Bradley Wiggins is on the cusp of an unprecedented achievement in the world of cycling. Wiggins is a proven multiple Olympic and world champion gold medal winning cyclist but in the last year has proven himself to be a Grand Tour GC contender. His third placing at the 2011 Vuelta de España was a sign of what Wiggins is capable of as well as a validation of fourth place in the 2009 Tour. After crashing out during Stage Seven of last year’s Tour with a broken collarbone, Wiggins has been working hard on returning to the Tour and taking home yellow. 2012 appears to to be year of the self confessed mod whose Tour it is to lose.
Wiggins started his career as a track cyclist and was incredibly successful. As an individual pursuit specialist, Wiggins has undergone an amazing physical transformation from winning Olympic medals to standing on Grand Tour podiums. Wiggins first rode a Grand Tour in 2005 which was the Giro d’Italia. He made his Tour debut the next year and since then he has shifted away from the track to racing and winning stage races on the road. The last medal Wiggins won on the track was at the 2008 Olympics where he won two gold medals in the team pursuit and in the 4km individual pursuit. Wiggins had won gold in both races during the World Championships a few months earlier in Manchester as well as winning gold in the madison with Mark Cavendish. The three time Olympic gold medallist has also won six gold medals at track world championships between 2003 and 2008. Wiggins won his first senior international track medal in 1998 and until his swansong in Beijing achieved an amazing track career. Similar to Cadel Evans and Ryder Hesjedal who both excelled in mountain biking before winning Grand Tours, Wiggins has been a phenomenon since swapping disciplines focusing on the road.
The first stage race that Wiggins won was the Herald Sun Tour in 2009 in what proved to be a breakout year on the road for the British rider. Wiggins won the Stage Five ITT at the Sun Tour and added the national time trial title to his palmares as well as Stage One at the Tour of Qatar and Stage 3b at Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde. 2010 was an improvement and a season in which Wiggins asserted himself on the road mostly through ITT wins. He won the national ITT title once again but the highlight was winning stage one of the Giro for which his awarded was a day in the Maglia Rosa. Wiggins didn’t win any stage races in 2010 but the Grand Tour experience of riding the Giro and Tour was crucial in getting the necessary kms in the legs and building a platform for future success. This was also the year in which Wiggins moved across to the new British Team Sky after a year at Garmin. At Sky Wiggins was allowed more freedom and became more of a protected rider than he had been at Garmin.
With a new team offering levels of support that Wiggins had yet to receive on the road, Sky allowed him to go for stage race wins and complete his transformation to a Grand Tour rider. The results at Sky have confirmed that Wiggins was right in perusing a move to Team Sky and that Sky was right in chasing the British cyclist. Winning the Critérium de Dauphiné, finishing third at Paris-Nice and third at the Vuelta in 2011 was a sign that Wiggins could compete for podium finishes as well as overall honours at stage races and Grand Tours. Wiggins wore the red jersey at the Vuelta between Stages 11-15 which helped nullify the disappointment of a broken collarbone at the Tour just a few months previously and justified the decisions by Sky and Wiggins. Wiggins has now worn the leaders jersey at all three Grand Tours to show he is not simply a Tour rider but a rider who can match it with the best over three weeks. In 2012 Wiggins became the first cyclist to win the Tour of Romandie, Paris-Nice and the Dauphiné in one season to which he could amazingly add the Tour at the very least. He also became the first cyclist to win the Romandie and was the first British rider since 1967 to win Paris-Nice. Wiggins would be the first British Tour winner and such a result would cap an amazing 12 months in British cycling in which the Tour and world champions were won by Brits after Mark Cavendish’s exploits in Copenhagen.
Seeing Wiggins in the leader’s jersey during stage races in becoming a familiar sight in 2012 and a role he is becoming accustomed to. At the Tour he has been looking more comfortable in yellow by the day and his answers to the press calm and considered after am expletive filled beginning. In recent editions of the Tour, the GC favourites have preferred to let the maillot jaune sit on the shoulders of those deemed not to be threatening to the overall and let these riders handle the attention of the media and the pressure that comes with yellow. Wiggins has been somewhat of an anomaly regarding this approach, as he has embraced yellow since he pulled on the maillot jaune after Stage 7 and could stay in yellow all the way to Paris. The press conferences for the yellow jersey have been seen as a detrimental by riders recently as they are a daily occurrence and can be blight upon recovery. However Wiggins is appearing nonplussed by these appearances as the days in yellow continue. Wiggins has now spent eight days in yellow which is a record for British riders. He is tied with Cadel Evans on days on yellow and if he is to stay in yellow till Paris he will even jump ahead of Alberto Contador on days in yellow setting another precedent for the British to follow.
The transformation of Wiggins from track success to Grand Tour contender is astonishing. If Wiggins is to win the Tour he won't be everybody’s favourite winner but his exploits need to be applauded regardless of his popularity. In Australia Cadel Evans has been seen as a constant GC winner in every race he enters, particularly the Tour, but also the Giro and Vuelta. With Evans 3:19 down on Wiggins he’ll need to pull off one major attack or several separate attacks in order to gain that five to six minutes he will need to win. The situation Evans is in is precarious with the Stage 19 ITT to come in which Evans looks likely to concede time to Wiggins. After Evans finished over a minute behind Wiggins in the first ITT his attempt at consecutive Tour wins looked to be over and so did the Australian challenge for yellow. With Richie Porte and Michael Rogers in Team Sky as loyal and outstanding domestiques in 2012 Australians can feel pleased that even if Evans fails to make the podium, Australians have been crucial in mounting a Tour win. Wiggins himself can be considered Australian, as although he was born in Belgium and grew up in London he had an Australian father. So if Australians are feeling disappointed that Evans won't go back-to-back at the Tour, a half Australian looks likely to win in part due to two loyal Australian domestiques and also the Sky Head coach, the Australian Shane Sutton.
The defensive tactics and the initial less than savoury press conferences of Wiggins have turned some people away from wishing to see the first British Tour de France win at this year’s edition. Wiggins can extend his lead in the Stage 19 ITT and will only need to follow wheels till then to secure yellow. This approach has put people off Sky and much has been said about their ‘scientific’ approach in which they have calculated every mm of the Tour and for this reason have made the Tour mechanical and robotical which has led to taunts of Sky creating boring racing. However the efforts and training that Wiggins and Sky cannot be underestimated and they should be commended for doing so. The Australian contingent of Sky should increase a partial interest in a Wiggins overall win but the transformation of a three time Olympic medallist on the track to a potential Grand Tour winner cannot be underestimate and should instead, be revered.
Wiggins may rub some people the wrong way and will be seen as somewhat lucky that there is no Alberto Contador or Andy Schleck in 2012. However the efforts and sacrifices that Wiggins has made has led him to the summit of road cycling. The course in 2012 has suited him more so than any recent year and he has a strong team to support him when the going gets tough. The amount Wiggins has done in drawing attention to cycling to Britain needs commending and just as Evans sparked a revival in the interest of cycling, so too has Wiggins but he has also done this in two cycling disciplines. A Tour de France win will trump Olympic and world championship gold’s and whether you love him or hate him, Wiggins demands respect for what he has achieved not only in 2012 but since his silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Wiggins started his career as a track cyclist and was incredibly successful. As an individual pursuit specialist, Wiggins has undergone an amazing physical transformation from winning Olympic medals to standing on Grand Tour podiums. Wiggins first rode a Grand Tour in 2005 which was the Giro d’Italia. He made his Tour debut the next year and since then he has shifted away from the track to racing and winning stage races on the road. The last medal Wiggins won on the track was at the 2008 Olympics where he won two gold medals in the team pursuit and in the 4km individual pursuit. Wiggins had won gold in both races during the World Championships a few months earlier in Manchester as well as winning gold in the madison with Mark Cavendish. The three time Olympic gold medallist has also won six gold medals at track world championships between 2003 and 2008. Wiggins won his first senior international track medal in 1998 and until his swansong in Beijing achieved an amazing track career. Similar to Cadel Evans and Ryder Hesjedal who both excelled in mountain biking before winning Grand Tours, Wiggins has been a phenomenon since swapping disciplines focusing on the road.
The first stage race that Wiggins won was the Herald Sun Tour in 2009 in what proved to be a breakout year on the road for the British rider. Wiggins won the Stage Five ITT at the Sun Tour and added the national time trial title to his palmares as well as Stage One at the Tour of Qatar and Stage 3b at Driedaagse De Panne-Koksijde. 2010 was an improvement and a season in which Wiggins asserted himself on the road mostly through ITT wins. He won the national ITT title once again but the highlight was winning stage one of the Giro for which his awarded was a day in the Maglia Rosa. Wiggins didn’t win any stage races in 2010 but the Grand Tour experience of riding the Giro and Tour was crucial in getting the necessary kms in the legs and building a platform for future success. This was also the year in which Wiggins moved across to the new British Team Sky after a year at Garmin. At Sky Wiggins was allowed more freedom and became more of a protected rider than he had been at Garmin.
With a new team offering levels of support that Wiggins had yet to receive on the road, Sky allowed him to go for stage race wins and complete his transformation to a Grand Tour rider. The results at Sky have confirmed that Wiggins was right in perusing a move to Team Sky and that Sky was right in chasing the British cyclist. Winning the Critérium de Dauphiné, finishing third at Paris-Nice and third at the Vuelta in 2011 was a sign that Wiggins could compete for podium finishes as well as overall honours at stage races and Grand Tours. Wiggins wore the red jersey at the Vuelta between Stages 11-15 which helped nullify the disappointment of a broken collarbone at the Tour just a few months previously and justified the decisions by Sky and Wiggins. Wiggins has now worn the leaders jersey at all three Grand Tours to show he is not simply a Tour rider but a rider who can match it with the best over three weeks. In 2012 Wiggins became the first cyclist to win the Tour of Romandie, Paris-Nice and the Dauphiné in one season to which he could amazingly add the Tour at the very least. He also became the first cyclist to win the Romandie and was the first British rider since 1967 to win Paris-Nice. Wiggins would be the first British Tour winner and such a result would cap an amazing 12 months in British cycling in which the Tour and world champions were won by Brits after Mark Cavendish’s exploits in Copenhagen.
Seeing Wiggins in the leader’s jersey during stage races in becoming a familiar sight in 2012 and a role he is becoming accustomed to. At the Tour he has been looking more comfortable in yellow by the day and his answers to the press calm and considered after am expletive filled beginning. In recent editions of the Tour, the GC favourites have preferred to let the maillot jaune sit on the shoulders of those deemed not to be threatening to the overall and let these riders handle the attention of the media and the pressure that comes with yellow. Wiggins has been somewhat of an anomaly regarding this approach, as he has embraced yellow since he pulled on the maillot jaune after Stage 7 and could stay in yellow all the way to Paris. The press conferences for the yellow jersey have been seen as a detrimental by riders recently as they are a daily occurrence and can be blight upon recovery. However Wiggins is appearing nonplussed by these appearances as the days in yellow continue. Wiggins has now spent eight days in yellow which is a record for British riders. He is tied with Cadel Evans on days on yellow and if he is to stay in yellow till Paris he will even jump ahead of Alberto Contador on days in yellow setting another precedent for the British to follow.
The transformation of Wiggins from track success to Grand Tour contender is astonishing. If Wiggins is to win the Tour he won't be everybody’s favourite winner but his exploits need to be applauded regardless of his popularity. In Australia Cadel Evans has been seen as a constant GC winner in every race he enters, particularly the Tour, but also the Giro and Vuelta. With Evans 3:19 down on Wiggins he’ll need to pull off one major attack or several separate attacks in order to gain that five to six minutes he will need to win. The situation Evans is in is precarious with the Stage 19 ITT to come in which Evans looks likely to concede time to Wiggins. After Evans finished over a minute behind Wiggins in the first ITT his attempt at consecutive Tour wins looked to be over and so did the Australian challenge for yellow. With Richie Porte and Michael Rogers in Team Sky as loyal and outstanding domestiques in 2012 Australians can feel pleased that even if Evans fails to make the podium, Australians have been crucial in mounting a Tour win. Wiggins himself can be considered Australian, as although he was born in Belgium and grew up in London he had an Australian father. So if Australians are feeling disappointed that Evans won't go back-to-back at the Tour, a half Australian looks likely to win in part due to two loyal Australian domestiques and also the Sky Head coach, the Australian Shane Sutton.
The defensive tactics and the initial less than savoury press conferences of Wiggins have turned some people away from wishing to see the first British Tour de France win at this year’s edition. Wiggins can extend his lead in the Stage 19 ITT and will only need to follow wheels till then to secure yellow. This approach has put people off Sky and much has been said about their ‘scientific’ approach in which they have calculated every mm of the Tour and for this reason have made the Tour mechanical and robotical which has led to taunts of Sky creating boring racing. However the efforts and training that Wiggins and Sky cannot be underestimated and they should be commended for doing so. The Australian contingent of Sky should increase a partial interest in a Wiggins overall win but the transformation of a three time Olympic medallist on the track to a potential Grand Tour winner cannot be underestimate and should instead, be revered.
Wiggins may rub some people the wrong way and will be seen as somewhat lucky that there is no Alberto Contador or Andy Schleck in 2012. However the efforts and sacrifices that Wiggins has made has led him to the summit of road cycling. The course in 2012 has suited him more so than any recent year and he has a strong team to support him when the going gets tough. The amount Wiggins has done in drawing attention to cycling to Britain needs commending and just as Evans sparked a revival in the interest of cycling, so too has Wiggins but he has also done this in two cycling disciplines. A Tour de France win will trump Olympic and world championship gold’s and whether you love him or hate him, Wiggins demands respect for what he has achieved not only in 2012 but since his silver medal at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
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