Wiggins Giro (spoiler)

At least this means Froome will be team leader for The Tour.

Alternately, could it mean Wiggins decides he has something to prove and wants the Tour for himself?

I don’t get it, the man looses time in the TT due to a mechanical, swaps to a normal road bike and still come second.

This is what the BBC reported but, as pointed out, they were wrong.

Both Wiggins and Nibali above all 3 in the World Tour Rankings 2012/2011 and Nibali above all 3 in 2010 so I don’t know why you think they aren’t two of ‘the best’.

World Tour Rankings? Come on.

Oh I think Nibali would have been up there with them as he was cruising today but Wiggins would have lost a wack of time if those guys were beating each other up.

Sky really need to sort out who the leaders are, Porte has come out to say he wants the Giro next year, they’ll have a different GC contender for every tour at this rate!

JCL – Member
World Tour Rankings? Come on.

Yeah much better to use your own subjective criteria.

I agree some interesting tactics to come. Uran might have been the bait to push the climbers and test recovery over the mountain stages. Lest we forget Nibali was dropped by wiggo at the Dauphine last year.

Just remember you can be a strong guy on the bike, but really it’s about the ability to suffer when it gets tough.

10 years ago we were all cheering on doped riders (not convinced contador is clean yet. Seems like an improvement to me.

Wiggo spotted earlier after he dicided he doesn’t want the Giro anymore but Le Tour instead…

Yeah much better to use your own subjective criteria

No, just awareness of the best climbers. Boonen was 3rd in the rankings last year, do you think he’d be with Nibali at the finish today?

Presumably Uran was sent up the road so Astana would chase and do all the work. I can’t see that this changes Sky’s plans at all despite it backfiring a bit. Although Wiggo is going to have to do a hell of a ride to get back up. Nibali looked super strong today. The problem with his gears didn’t phase him one bit. Still a long way to go but Wiggo can’t afford to lose anymore time and Nibali needs some bad days. I would say Sky are the stronger team overall and this could eventually make the difference. Perhaps.

LOL @ Sputnik !

I think people need to calm down a bit. The time gaps are nothing at the moment. Yeah Nibali and Evans look good but one bad day and you could easily lose 5 minutes. Have you seen how hard the final mountain stages are? Anything could happen and in the Giro it often does.

So we know from the tour last year that Wiggo can climb with the best of them. However, the climbs in the giro are different to those in the tour. I haven’t looked at the profiles of the stages that are to come, but I wouldn’t count Wiggo out just yet.

Why is this country in general obsessed with slagging off people for winning and not winning simultaneously.

That rant started well but you just tailed off at the end and now I despise you.

Last years Tour was very ‘special’ because of the total distance of the TTs.
See it as a window of opportunity for someone like sir Brad. This Giro is not anything like last years TdF

JCL – Member
Yeah much better to use your own subjective criteria
No, just awareness of the best climbers. Boonen was 3rd in the rankings last year, do you think he’d be with Nibali at the finish today?

No, completely see what you’re saying now, mushy brain earlier. Apologies!

Have you seen how hard the final mountain stages are?

so, in current form how much is wiggins going to lose? I’m intrigued as to how wiggins and nibali have swapped roles from the tour to now. somehings not right, as the differences are massive.

Can’t believe how much time Hesjedal lost! It’s all to play for, could easily be any of the contenders next.

Uran was an excellent rider back in his Casse D’Epargne days with Valverde et all. He has been brought up on the hills and has the closed mind of a climber.
Sky should reap the benefits of having such a talent rather than limit his abilities.
Wiggs (IMO) will still be in the top 3 at the end of the Giro but won’t win it. You can’t deny the guy hasn’t got the balls to ride hard, watch the chase and speed increase as he comes up the the flattened section near the top of the Altiplano today. Bouy dun good.
All I’d like now is for Heano to pop up a few places and all will be good in the world.

Why is this country in general obsessed with slagging off people for winning and not winning simultaneously

nobody is slagging him off. Wiggins came into the race as the bolted on cant get odds favourite. He’s then failed to win the TT he was expected to use to take huge time out of his rivals, descended like he’s made of glass compared to Nibali who bounced back on his bike and been dropped by his main rivals when the heat was turned up on a climb.

Which is all brilliant as it makes for an exciting race, rather than the “sky train” which does get slagged off. I’d like to see wiggins add the Giro to his Palmares, but I’d also like to see him win it, not his team crushing the life out of the opposition.

He’s then failed to win the TT he was expected to use to take huge time out of his rivals

to be fair the mechanical inc slowing down, bike swap, getting back up to tempo cost him the TT.

Without the puncture he would have smashed the TT. I don’t think it’s fair to say he ‘failed’ to win it. No one else had punctures and all but one came in behind him. That’s quite incredible in my book.

Good article in cycling news by Robert Millar.
I wonder if Sky training plan in keeping Brad out of the early season events and having him train in Mallorca / Tenerife instead has affected his confidence in descending in bunches.
Still good to see Cadel back to his best. I hope Wiggins can stay in the top 5 but for the ill informed this will ultimately be seen as a massive failure instead of a good solid GC finish.

I don’t dislike Wiggins, I just think the press hype in the UK has been insane. The Tour last year was perfect for Bradley and Sky and they took full advantage of his strength in the TT and pinned everyone back on the mountains. The Giro is far more brutal and he’s riding as I’d expected him to which is to say strongly on the flatter stages, really strongly in the TT but he’s just not an explosive mountain rider. He’s good enough for a top 10 or maybe a top 5 but the big mountains of the Giro are just not playing to his natural strengths.

The thing is, his rivals know this too and the attack at the 20% segment of the climb was proof of that. He just had nothing to respond with until after that ramp and then it was too late.

I think he’s still got a good chance of 3rd. In which case it only needs one bad day from the others to still get the win.
So many mountain top finishes to come!

It’s only when they go to above 15% that Wiggo can’t cope compared to the very best.
—

Today’s finale maxes out at 9%

Saturday looks just about doable

Sunday’s Galibier looks doable

He could gain a few seconds in the mountain TT

Fridays stage is another tough one – first Stelvio, then a 14%er to finish.

Then – oh dear – a wall! looks like nearly 3km at 18%
—

What a Giro!

I wonder if Sky training plan in keeping Brad out of the early season events and having him train in Mallorca / Tenerife instead has affected his confidence in descending in bunches.

Don’t think this is the case as he was descending very well indeed earlier in the season. Just didn’t deal well with a combination of slick roads, rain and cold. Maybe he should have raced some classics 🙂

Slightly OT, but…

http://www.uci.ch/Modules/ENews/ENewsDetails2011.asp?id=OTI3NQ&MenuId=MTI2Mjc&LangId=1&BackLink=%2Ftemplates%2FUCI%2FUCI7%2Flayout.asp%3FMenuId%3DMTI2Mjc%26LangId%3D1

Tut tut…

AlexSimon – Member

I think he’s still got a good chance of 3rd. In which case it only needs one bad day from the others to still get the win.
So many mountain top finishes to come!

It’s only when they go to above 15% that Wiggo can’t cope compared to the very best.
—

Today’s finale maxes out at 9%

Saturday looks just about doable

Sunday’s Galibier looks doable

He could gain a few seconds in the mountain TT

Fridays stage is another tough one – first Stelvio, then a 14%er to finish.

Then – oh dear – a wall! looks like nearly 3km at 18%
—

What a Giro!

indeed. my question is, did Brad and Sky not take a look at some of the profiles when the word was put out that this Giro really suits him?

I want him to win it and as stated if he does from where he is I’ll be shouting encouragement as loud as anyone but when he’s stated as being in better condition than ever and also when he makes statements about also leading the Tour, knowing that this would unsettle his teammate and compatriot, shurley a bit of questioning is allowed?

(come on brad- break them on the galibier!)

think we would all like him to do it but it looks veyr unlikely now tbh

The Guardian are reporting that Wiggins has claimed to have a cold and chest infection in an interview on Italian TV.

So he’s got to try and keep safe until Sunday, nursing a cold and hope it’s gone by then.
Sounds very tricky given how hard the Giro is, but I guess they’re pretty good at managing colds/chest stuff.

unsettle his teammate and compatriot

Rule #1 – Beat your teammate (by whatever means available)

Rule #2 – Belgians & Kenyans are not compatriots.

So he’s got to try and keep safe until Sunday, nursing a cold and hope it’s gone by then.

He needs to do a lot more than keep safe. As has been said before, his “strategy” of level pegging or losing time on most stages is hardly a winning one.

i think the sky strategy is quite straight forward. shadow nibbles then try to break him on the galibier where the shallower gradient will allow the sky train to TTT up the mountain.

…while Nibali sits on the back?

nah one of them crashes taking him with them 😈

Think they dropped him in the TdF but yes unlikely

shadow nibbles then try to break him on the galibier where the shallower gradient will allow the sky train to TTT up the mountain.

Nibali has got the measure of Wiggins this year, Sky tried that on Tuesday. Nibali was strong throughout.

Uran has more chance than Wiggins IMO

possibly, but mr wiggins has ridden nibali off his wheel a number of times on the longer shallower climbs.

“bit of a cold”
?
MTFU Wiggins

but mr wiggins has ridden nibali off his wheel a number of times on the longer shallower climbs.

Has he? when? In the tour last year Nibali was comfortable sitting in the wheels in the main, admittedly he couldn’t attack due to the pace of sky, but he was never dropped, for any great time losses. The damage was done in the TTs.

Its a monsoon today. Thorough miserable riding conditions for all involved.

Unless its a dead straight finish, there will be crashes!