Has the British Olympic Cycling Success.....

I'm not sure I understand how sending one strong rider back to assist a struggling rider is disrespectful? The biggest names in team Sky have been very transparent that they aren't intending to challenge for GC having ridden so many other difficult races already this summer.

Also, having been there and seen their grimaces over the hill I can promise you it wasn't all laughs and jokes to the finish line in time for tea, biscuits and lovely massage. They attacked that last KOM faster than the riders fighting to go over first.
 
In this years ToB all but Cav are Domestiques, its their job to get Mark to the end of every stage, not just todays as the race isnt a daily event it is a week and the winner wont come from one single win, they are there to protect him and get hin to the end, as seen in a couple of the stages Wiggo rode balls out and got Mark into the position the team wanted, then Wiggo falls back completely out of energy........thats their jobs on this tour, Wiggo can sprint but after emptying his tank he would be no use at the end of the stages.
 
Having watched the highlights show it was clear to see Wiggins drop back to the team car having been looking over his shoulder for some time before joining Cav. Clearly it was a team decision that perhaps didn't pay off but they adapted as they day developed unexpectedly as is required in cycling. I certainly can't see anything disrespectful in that and I've not so much heard a whisper of anyone suggesting it was.
 
Philippe Gilbert won the world champs jersey today. And I tipped him in a Facebook thread this morning! Wish I had money on him now!
 
Leslie said:
Philippe Gilbert won the world champs jersey today. And I tipped him in a Facebook thread this morning! Wish I had money on him now!
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Cycling is always such a risky sport to gamble money on with so many variables and possible outcomes. At least in most other sports you've got the option of one team to win/draw/lose but in cycling there's dozens of riders that could potentially cross that line first.

It was a great race though and incredibly gruelling for the riders by the looks of it!
 
The highlight of my cycling life was climbing the legendary Col du Galibier. I read last week there will be a stage finish there in next year's Giro. Can't wait! The Giro is always entertaining.
 
TriggerHappy said:
Cycling is always such a risky sport to gamble money on with so many variables and possible outcomes. At least in most other sports you've got the option of one team to win/draw/lose but in cycling there's dozens of riders that could potentially cross that line first.

It was a great race though and incredibly gruelling for the riders by the looks of it!
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You're exactly right and that's why I ended up not putting any money on.

I did manage to win a bit of money during the TdF on the final time trial, the stage the day before that, when Cav won and the final stage into Paris. But I was fairly certain that Wiggo would win the TT and I was also fairly certain that the other two stage were going to come down to a bunch sprint.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
The highlight of my cycling life was climbing the legendary Col du Galibier. I read last week there will be a stage finish there in next year's Giro. Can't wait! The Giro is always entertaining.
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Everyone talks about the TdF as being the biggest race in the world and ok it probably is. But when you start watching cycling outside of the month of July you soon realise that the Giro and the Vuelta are two pretty gruelling races and are both great fun to watch.

The last two Giros have been particularly good.
 
Leslie said:
Everyone talks about the TdF as being the biggest race in the world and ok it probably is. But when you start watching cycling outside of the month of July you soon realise that the Giro and the Vuelta are two pretty gruelling races and are both great fun to watch.

The last two Giros have been particularly good.
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I always watch the Grand Tours. The best drama on TV by far.
 
There are rumours that L'Alpe d'Huez will be climbed twice in next year's TdeF.
 
There is no doubting that the TdFrance is the biggest cycle race on the Planet
I got into watching it 30 yrs ago and have never missed it since

must add I have never bothered watching any other race till 2 years ago and Now I watch the Vuelta which has some real monster climbs (which I love)
so now I watch both Tours
 
Buttkicker said:
There is no doubting that the TdFrance is the biggest cycle race on the Planet
I got into watching it 30 yrs ago and have never missed it since

must add I have never bothered watching any other race till 2 years ago and Now I watch the Vuelta which has some real monster climbs (which I love)
so now I watch both Tours
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What about the Giro?
 
Of all the tours I think the Giro is probably my favourite. This year, though, the vuelta was incredibly exciting and the TdF was amazingly enjoyable because of Wiggins winning, although the racing itself wasn't ever as finely balanced as the vuelta.
 
Is no one else following Il Giro? Are people following Sir Bradley's endeavours?
 
Ricardodaforce said:
Is no one else following Il Giro? Are people following Sir Bradley's endeavours?
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I have watched every stage so far.. things not gone really well for Brad - after his crash he looked very tentative
Nibali is going to take some catching.. the high mountains are his domain

having said that there is a mighty long way to go yet
 
Buttkicker said:
I have watched every stage so far.. things not gone really well for Brad - after his crash he looked very tentative
Nibali is going to take some catching.. the high mountains are his domain

having said that there is a mighty long way to go yet
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Really looking forward to the finish on the Galibier. The most famous col that I've cycled.
 
I am. It's my favourite race of the cycling calendar. I missed yesterday because I was out but watched every other stage.

Shame that a puncture would slow Wiggins where he's strongest, but honestly I haven't seen anything to suggest he's strong enough to take the maglia rosa.

Hopefully Cadel Evans fails to get on the podium. He's one of the few characters in cycling I cannot abide.

I have taken great pleasure in Cavendish's wins, however :D

Also very happy for Dowsett to take some glory!
 
I'm normally all over the Giro like a rash but Eurosport's installation of Declan "I have no idea what I'm commentating on at any given point" Quigley has totally ruined the coverage for me this year, so I've only seen highlights of two stages so far :shake:
 
Simmotino said:
I'm normally all over the Giro like a rash but Eurosport's installation of Declan "I have no idea what I'm commentating on at any given point" Quigley has totally ruined the coverage for me this year, so I've only seen highlights of two stages so far :shake:
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He's certainly not in David Harmon's league is he.
 
Ricardodaforce said:
He's certainly not in David Harmon's league is he.
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I'm a big fan of David Harmon but have to agree about Declan.

Sadly Sean Kelly really isn't up for the task of commentating either, and is far worse than Declan. I'm not sure what 'professional insight' he provides.
 
Massive ride by Uran there. You'd have to fancy Wiggins to be out of the running now. I wonder if Uran will get backed to go for the Malia Rosa instead.
 
Simmotino said:
I'm normally all over the Giro like a rash but Eurosport's installation of Declan "I have no idea what I'm commentating on at any given point" Quigley has totally ruined the coverage for me this year, so I've only seen highlights of two stages so far :shake:
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He's so damned useless, I'm sorely tempted to go online and find if there's a link to streamed commentary from Rai... plus it'll give me an excuse to swear at the screen in italian :)
 
Wiggins really hasn't looked threatening at all since the beginning. As it's already been confirmed he won't be team leader in Le Tour I'm wondering if his season is effectively over already. I can't imagine he'll do La Vuelta as well as the first 2 grand tours.
 
Dont forget the 2013 Tour Series: Kirkcaldy Round One is on ITV4 at 10pm tonight
 
in regards Wiggins not going as well as was expected... I think Sky have made a right first class balls up of the team this year

Last year Wiggins swept all before him winning pretty much every race he entered - yet before this season really even kicked off Sky team are saying Froome is team leader for the TDF and what a way to build confidence in your team by telling the best rider of Last yera he is no longer team leader this year
add to that the twitter fighting with Frooms Girlfriend and Wiggins wife and a few others.. not a bunch of happy campers

Sky have screwed up big time this year and I am just as certain that Froome will NOT win the Tour de France - he will go very close but I think he will get beaten by the stronger Mountain men
 
I think sky are feeling the loss of Yates in the team car as well... That being said, Wiggins is always likely to lose a few seconds to the little guys when the gradients get into 12%+ - at that gradient, he's got to go into damage limitation mode and just plough on at his peak power and hope not to get too far behind. On stuff like Sestriere or the Galibier he can keep with them, and maybe even on the Stelvio he can bury himself on the last 12% kicker and stay on the wheels, but now he's duffed up the long time-trial, I can't see where he's going to gain enough time on his rivals...
 
"I've got a chest infection and a head cold. Fortunately on these kind of stages, there's just a bit of fighting and you can get through them and hide a little bit. I just want to try and fight through it and hope that in a few days time I'll be all right. Most of the team has been sick. It seems to last three or four days and then you get better."
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/2013/may/15/bradley-wiggins-cold-giro-ditalia?CMP=twt_gu

It's always been known that Wiggins isn't at his best on the really steep stuff, but the Giro was a personal challenge he wanted to achieve which is why he's riding it this year, and why the races he's been entered into in the build up have also been of the hillier type.

He was unfortunate to come off on the downhill on a really wet day. Ultimately that knock to his confidence cost him well over a minute. Another stroke of bad luck with a puncture during the ITT forced him off his new TT bike and prevented him making the strides that he otherwise could have done.

When you have a team as strong as Sky's it's inevitable there's compromises with who rides what races. You can't have such talented riders always playing 2nd fiddle. It was inevitable that Wiggins would have to allow some other names to challenge for GC glory and he's made the choice to pursue the Giro. It remains to be seen what happens in the TdF.

That said, Uran's comments that he and Henao aren't like Froome are telling. He's clearly not the most popular member of the team.
 
The weather in Italy is really bad at the moment, lower temperatures, torrential rain, even a bit of sleet yesterday. I believe that Wiggo struggles to make a grand tour weight, in order to be able to compete with the climbers, and so the extreme cold will not have helped him. There are also mechanical problems, and the complication of a split team, where the addition of Froome, Porte and others would make a big difference.
I think that Sky may have shot themselves in the foot this year, and it will be interesting to see how Froome gets on in the TdF against the likes of Valverde, Contador, Rodriguez, Evans and any other big hitters.
 
Nibali did very well today. Gutted that the finish on the Galibier scheduled for tomorrow has been cancelled.
 
I think wiggins has been really unlucky this Giro, his fall lost him a minute and his slow puncture lost him at least 1.5 minutes apparently. On top of this his chest infection and dodgy descending (even Brailsford says he doesn't understand it). I honestly think if he hadn't been unlucky he would have been wearing pink now. He is going to always lose time on the step climbs but his sheer power in the TTs over other GC riders makes up for that
 
Wiggins has ruled himself out of the TdeF this year. This year is proving to be a disaster for him.
 
It's a real shame. There's only so much you can do if you get a chest infection and a knee injury, unfortunately.

At least it stops the media persisting with trying to stir a storm between 'team rivals' Wiggins and Froome!
 
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