# C'mon Bradley, it's a race not a lounge act



## Bill Bikie (Jul 24, 2010)

What does Wiggins have to lose by being more aggressive. He's got almost two miutes on Evans, and he'll even add more time in the last TT. Even if he drags Evans along he'll be doing the jersey proud. If Wiggins just sits-in and doesn't assert himself in anything but the TT, yes he'll be a tour winner, but not a great one, and the pundants will have questions.

The last time Hinault shooke Wiggins hand I thought I could read his lip. I believe he told Wiggins to get off his _ _ _ and show us he's a complete rider and actually RACE!

Also: I'd like to see more climbs in the early stages, maybe even the first stage. If the sprinters can't hack, tough.


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## gusmahler (Apr 7, 2012)

This is silly. His goal is to win a 3 week race. The best way for him to do it is to keep pace with his competitors on the mountains and smoke them in the TT. It's how Indurain won 5 times. There's nothing wrong with it. Attacking when not necessary and possibly blowing himself up in the process is a recipe for disaster.


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## flyrunride (May 2, 2012)

I don't think he'll risk anything in the mountains since he's not really a "climber" but he has froome to handle those GC climbers. He can and will probably win the iTT stage anyways and he will be well celebrated being the 1st British to hold on the yellow for so long and to win the TdF (will he be the 1st ever?). If they keep Froome and the team intact for a couple of more years he could be a repeat winner as there doesn't seem to be a team that can match then right now. Unfortunately this will look to be a boring race as the team will only do as much as to keep the status quo while checking any attacks from Nibali as Evans seems to have cracked. The fun part would probably be from the breakaways. I might not even watch it live tomorrow hehehe


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## thechriswebb (Nov 21, 2008)

He is racing. He has the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

Bill Bikie said:


> What does Wiggins have to lose by being more aggressive.


More important is what does he have to gain? Being a "great" Tour winner? The only way to do that is win multiple tours.

There is far more risk than reward by being aggressive.


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## Hiro11 (Dec 18, 2010)

Wiggins is a smart rider. He had nothing to gain by attacking today and he still put time into Evans. Liquigas is nowhere near as strong as Sky, he can afford to let Nibali hang around. 

Wiggins reminds me a bit of Indurain: a tall, lanky guy who's a dominant time trialist, smart tactician and an able but not great climber. Indurain was also criticized for playing playing it safe in the mountains, These complaints have no validity, the guy won 5 Tours.


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## jsedlak (Jun 17, 2008)

It's what I would refer to as the classic Lance tour win.
Except that it isn't inspiring in the least.

The interesting stories this year is everything going on outside of the GC.


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## Dan Gerous (Mar 28, 2005)

Wiggo races by looking at the watt numbers on his computer... it's boring for sure but I guess it's the only way he can keep up without cracking. His goal is not to entertain, it's to win. I do hope they make him crack though... I like how Nibali races and Van Den Broeck is still trying to gain back time but it hasn't dented the UKPS control of the race. And Cadel paid a lot for trying today.

I try not to think of it because otherwise I'll be hoping the Vuelta's better but, these guys need not only to pull back the time they're behind, but a few more minutes ahead of the last TT. I think it's Wiggins Tour to lose and he doesn't have to do anything else than defend... It looks only Froome could take the yellow jersey from Wiggins.


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## foto (Feb 7, 2005)

I think we saw today that Sky is not invincible. Froome was almost in trouble, with wiggins taking up pace. If it were a steeper climb, with undulations, instead of a steady false flat like today, we could see Sky start to suffer.

Unfortunately, it looks like none of the stages are really hard enough.

Too bad about Cadel.


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## gusmahler (Apr 7, 2012)

jsedlak said:


> It's what I would refer to as the classic Lance tour win.
> Except that it isn't inspiring in the least.
> 
> The interesting stories this year is everything going on outside of the GC.


While Lance was a great TT, he also attacked in the mountains occasionally (most famously on Alpe d'Heuz), hence, his 22 stage wins. I don't believe Indurain was much of an attacker.


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## Buck Satan (Nov 21, 2005)

Hiro11 said:


> These complaints have no validity, the guy won 5 Tours.


5 really BORING Tours. It was like watching paint dry. These kinds of wins have no class.


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## MattSoutherden (Jun 24, 2009)

Bill Bikie said:


> What does Wiggins have to lose by being more aggressive.


The *Tour de France* maybe?




Bill Bikie said:


> The last time Hinault shooke Wiggins hand I thought I could read his lip. I believe he told Wiggins to get off his _ _ _ and show us he's a complete rider and actually RACE!


Yeah. I mean, any old Mamil can be leading the Tour after 2 weeks. 

:mad2:


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## bayAreaDude (Apr 13, 2012)

Buck Satan said:


> 5 really BORING Tours. It was like watching paint dry. These kinds of wins have no class.


I agree. I understand why he does what he does, but I hope he'd also understand why nobody would want to watch that. Not really good for the sport if we're all too bored to watch.


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## flyrunride (May 2, 2012)

foto said:


> I think we saw today that Sky is not invincible. Froome was almost in trouble, with wiggins taking up pace. If it were a steeper climb, with undulations, instead of a steady false flat like today, we could see Sky start to suffer.
> 
> Unfortunately, it looks like none of the stages are really hard enough.
> 
> Too bad about Cadel.


Seems hard enough on last year's winner. I would have thought that this stage Cadel could get maybe 15-30 seconds on the last climb by a surprise attack but he lost out. Couldn't get away from the sky train and couldn't hold the pace that froome was setting. He might have to aim for 2nd this year which is unfortunate. Even Nibali couldn't get away with Froome chasing, I was hoping Nibali could at least get some time too but alas. I'll probably be watching highlights starting tomorrow.


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## burgrat (Nov 18, 2005)

And shave those stupid sideburns!


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

Buck Satan said:


> 5 really BORING Tours. It was like watching paint dry. These kinds of wins have no class.


Guys who can win the tour do it however works for them and they don't worry about whether or not we're entertained. There is no such thing as a classless TdF win.


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## Sylint (Jul 27, 2009)

jsedlak said:


> It's what I would refer to as the classic Lance tour win.
> Except that it isn't inspiring in the least.
> 
> The interesting stories this year is everything going on outside of the GC.


Lance would usually still attack near the end.


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## RkFast (Dec 11, 2004)

Boring as hell, but sometimes boring works. The New Jersey Devils wont multiple Stanley Cups playing the trap, which was so boring, even they hated it. But it worked. In the end, its all about the win.


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## Mike T. (Feb 3, 2004)

Buck Satan said:


> 5 really BORING Tours. It was like watching paint dry. These kinds of wins have no class.


As others have said, the goal is to *win* the TdF, not to entertain you to your standards. Wiggo, like Indurain and Lance did, rides to his strengths. Hinault rode to his too. If they're not going to ride to *their* strengths, whose should they ride to?

It's just like me leading my life. If I'm not gonna try and make *me* happy, who am I going to try and please?

You do have the option of not watching if you're bored or you don't understand the tactics. This is not cat 5 racing or midget soccer.


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## tlg (May 11, 2011)

davidka said:


> There is no such thing as a classless TdF win.


I dunno. Some would say doping is classless. Or taking advantage of your competitor when they have a mechanical issue.


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## mangotreat0808 (Sep 4, 2006)

*..but Sherlock Holmes is Bradley Wiggins *



burgrat said:


> And shave those stupid sideburns!


Oh no, without those chops, we'd loose our closest present day resemblance to the great actor, Basil Rathbone, i.e., "Sherlock Holmes" . ;-)


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## enzo24 (Jul 8, 2012)

If Sky would let Froome race, it might be an interesting tour. Working for your team leader is one thing, but this is bordering on throwing the race.


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## slimjw (Jul 30, 2008)

enzo24 said:


> If Sky would let Froome race, it might be an interesting tour. Working for your team leader is one thing, but this is bordering on throwing the race.


I think Sky have learned a thing or two from the Vuelta and at this point they aren't throwing anything away as their top riders are 1/2 on GC by a comfortable margin! No one except Froome has been able to put Wiggins in much difficultly so there is no need for them to let him off his leash at this point. If things continue this way Wiggins need only defend until the penultimate time trial. If, however, he winds up faltering badly on an upcoming mountain stage and Froome still has the legs don't be surprise if he's given free reign to bring it home.


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## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

thechriswebb said:


> He is racing. He has the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.


^ Best response of this thread:thumbsup:


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## c_h_i_n_a_m_a_n (Mar 3, 2012)

Everybody is different and so will win races differently ... At the end of the day it is the no of tour wins that most will read about and less likely, how one actually won them. Just enjoy cycling for what it is ...


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## davidka (Dec 12, 2001)

enzo24 said:


> If Sky would let Froome race, it might be an interesting tour. Working for your team leader is one thing, but this is bordering on throwing the race.


Wiggins is the best bet for the win. He won the 1st long TT and there is a longer one coming. As Sky have said, they will not protect 3rd place, it's the win or nothing. Pyrenees still coming, anything could still happen.


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## Opus51569 (Jul 21, 2009)

Shouldn't this thread really be about Evans and Nibali making the tour more exciting? Wiggins has the jersey and can/should ride tempo to protect it. It's up to the others to try to take it away from him if they can. It's their job to make things more interesting.


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## Mapei (Feb 3, 2004)

Even if Wiggins wins this year, how many more years does he really have at the top of the sport? As far as I'm concerned, we only have a short stretch of Boring ahead of us.


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## roddjbrown (Jan 19, 2012)

This is a great question. Also, why has no one ridden a whole stage doing a wheelie. There should be jumps, missiles, and someone should be on fire and ooh, dragons, can we get a dragon as well?


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## Ridin'Sorra (Sep 7, 2004)

What others have said... racing involves strategy and tactics also.

There are two approaches to winning. "The Art of War" way where the best victory is the one you did the less to obtain it or the caballeresque medieval approach where winning just to die from your wounds was the ideal.

Normally, the second approach works better when you are losing the battle to start with. Wiggins is in the other opposite case. He's winning, dominating, comfortable in yellow. Doing as less as possible to stay there makes the most of sense.


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## cervelott (Mar 18, 2010)

Organizers made a big mistake having 100k of individual TT's. Wiggins is a shoe in to win baring a major accident and we still have half the race to go...what were they thinking?
BORING!


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## Tribish (Jul 14, 2012)

Looked like wiggins was racing to beat Evans in the sprint in yesterdays stage. I never understand why people are sprinting way back in the small groups, is it gamesmanship?


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## Alaska Mike (Sep 28, 2008)

I'd say we have a pretty decent race going on just about every stage- it's just not for the yellow jersey. Lots of breakaways, attacks, moves and counter-moves happening as the GC pack steadily chugs its way up to the finish. Other than the excessive TTing, I kinda like this Tour's route, because it mixes things up nicely and keeps things from being too predictable.

That said, I'd much rather watch a Northern Classic any day.


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