Sir Bradley Wiggins may have been the first British rider to win the Tour de France – but he’s only the second yellow jersey winner from the country to be spotted running up a climb – with video of the moment he briefly swapped two wheels for two feet now posted to Instagram.
In scenes reminiscent of Chris Froome’s run up Mont Ventoux at the Tour de France on Bastille Day, Wiggins was snapped yesterday hot-footing it up the Cumbrian climb appropriately named The Struggle.
We’re pretty sure the quick-thinking photographer shown jumping out is the one responsible for this picture posted to Twitter.
@OfficialWIGGINS brilliant, simply brilliant! #tourofbritain #wheresfroome #legend pic.twitter.com/qUZmfownZN
— DM Photography (@danmon_81) 5 September 2016
Froome’s impromptu run on Mont Ventoux was due to his bike being broken in a crash and a neutral service one proving to be the wrong size and with incompatible pedals.
> Video: Chris Froome vs Mont Ventoux – the slapstick version
Yesterday, however, Wiggins was pushing his own bike along towards the mist-shrouded summit of the 4.5km long climb, which has an average gradient of 8% and reached 20%.
With the 36-year-old’s season focused on winning his fifth career Olympic gold medal at Rio, where he helped Team GB win the team pursuit, and the Tour of Britain effectively an extended victory lap ahead of his retirement in November, we think most fans would forgive him.
Certainly the spectators in this picture posted to Instagram seem to find the funny side of Wiggins running past while pushing his bike – and having now seen the video and the fact he did it for such a short time, it seems there may have been a bit of ‘nuge nudge, wink wink,’ about the whole episode.
Wiggins’ jog wasn’t the only talking point from the climb, with Mark Cavendish caught on camera stopped by the side of the road, having a bit of a word with a spectator.
> Video: Mark Cavendish stops on Tour of Britain climb to ‘have word’ with fan
23 thoughts on “Wiggo does a Froome – and runs up Tour of Britain climb (+ video)”
Class
Class
Where’s all the Vuelta news. Turning out to be the best Tour of the year.
well its about the same speed
well its about the same speed as he goes downhill…..
Aye ! It’s not called the
Aye ! It’s not called the Struggle for nowt !
This stretch of road is IMO is a lot harder than Hardknott Pass. Curiously both of these roads are Roman in origin. Bradley ‘s legs must have Caesared up !
Batchy wrote:
Snort!! So what have the Romans ever done for us?!
Brought pain?
Pain?! Shut up!
Hardknott and The Struggle are both pigs, but Hardknott fills me with more apprehension than The Struggle. Maybe it’s because I work at the college just at the foot of the climb and am more familiar with it that I don’t think it’s as tough as Hardknott. It’s definitely longer, and is very steep for much of the 4km, but Hardknott is just a wall with very tight hairpins, you can’t get into a rhythm like you can on t’Struggle. Just my opinion though. I might go home over it tonight, that might make me think again!
KendalRed wrote:
Yep ! I live in Kendal and believe you me I know both climbs fairly intimately. Nowadays I leave both climbs well alone cos I’m sixty seven and have got the T shirts. But apart from the 30% bend on Hardknott which comes after 101 miles of the Fred Whitton, and can be a right bastard , the Struggle is equally if not more challenging especially the last 25% kick up to the Kirkstone Inn ! Of course this is my opinion and your legs are probably decades younger than mine !
Batchy wrote:
So glad to read that: I really labour up the struggle and am planning to have a go at Hardknot soon (with a view to doing the Fred Whitton next year, hopefully). Nice to think that I’ve done the worst of the climbs 🙂
He’s either taking the piss
He’s either taking the piss or reinforcing my opinion that he had the tour won for him… Surely a current professional rider who’s won a tour shouldn’t struggle up any ‘struggle’, race pace or not…
rswift wrote:
Yeah, obvious given his palmares is so piss poor… FFS
rswift wrote:
Well it seems unlikely to be that he’s taking the piss, so you must be on to something…
Wiggo was sat on the back of
Wiggo was sat on the back of the pack for most of the race on TV… to be fair the route and the pace looked brutal.. one hell of a race yesterday, cummings is a freak, if he’s have made that Ettix chap pull more he’d have won it.
If Wiggins wants to cartwheel up a hill off the back of the grupetto singing I’ve got a Lovely bunch of coconuts, he’d still be alright with me, whatever the reasons for this photo, off the back of the Olympics carrying all that extra weight he’s not there to win it is he.
peted76 wrote:
that I would love to see
THATS A CLASSIC ONE…
THATS A CLASSIC ONE…
‘he had the tour won for him’
‘he had the tour won for him’. ffs.
He’s enjoying the last few days of his career and giving the fans something to smile about. The sport will be the worse for his retirement.
Wiggins was only joking, that
Wiggins was only joking, that’s for sure. But considering Froome’s won three times as many Tours (so far) I think he gets the last laugh.
HalfWheeler wrote:
I’m fairly sure Froome would see the funny side…
HalfWheeler wrote:
Maybe not with Brad having won infinity times as many Olympic gold medals.
HalfWheeler wrote:
Maybe not with Brad having won infinity times as many Olympic gold medals.
Made me laugh. Definitely
Made me laugh. Definitely done for fun. Well done Wiggo.
That must be one of them Push
That must be one of them Push Bikes.
They don’t make them like they used to.
Of course he was having a
Of course he was having a laugh
https://youtu.be/54UJrlbPmDA
Monumentally taking the piss
Monumentally taking the piss and I love him for it, even if he didn’t quite get the loping run right
Well if you got anything left
Well if you got anything left to run up a hill that ain’t bad. Lol
Well, as us old gits in Lycra
Well, as us old gits in Lycra say the is’nt a hill anywhere in England that you can’t walk up !