track of his own accord, it removes the sticky ‘what to do with Bradley, our former tour winner, and national treasure’ from Dave Brailsford and Sky. So it seems like he’s doing whats best for everyone. Thats what makes you ‘a cock’ nowadays is it?

No, I stick by my point that I think he’s a cock, but I don’t for one minute underestimate the achievement of winning the tour.

Hmmmmm… says more about you, than him TBH. Very magnanimous of you to give him some credit for winning the tour though. But seeing as we’re all making confident assertions, I’ll make my own point, that you’re clearly considerably more of a….

🙄

I think sky dropped the ball with squad selection. So what if it causes a bit of media tension, having two GC contenders is at least a recipie for a 1-2 finish, and you’ve doubled your chance of having GC contender actually finish the race…. It was stupid to leave wiggo out, and he’s doing the right thing going back to track.

In what world was Wiggo going to be a GC contender?!

The way it was reported on BBC this morning made him sound much more bitter than appears to be the case. He’s just being pragmatic.

This. The headlines and selective quotes make him appear bitter, but watching the interview he just appears pragmatic and honest. Fair play.

The same world Peraud is?

Big fan of Wiggo, would love to see him put some more beef on and start smashing the track again, be good for him if be attempts Paris-Robaix again too.

I think looking at nibali this year it’s clear there’s no point unless your on the juice

Oh well, there you go, Nibali’s doping.

Unfortunately there are a lot of ignorant people out there who, on hearing pragmatic and honest interviews, just think someone’s a moaner.

Sky’s latest documentary gives a useful insight into Wiggo’s situation there…
[video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=youtu.be&v=4iFdJRvXDQM&app=desktop[/video]
(I had a couple of actual LOLs)

He is a bit marmite, and if you don’t like him you can read quite a lot into his words and interviews if you want to, that may not actually be there, and vice-versa.

At the end of the day his record is pretty bloody good. I’d love to see him beef up again and drop any aspirations of being a GC contender; there are younger and fitter men than him around now and he’s on a hiding to nothing, he wouldn’t get any credit for a top 5 or podium finish given his past record.

I don’t want him to go all eggs into the track basket yet, 2 years is a long time, BC are an unsentimental bunch, and there’s no guarantee he’d be in the first 4 when 2016 arrives. Instead have a last season on the road as part of the process towards Rio, aiming at some of the classics that i think with the right program he could have a chance at. Whether that’s with Sky or someone else, doesn’t bother me. He’s a top level British cyclist, and deserves a chance to go out competing hard in events that suit him and he can train for.

Is Sir Bradley a massive presence in the cycling firmament? Yes

Should Sir Bradley have been Sky’s leader at the Tour? No

Was Richie Porte ever a credible number two? No

Was Sir Bradley a credible number two? Yes

Should Sir Bradley have been included in the Sky squad? Yes

Would he have won the tour this year? No

Would he have had a high chance of a podium finish? Yes

Is it the job of management to manage personality clashes? Yes

Simples

Simples

Except:

Was Richie Porte ever a credible number two? No

Was Sir Bradley a credible number two? Yes

Should Sir Bradley have been included in the Sky squad? Yes

Would he have had a high chance of a podium finish? Yes}

These four are debatable.

Either way, I’m with the otherjonv up there and would like to see Wiggins tackle a classics season. Put the weight and strength back on and challenge the likes of Spartacus, Booonen, Sagan et al. He’ s maybe thinking that it’s too risky an exercise though. A crash on the cobbles and a break could ruin any chances he has of making the team in Rio.

Cycling needs more Bradley’s. Heck in fact the world needs more Bradley’s.

It’s his determination and sheer hard work that has seen him rise to the nights way past most on here could ever in their own lunchtime achieve. You don’t slog yourself up mountains 6 times a day in training to blow out of your arse to better the previous climbs time. You don’t go training in the depths of winter, out on the moors in the ice and snow, to hack or to pootle, you train and you train bloody hard to beat yourself and your rivals. Training regimes are way beyond folks on here’s comprehension, way beyond. Most would give up within a couple of weeks, all within a month, but most wouldn’t even bother trying.
Spouting tosh about not being able to control the Media, Phah! Who the bloody hell has? They simply want a sensational story to fill jaded column inches written by scribes who barely know the sport or care less about the subject or the person involved. Very very few scribes have sat on a bike, the Gary’s and Chris’s and Robs have provided a teeny insight as to the state of mind for a pro cyclist, but if you want a real world view get Malcolm Elliot on. A true honed racing professional who I’m sure would be only to happy to comment on Bradley’s state of mind at present, but they won’t because honesty hurts and being told the truth doesn’t sell black letters on a page.

Unfettered support and admiration for a top athlete is all you should be concentrating on, not speculating whether the guys not doing what You think he should.

More Bradley’s please.

Steve Peters clearly had on Wiggo’s ability to deliver show’s your lack of on real knowledge of the situation though

You read that in a book or you too have friends who work for sky/BC/cycling media?
I guess we know different people in the same organisations to come up with such different opinions 🙄

Either way unless you are the fly on the wall neither of us know the whole story.