[Closed] Has it been all a bit too easy for Bradley Wiggins to win the tour?

Froome has been helped up the climbs by the team just as much as Wiggins who is simply maintaining the advantage so might have plenty in reserve. Why beast to the top when you only need to stay with the other leaders?

I think there's a bit of balance required here. To say it's been easy for Wiggins is oversimplifying it somewhat - it's never easy to win the Tour. BUT, it has definitely been less exciting than some we've seen in recent years - particularly with Schleck and Contador battling on the hills, doing trackstands halfway up climbs and so on. Sky's team is so strong that they've been able to choke the life out of the competition {and have the other teams seemed less competitive than previous years?) - but with what it cost them to assemble the team, it's the least they could hope for!

if could do a 100,000 vertical metres of training i'd make it look easy as well.

its been a master class in team racing. sky have held a high tempo in the mountains just higher than comfortable for most, which was made it difficult to attack, no one with any GC intensions has been able to put together a supported attack. its not been flash bang exciting, more of a momentum to it.

i've loved it.

Has it been all a bit too easy for Bradley Wiggins to win the tour?

I can just imagine how that question would be answered in one of his press conferences.

He's had a phenominal season after dedicating the last few years of his life to doing what he is doing now. He's trained phenominally hard even by pro tour standards and him and sky have been single minded in the pursuit of the yellow in Paris.

While it may look easy it is only easy because of how well they are riding. Just like true talent in any sport makes it look easy.

Robert Millar: http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-tommy-guns-of-the-tour-de-france

Wiggins’s emergence may look robotic to some people but it takes a serious amount of work to reach that level, not just from him but everyone round about him. The sheer concentration needed to always be in the front, always paying attention is awesome and that's what impressed me the most: no mistakes, no bad moves. Admittedly Froome has thrown a couple of toy spanners into the machine but he signed up for position and no amount of arm waving and theatrical playing with the earpiece will change that. If anything he'll just come across as stroppy. So a bit of decorum please, take note of how David Millar conducted himself after his stage win if you need some clues.

So for the grumblers, remember as an outsider you don't see the dreary days in November doing hill repeats on a big gear or the gruelling sessions perfecting that time trial position. If it really was simple then everyone could be a pro bike rider. You are welcome to try.

Wonder what odds in the bookies on froome not winning the tour de france next year unless he is the sky team leader id get - im feeling like a flutter since by the time i actually got round to backing wiggo the odds were poor enough not to bother !

Leading the race is a major ballache, committments/protocul after the day's racing take about an hour and a half. Meanwhile the rest of the team can begin their recuperation, Wiggins alluded to this stress in one of his press conferences.

EDIT: It is fantastic that Robert Millar is back writing about cycling, one of the most intelligent commentators.

s there any chance that radio communication between the cyclists and team managers will get banned in future?

I think it would certainly make for a better, more interesting race, but the teams/riders are dead against it

train hard - race easy

Anyone saying Froome is much stronger than Wiggins clearly doesn't have a clue about road racing, let alone grand tours.

Sorry - that sounds very much like "if you don't think the way I do you must be an arse" - the very worst kind of interweb crap arguing!

My ponderings are around what would be the situation now if Team Sky had switched lead man from the outset with Wiggins riding for Froome and everything at Sky the same - would Froome have a bigger advantage over the next non Sky rider than Wiggins has now? We'll never know but what I think it would have meant was that a 1-2 would probably not have been on the cards as wiggins would have had to ride himself daft on the lower slopes to launch Froome and lost big time to the other GC contenders once spent.

I do wonder how much of a "hair trigger" Sky management must have had ready to launch a plan B and send Froome up the road if Nibali had been able to make bigger attacks and Wiggins had done an Evans and cracked. Would they have waited until the end of the stage and tried a new plan the next day or was there a time up the road he would have had to get before ditching Wiggins. Fortunatly we will never know!

someone famous once said something like "the harder I train, the easier it gets"

as for Froome, I wonder if he is too excitable at the moment and has used Wiggo this year as a bit of a sanity check, Wiggo has learnt how to win the tour the hard way, which breaks to follow, where time can be gained and more importantly where it can be lost. I have afeeling without Wiggo, Froome would chase everything like a hyperactive spaniel, tire and get picked off by a more organised team. I think Froome has learnt a lot from finishing second on the 2011 vuelta and this tour, he will be a big contender for the future as he has a year or two on the new emerging talent like Pinot.

http://www.bradleywigginsfoundation.org/site/

could always "ride with Brad" on a 160k sportive and tell him how easy it was........

If I wanted to go and insult him to his face I could wait for my neice to finish school and probably bump into him at the gates.

Instead I've done the cowardly thing and posted on here.

But, really, it was never meant as an insult, he's clearly put in the effort and worked incredibly hard, which has made it appear easy (to me and my uneducated eye).

A life time of dedication and hard work, sacrificing the social/family life us 9-5ers take for granted.

I see this sort of phrase a lot. So yes, it takes hard work and dedication but lets also be honest, this is his living. I've worked 50-60 hour weeks for most of my working life as have a lot of people. You do what you need to do, professional athletes are no different.

That said, I know there's a question over whether it was "too easy" but this tour was designed not to be a climbers tour and Wiggins is the right man at the right time. He and Sky have made Cadel look quite poor by comparison and we know Evans and BMC are pretty damn good. You can only race against the opposition he's had and whether Froome might have beaten him in some parallel universe is irrelevant; he's won it fair and square and deserves it.

anyways who fricking cares about what might have been eh?

There'll be a British winner on the podium in Paris and I for one reckon thats flipping fantastic.

Abso-flipping-lutely!!! And lets be honest... would anyone have predicted a British 1-2 before the start of the tour? Seriously?!

It'll be interesting to see how much time Brad and Froome put on their competition in tomorrows time trial. I can see it being a serious amount!

Then all we need is for them to lead Cav out for the win on the Champs-Élysées to make this tour damn near perfect!!! 😀

but this tour was designed not to be a climbers tour and Wiggins is the right man at the right time.

What is different in climbing terms to this tour over others?

If there were another day or even two in the mountains who would have challenged Wiggins given that nobody has been able to do it so far.

An extra time trial helps Wiggins however he still has the race all but won before that stage has arrived!

Binners - spot on! Wiggo & Froome 1/2 in the GC and Cav winning on the CE - that I will defo have a beer to!

have i missed a week, i thought the tour ended on sunday?

[i]I think he could have taken time out of Bradley at multiple mountain stages, all else being equal, and more than enough to overcome the time trial deficits[/i]

As I said before if you don't know what effort each rider is working that then thats pure sepculation. Wiggins wouldn't want to be riding at 100% as he would want to keep something in reserve, maybe froome was close to 100%.

What is different in climbing terms to this tour over others?

Prudhomme said he wanted less big mountain stages this year so it wasn't as focused on the hardcore climbers and would favour all-round ability. Given Contador and Andy Schleck weren't in the race it's hard to test the hypothesis that this would have worked out.

I think he could have taken time out of Bradley at multiple mountain stages, all else being equal, and more than enough to overcome the time trial deficits

look at end of yesterdays stage... froome wanting to go, being a showy little **** with all his hand waving.

then when he gets let go for the finish, he winds it up to the line, and his face shows him tearing himself to shreds for the last 150m. meanwhile bradders was sat in like he was riding a shopper along a canal. faces over the line tell a real story.

[img] [/img]

if you think froome had it over brad, and brad wasn't holding something back, then i think you may have been hoodwinked.

"Has it been all a bit too easy for Bradley Wiggins to win the tour?"

Yes... it has appeared so.

But to me that is a sign of Greatness with a big fat captial G.

Good on him and good on the team.... Like watching Iniesta for Spain or Messi for Barca

You can only beat what is in front of you.... and they have done that with some aplomb.

edit ... rubbish post

Photo of the year that one 🙂

Not in my opinion. I would say that Bradley has looked composed, but I believe that is a testament to the humungous amount of training he has done, to the experience he has got from all the other races (of all disciplines) that he has ridden, to his mental state and to the coherent policy of his team.

He's done an awesome job. Chapeau Bradley.

I've really enjoyed this year's tour.

then when he gets let go for the finish, he winds it up to the line, and his face shows him tearing himself to shreds for the last 150m. meanwhile bradders was sat in like he was riding a shopper along a canal. faces over the line tell a real story.

Well I think we could probably agree that Froome had towed Wiggins along for a fair amount of time. Lets not pretend that Bradley has had to do the same work as everyone else for the whole tour, that's the whole point of him being a protected rider.

Photo of the year that one

for sure. he seems to be realising that THAT was the point that it was in the bag.

hmmmmmmm, smug face.

Well I think we could probably agree that Froome had towed Wiggins along for a fair amount of time. Lets not pretend that Bradley has had to do the same work as everyone else for the whole tour, that's the whole point of him being a protected rider.

arguably. but as froome is second to last in the line, it's not like he hasn't been protected...

I would say that Bradley has looked composed, but I believe that is a testament to the humungous amount of training he has done, to the experience he has got from all the other races (of all disciplines) that he has ridden, to his mental state and to the coherent policy of his team.

Yup.

To borrow from Fred Astaire,

If it doesn't look easy, you aren't working hard enough

Has it been all a bit too easy for Bradley Wiggins to win the tour?

No, it's taken him 20 years of training and racing to do this.

Love that photo.

I think all the Froome fanbois are forgetting that when the hammer really went down from the potential threats it was Wiggo who went to the front and Froome who was hanging on. It's not as if Wiggo has ever tried to follow Nibbles (or any of the other "pure" climbers) when they make an attack, but sure as night follows day he caught them back up. I'm less than convinced that he didn't have the capability to also ride his way back up to Froome if he'd made a similar attack and actually kept it going.

No, it's taken him 20 years of training and racing to do this.

A simple answer that says all that is needed.. Roll on Sunday!!

indeed. i think the radio contact shenanigans and brad staying back wasn't that froome dropped him, more that brad didnt [i]need [/i]to go, and thus didn't go.

keep it in the bag for another day... the yellow jersey is not about beating cocky team mates. where

We didn't see Brad properly attack, I think because it's not as efficient. 30s flat out takes more out of you than 5 mins on or just above the red line. I think that's their scientific approach at work. Don't do more than you have to.

If Wiggo really has been taking it more easily than Froome, it'll be interesting to see if he gives it the beans tomorrow and blows everyone out of the water for the stage win. Is he the best TTer left?

So stop being dicks drawing stupid conclusions from a gap that opened up for about 10 seconds on one stage and Froome goofing about at the end of yesterdays stage when Wiggin's head was clearly elsewhere.

^

I think what we've seen is a masterfull display of control, tactics, and threat netralisation by Sky working as a team to get the yellow jersey. It's been fascinating.

When you watch experts in any field do their thing, it looks easy - doesn't mean it is easy though.

All this stuff about froome is just totally hypothetical.

If Wiggo really has been taking it more easily than Froome, it'll be interesting to see if he gives it the beans tomorrow and blows everyone out of the water for the stage win. Is he the best TTer left?

is brad the best TTer left? errrr.. is he the best TTer period might be a better question.

certainly top 5 in the world.

I for one will savour this years tour more than any other, it will always live on as the tour where an Englishman dominated the tour at the helm of a british team.

Nothing else matters

patriotic? me? 🙂

That is the belgian born Englishman with the austrialian dad being supported by the English kenyan born South African.......Bet you class Cav as English rather than a Manxman eh
http://www.teamsky.com/profile/0,27291,17543_6636468,00.html

http://www.teamsky.com/profile/0,27291,17543_6638000,00.html
+ Cav
All british and none born in England
HTH

Lets not pretend that Bradley has had to do the same work as everyone else for the whole tour, that's the whole point of him being a protected rider

We dont know what would have happened if they had raced each other...look at nibbles, he attacked one day and too tired the next to keep up - this may have happened to Froome as well.

It is all guess work,Froome is a better climber and Brad much better on the flats and TT so they would have a good race against each other but I suspect Sky have enough data to know who is the best.
We will probably have the same conversation when Brad helps Froome win a tour.

Quote from Cycling Weekly
I did 3200metres of climbing around Teide during a two week camp last month April and by the time we finish this latest fortnight late May I will have done another 32000 metres
From April 1st this year until the day I line up for the TDF prologue I will have done 100000 metres of high quality climbing.If I had trained this hard when I was riding track at the Olympics God only knows what I might have done.I have no idea how I ever finished 4th in 2009 TDF I used to think I worked hard but this is a different level.

I think Brad may have put some work into it this year as would the rest of the team .You get out what you put in.

His tapering two weeks before the race involved 5 hr 30 minute rides 😯

We will probably have the same conversation when Brad helps Froome win a tour.

Am I the only one that would like to see them race each other though? I mean, is one tour totle enough? It's not like Brad is too old....

Aw hang on Junkyard surely you can't suggest that he doesn't regard himself as English? 🙄

He's a proud Englishman having also lived in England since he was 2 (to an English mother)

Bit different to Froome

My point is the english claim english folk as English and non English as British or in this case foreign borne brits as English....just call them all British, its what his passport will say.

I dont think he has ever cycled for England has he?
I dont know whether the modfather is patriotically british or English tbh.
[ i bet you google some choice quotes 😉 ]

Well i'm having him as English 🙂

Junkyard - Member
I dont know whether the modfather is patriotically british or English

well he's not a Scot and that's all that matters 😀