[Closed] Have we done Wiggo's answer to doping allegations at the press conference?

"...and then if they ask about doping, call them cs and w***s, trust me, it'll work a treat"...

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(idea and picture from cyclingnews.com)

The press found it funny and tbh WTF is the point asking him what folk on twitter said - is that great journalism and a great question?

+1

I like it but he could have done it without the swearing

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I thought he put his point of view across quite succinctly.

Binners - Can really only do one ride mid week due to danger presented by Mrs PL, so will be out Thurs. Come along if u can make it. I didn't need lights last week and we didn't get to the pub until 10pm.

I'm with Crikey.

Wiggo's outburst is not professional and seriously not cool ... this could escalated and hamper his Tour chances... silly.

If I was Evans this morn I would defo be seeing this as a "weakness" and maybe Evans will have a glimmer of light that wasn't there before.

And

He's just feeding the trolls with that outburst... never a good thing to do

Cat liked it.

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i didnt hear anyone asking if murray only got to the wimbledon final through drugs

same really for the footballers...... tho evidently they avoid performance enhancing drugs......

Im sure brad will have a little 'media' direction on the subject now, but nice to hear honesty, and if he didnt swear most of the country would still not have heard he is winning..

i didnt hear anyone asking if murray only got to the wimbledon final through drugs

Valid point.

this could escalated and hamper his Tour chances... silly.

Can you please explain to me how on earth it could hamper his tour chances?

Calling someone a **** is now a weakness? Dear lord! Do you get out much? Or do you find the world too frightening a place, generally? 😆

Papa Laz - I may well attempt to go for the mythical two-nightride-week. We did Blackstone t'other week and only needed lights for the last descent, which kicked us out at the pub to just about catch last orders. Happy days

much more entertaining than all that SW19 event blubbing yesterday

There is a fine line between giving an honest answer, and saying something you may come to regret.

I'm not sure the likes of Anquetil or Coppi ever resorted to oaths, but they usually gave good copy.

And that's the point - be interesting always, but not ratty and controversial for the sake of it.

The righteous indignation of the trolls amuses me.

Don't be so bloody stupid! WTF has that got to do with Brad?

Well, its got quite a lot to do with 'Brad'. With both Flandis and Contador being stripped of their wins and the current investigation/allegations against Armstrong I don't think its out of the ordinary to suspect that the current leader of the TDF could be doping. I personally don't think he is, but leading what used to be a 'dopefest' of a race, you're going to have that question fired at you.

Cycling is his job - to this end I wouldn't walk into a meeting full of directors and tell them they're a bunch of w*****s for suggesting that I might do a bad job like my predecessors. Additionally, there will be a lot of youngsters who look up to people like Cav and Wiggo as role models - I'm not sure dropping the C-bomb is a particularly good example to set. Yes, be passionate about your sport but not to the extent of looking like an uncouth lout.

Dont patronise us for disagreeing with you as it makes you look like those naughty words brad used

What a stupid response. He wasn't patronising you, grow up.

"Can you please explain to me how on earth it could hamper his tour chances?"

What d'you think will happens at the press conference today?

And what are the chances that Wiggo will again get wound up by what will now be persistent questioning of the said subject?

Waste of energy, time and mental strength.

Gotta keep your eyes on the prize and not get distracted…. Lets hope he can cool down and get on the with job in hand.

Pretty unimaginative line of questioning from the journalist.

In one respect, considering recent tour history it's unsurprising that there's a lot of cynicism about. Plus, the flames have again been fanned by last weeks announcement re. Lance & his ex team-mates.

I can understand Wiggins being royally annoyed at the question & it's inferences.

Pretty polarising way of making his views known - basically "they can eff off, they're all too lazy to do anything worthwhile"

Swearing and belittling others is, in my book, a pretty poor response.

I think he was perfectly justified in saying what he said. Except for the final word and consequent strop. If he'd left it just before that and then stayed on, he'd have looked much better.

Of course, it could just be that he's exactly what people always say that they want - eg sports stars who actually speak their minds rather than boring platitudes - and with that comes the strop at the end.

Can we just get this clear. The people he was using rude words about were those actually accusing him and his team of taking drugs. Not questioning whether like his predecessors as potential tour winners he might be taking them, but openly accusing him of doing so. I think we all agree it's fair to assume that he and his team are totally clean (to his knowledge). Aren't his comments just a little bit justified? If you were in his position wouldn't you feel much the same and want to say the same as he did?

You'd all be complaining if he deflected such questions wouldn't you?

The idea that such an outburst is a weakness, or even something he'll later come to regret is quite laughable. I'm sure the Sky media people will be giving him a little bit of corrective coaching, but I can't believe anybody associated with the team is actually all that upset about him making such comments.

I liked his response, but it does seem a little silly to use such profanity in a public press conference. If it had been a one-on-one interview or in general conversation then more understandable. When I initially read the edited version I assumed he had enough restraint to say 'c0cks' which would have been bad enough, really surprised he said the other c-word in a press conference. It is possible to convey emotion without swearing - or at least moderate his swearing.

Another source of annoyance would be the way the 'accusation' was phrasd. The journo's question was a particularly spineless and cowardly one.

No direct "are you doping?" question. On no. Nothing direct like that. Instead.... more a sort of playground-style "you see that bloke over there, he said that you...."

Truly pathetic, quite frankly. He deserved being told where to get off for that alone!

He's a mod; they're supposed to [s]swear[/s] take drugs

FTFY. Oh wait...

Also lazy journalism to phrase the question in that way.

What d'you think will happens at the press conference today?

And what are the chances that Wiggo will again get wound up by what will now be persistent questioning of the said subject?

You're suggesting some other journo will ask what he thinks about what somebody else has been tweeting? Or you think there will be questions about drugs he might not have got otherwise? Do join the real world.

probably better to not do it from the podium whilst getting yellow

Which is all I was trying to say!

this could escalated and hamper his Tour chances... silly.

If I was Evans this morn I would defo be seeing this as a "weakness" and maybe Evans will have a glimmer of light that wasn't there before.

And what are the chances that Wiggo will again get wound up by what will now be persistent questioning of the said subject?

Waste of energy, time and mental strength.

Overall i would rather have personalities giving actual honest answers to questions and not some media trained bat it way non response. The swearing is the only issue and I think it would have been better delivered without it.
Same thing happens whena politician gives an honest answer or ratner calls a cheap produc tat ...we cannot handle the truth from people for some reason and want anodine answers

Another source of annoyance would be the way the 'accusation' was phrasd. The journo's question was a particularly spineless and cowardly one.

Is that not the way of the media though? I don't have an issue with the message Wiggins is trying to convey - I just thought the swearing was unnecessary. This shouty sweary rockstar mentality to interviews is a bit sickening in my book. Whenever Wiggins is interviewed its always a bit butt-clenching, like watching Russell Crow being interviewed. You never know if he's going to go mental and start punching someone. Cav used to be similar, but seems to have matured a little.

Can you imagine the tantrum Wiggins would have had, had something like the Hoogerland/French TV car thing happened to him?

Can you imagine the tantrum Wiggins would have had, had something like the Hoogerland/French TV car thing happened to him?

I doubt anyone would have the wherewithal to get antsy after that!

It does ammuse me that some people are piddling themselves with offence at some fairly justified swearing, from someone who's had a completely baseless accusation of cheating lobbed at him from a lowlife hack

Could have been worse....

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😀

This shouty sweary rockstar mentality to interviews is a bit sickening in my book.

To be fair, he does seem to believe that he's Paul Weller;)

Jeez...

It's so easy to see how people who follow cycling can go along with anything if it's about their favourite rider.

If Andy Murray had sworn at all the people who called him a dour humourless Scotsman while being interviewed at Wimbledon, or Wayne Rooney had called English fans cs and w**s we would be all over them like a rash.

Because it's the hero du jour, some folk are prepared to accept and excuse his behaviour. Nevermind all this 'How refreshing to hear a sportsman speak his mind', he didn't speak his mind, he lost the plot and resorted to swearing because he was not articulate enough to respond in another way.

He was wrong.
He was out of order, and should apologise.

If I spoke like that while at work I would be out of a job.

And whats more; its refreshing in the mind-numbingly tedious, bland, anodyne, PR controlled, personality vacuum that is modern sport, to see someone register a bit of human emotion. Bloody good luck to him!

spot on.

edit to add, for me it's nothing to do with him being a current hero and everything to do with respecting someone's ability to bluntly speak their mind in a situation like this. Censor it on the 7pm sport news but in a closed press conference it's good to see someone not being constrained by PR concerns etc.

or Wayne Rooney had called English fans cs and w**s we would be all over them like a rash.

Erm.... you watched the last World Cup, right? Particularly the Germany game? Or were you in bed with a horlicks reading your bible? Maybe google it. I'm sure you'll be as faux outraged as the other tabloid journalists, and the 3 other elderly spinsters who accidentally found themselves watching wrong channel while looking for Songs of Praise 😆

[url= http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2007/sep/17/comment.charliebrooker ]you do not have the right not to be offended[/url]

I hate offended people. They come in two flavours - huffy and whiny - and it's hard to know which is worst. The huffy ones are self-important, narcissistic authoritarians in love with the sound of their own booming disapproval, while the whiny, sparrowlike ones are so annoying and sickly and ill-equipped for life on Earth you just want to smack them round the head until they stop crying and grow up. Combined, they're the very worst people on the planet - 20 times worse than child molesters, and I say that not because it's true (it isn't), but because it'll upset them unnecessarily, and these readers deserve to be upset unnecessarily, morning, noon and night, every sodding day, for the rest of their wheedling lives.

Note I used the word "sodding" there, because even though every single one of you knows precisely what word I meant to use, I'm not allowed to use it in print in case the whiny/huffy Axis of Feeble decides to piddle its pants with dismay at the sight of a commonplace assembly of letters. And they must be appeased at all times.

What these nitpicky, sexless complainists fail to realise is that sweary tastelessness is a celebration of life, as soaring and majestic as a gospel choir in full flow, and no amount of tedious squeamishness can alter that. Potentially offended reader - you are the offence. In fact you're a four-letter word beginning with "c" and ending in "t". Yes. That's right. You're an absolute clot.

Could have been worse....

Yes, but that's football and everyone knows football is rubbish. I just don't think that type of language in a press conference is necessary.

Hacks in general tend to be low-lives. Especially those who work for the gutter press, wanting to catch a headline or snippet for publications where the consumers have little awareness of cycling other than 'doesn't that American bloke who married Sheryl Crow do that?'. If these questions are bad now, they're going to be a whole heap worse if/when he wins it. Even one of our Olympic team is an ex-doper so its an easy win for a journo looking for a sound-byte to slip in tomorrows Sun/Mirror/Daily Wail. (I'm not trying to be contrary BTW, even though it looks like it).

I'm all for frank and fair responses, just sans swearing....

If Andy Murray had sworn at all the people who called him a dour humourless Scotsman while being interviewed at Wimbledon, or Wayne Rooney had called English fans cs and w**s we would be all over them like a rash.

Yes, they're perfect analogies for being accused of being a drugs cheat.

BTW - I'm not totally against swearing. I always pray for Randy De Puniet to win/podium in a Moto GP race just to you can hear him swearing in the post race conference.....hilarious

Brailsford has added his 2p worth:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/othersports/cycling/tour-de-france/9386218/Tour-de-France-2012-Bradley-Wiggins-rant-about-those-sullying-his-name-were-justified-says-Sky-team-principal.html

[i] An open letter to the peloton

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Because it's become abundantly clear that the pro-peloton are aware of us;

More accurately, dear people applauding Bradley Wiggins for his foul-mouthed tirade today:

I'd like to outline why I think you're all massive hypocrites, and why you get the reaction from people that you do.

We've sat by for years - for some of you, your entire professional careers - and watched the sport.
We've sat through almost 30 years of doped riders, of positive tests, of confiscated victories weeks, months and sometimes years after they were awarded.
But most importantly, we sat by whilst all of this was going on, and you did nothing.
You didn't speak out then.
You didn't speak up against people you knew were doping.
You didn't speak up against your teammates when you knew they were doping.
All you ex-T-mobile riders didn't say anything about the visits to Freiberg.
You didn't say anything when riders gave evidence about what they'd seen, and were harassed because of it.
Some of you, through your inaction, did nothing about that harassment. Those of you who raced with Lance Armstrong said nothing back then.
Those of you who raced in 1998 complained about your rights and your dignity.

You didn't complain about those people who stripped them from you by cheating.
You didn't applaud those people who tried to out the real cheats within the ranks.
You didn't chastise those people taking trips to Spain and Italy to see doctors. In fact, some of you did it yourself.

You complained about early morning drug tests.
You complained about out of competition drug tests, and you complained about whereabouts forms and not having a private life, and media intrusion.
And some of you still ride today, still having said nothing about doping.

I'll say this: I've sat up until 3 in the morning every July for countless years now. I've watched, I've supported, even some of you who turned out to be cheats. I've dreamed of being in the position you're in, of having a tenth of the talent you're blessed enough to have, because no amount of hard work will make up for the gap. So when I'm at work at 7am, busting my rear end to make ends meet for the next ten hours for a tiny bit of what you get, remember this, every one of you who applaud Wiggins abusing those of us who ask questions:

We ask the questions because you refused to.
We get suspicious because we're tired of seeing more than half of the last 13 TdF titles get stripped and re-awarded.
We're tired of you guys continually saying "We're clean" and then seeing someone test positive.
We're tired of seeing you complain about us, because we got tired of seeing you cheat us as fans, by not taking matters into your own hands, getting rid of - and speaking out against - those who are doping, and have doped.
You give your blood values and power numbers happily to the ASO, and treat us with contempt, like we're just supposed to watch, buy your sponsor's products, and cheer on demand.

You do nothing to dispel doping suspicions, to out cheats, and to clean up the sport. You are the blight on the sport, not us.[/i]

http://forum.cyclingnews.com/showthread.php?t=17734

Procyclists who throw their toys out of the pram when drugs get mentioned need to have a wee word with themselves.

Matt Rendell has just confirmed that the quote will be played back (bleeped) on ITV's live coverage this afternoon. Might tune in just for that.

Apparently this is an audio recording of Wiggo's press conference, but I can't get it to play:
http://drupal-sporten.tv2.dk/tour/2012-07-09-lydfil-her-sviner-wiggins-sine-kritikere

Procyclists who throw their toys out of the pram when drugs get mentioned need to have a wee word with themselves.

I'm sure Sky will have had a word with Bradley on behalf of his best interests.

They're only words, crikey, calm down.

swearing doesn't help.

Dave Brailsford's comments are bang on IMHO! The only people I can see having an issue with it really, are the competition (who've got their own agendas), trolls and a small minority of bed-wetters

I'm sorry crikey, but thats the most sanctimonious, self-righteous, faux indignant guff i've ever read.

[i]They're only words, crikey, calm down.[/i]

Calm as anything here, not swearing or owt 😉

I had a little chuckle at Millar's response on twitter:

"Wiggo's now better at me in everything to do with cycling, profanity-filled interviews were all I had left. Now he's taken that crown. Darn."

I don't see why he has to respond in a measured, robotic, nice way.
Footballers all do that, but look at the reputation they have for their behaviour on the pitch and in public.
As a role model? Maybe, but kids should be brought up to know what the press are like and that they are ****ers.
As a representative of their sponsors? Maybe, but being Sky, I expect their ethos is 'any exposure is good exposure'.

So who exactly does/ should this upset apart from the hand-wringing, apologist, self-proclaimed defenders of the weak and victimised?

[i]I'm sorry crikey, but thats the most sanctimonious, self-righteous, faux indignant guff i've ever read.[/i]

Yes, it is a bit OTT, but it does convey how people feel cheated, and emphasises the need for riders to engage their critics, not call them names.

An open letter to the peloton

If Brad was guilty of any of the accusations thrown about in that, then they might have a point, rather than being just as bad as those directly accusing him of doping. I don't see why he should have to answer for the silence of all those in the peleton who've watched their team-mates dope any more than he should meekly accept accusations that he's doping.

but it does convey how people feel cheated,

Who exactly has Bradley cheated? Nobody! [b]This [/b]is the whole point! Why on earth should he tolerate having his integrity questioned, by nameless people on the basis of no evidence, then apparently have to engage them with polite and non-offensive replies?

For my money, he'd have been quite justified in punching people! Or are you suggesting that we should all be tried, and found guilty, via Twitter and insinuation by tabloid hack? For something we may or may not have done? Don't worry -no actual evidence required? 🙄

Has anyone considered that the anger might be a side-effect of the 'juice' he's fueled up on?