Was Wiggins 'lucky' to win the tour?

I don’t think that’s true, certainly not to the same extent as Wiggins’ win.

As Nibbles looks across sheepishly at the trophy on his mantelpiece

Hmm yes. Nibali was lucky but took his opportunity very well.

Though, to pick the two most obvious ones, the Armstrong and Contador wins (yes yes, I know!) They’d have won those years regardless of the suitability of the course and opposition.

There’s an argument that he was the best rider the year he finished 4th. Armstrong must have been doping, Contador is a proven doper and Schleck was never quite the same after his brother got caught….

I’d like to hear his response to this question. I can’t imagine anyone winning the TdF through luck.

Saying that, he knew better than to try to win it again.

Got to respect him for that as well as doing it in the first place.

Could it also not be said that the past few years wins, have come from a mountain heavy, tt light tour that over favours the climbers, and does not test their all round ability sufficiently.

I just hope they can design a tour that favours the talents of Sagan.

I just hope they can design a tour that favours the talents of Sagan.

he’d still come second

he’d still come second

🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂 🙂

[edit]

That’s still making me chuckle.

No (more lucky than Nibali)

You can’t win Paris-Nice, Criterium Dauphine, Tour of Romandie, Tour de France and Olympic Gold all in the same year and put it down to luck!!! I doubt that, or anything similar, will ever be repeated again in the entire future of professional cycling.

One think I like about the Tour is that they can vary the route and the stages each year by adding TTs, TTTs, cobbles, hill climb TTs and so on. This, along with the different jerseys and individual stage wins makes is such a great event.

So any year with more TTing in it would suit whichever TTers are in the squads that year, and the teams that have them to select. However I do remember reading that knowing Wiggo was going to be the team leader then designed a course for him because they thought he deserved a shot at winning. So much for anti-English sentiment!

However I do remember reading that knowing Wiggo was going to be the team leader then designed a course for him because they thought he deserved a shot at winning. So much for anti-English sentiment!

Considering when the various route announcements are made and the amount of planning involved I reckon the route must be as good as sorted at least a year before the event which would make tailoring it to favour a particular rider a bit of a gamble. This is just conjecture on my part but does anyone actually know how far in advance the route is planned?

Maybe the luck was in getting to the Grand Départ in good health.

Wasn’t it public Sky knowledge at least a year ahead that he was properly targetting the tour? So if the organisers wanted to take a chance on tailoring the course they could have. Likewise, the course is known so far ahead that teams should be able to tailor their squads and training to that year’s race (and arguably Sky are the best at this).

Either way, course, rider and form all fell into line in 2012.

It was without doubt Wiggins’ best chance of winning the Tour, but there’s more to it than that and I’m sure the whole of Sir Dave’s programme (death star and all) were designed around the single purpose of getting Brad on that top step in Paris.
I imagine given the target that Brailsford had set out for Sky, even Sky couldn’t believe how well that course would suit them.
But you’ve still got to do the hardwork, you don’t win the Tour just for winning two separate days.

I so hope that Davey B has a death star.

Imagine how much that would get up the other teams noses considering the fuss they made about his camper van.

Maybe the luck was in getting to the Grand Départ in good health.

Yeah and not crashing on his dream course.

The impression I’ve got is that it takes a couple of years to plan the tour route. Theres a bidding process for towns to get a start / finish and some even pay just to have them ride through.
The race is then designed to fit the winning bids. They do seem to design it around themes though and the wiggo year was the return of the time trial.
Thing to bare in mind about that was it was slap bang in the middle of Tony martin and cancellara being almost inseparable in TT’s

And chappeau Klunk 😀

Lucky in that the course suited him and neither he nor his team suffered any major disasters – in that respect, he was no more or less lucky than any other tour winner, shirley? A suitable course ain’t enough – you still gotta bring it home over the course of three weeks, in the face of some serious talent who are all aware of your particular skill set and planning how to beat it.

I think there’s a degree of luck with any success in any sport. People also often forget that to win a GC a rider needs a well organised team, and a plan (probably a few contingencies too) yes Biggins wore the jersey but it was not him alone who won the TDF, it was Sky along with BC who were collaborating with them to quite an extent…

Yes the course suited him, but he got the lead outs he needed, and sky weren’t bad at controlling the peleton…

The organisation and planning has carried over to the current team sky, hence Froome is seeing the benefits…