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news
Sir Bradley Wiggins on BBC Breakfast 6 June 2014"Gutted" - Sir Bradley Wiggins confirms he won't ride Tour de France
Sir Bradley Wiggins says he is "gutted" at the prospect of missing this year's Tour de France, which starts in Yorkshire four weeks tomorrow. Wiggins, who in 2012 became the first Briton to win cycling's biggest race, told BBC Breakfast that "as things stand" he will not be at the start in Leeds - a situation that will change only if illness or injury prevents defending champion Chris Froome from racing.
Speaking to the programme’s presenters Charlie Stayt and Sally Nugent, Wiggins said: “As it stands I won’t be there.
“The team is focused around Chris Froome, the defending champion, who’s got a great chance of winning his second Tour, and it’s been decided that as things stand they’re going to base the team around him.
“So unfortunately I won’t be there but there will be plenty to cheer about – Mark Cavendish has got a great chance of taking the yellow jersey on day one, and it’s going to be a huge celebration.”
Stayt asked Wiggins, given his accomplishments, why Sky wouldn’t want him in the team.
“A lot of it is you have the leader, then eight guys supporting that leader,” Wiggins said. “A lot of times the guys who support the leader are almost good enough to win in their own right, as we saw a couple of years ago with myself and Chris.
“Chris has gone on to win the Tour and as defending champion has a say in who he has around him and he’s had guys who go to all his training camps and build-up races throughout the year, his group of riders.
“I’ve been following a different path, I went to Paris-Roubaix earlier in the year and tried to attempt something different there, I went to the Tour of California a month ago and won there.
“So we’ve been on different paths and as it gets closer to the Tour, Dave Brailsford, the manager, decides who’s best fitted to do that job.
“Myself and Chris haven’t raced all year together," he added.
Stayt put it to Wiggins: “You’re being very diplomatic about this but it’s hard to think from the outside you’re not absolutely gutted?”
“I’m gutted. I’ve worked extremely hard for this all winter, and right through the summer up to California and winning that, I feel I’m in the form I was in two years ago at the 2012 Tour de France.
“But I also understand that cycling is a team sport and at the end of the day about the team winning and that team is Team Sky and Chris is the defending champion.”
“There is this race on now in France and barring any injury to Chris there if he crashes or whatever then there will still be a chance I could come into the team, as the set-up of the team changes.
"But as it stands, Chris staying fit and healthy, then the team will roll out of Harrogate [sic].”
Asked if he was angry at Froome, whose autobiography is published this week, questioning his mental strength at the 2012 Tour, Wiggins said: “Not really. Books get written all the time particularly in this day and age in cycling and there seems to be a different book out every week.
“It’s two years ago now, everyone has a different view on how things happened.
“I think one of the things with the Tour de France is you’re on the road for one month with a group of guys and you’re going to have different emotions, different days, different mood swings.
“A very good friend of mine from the rugby world summed it up, he said ‘I don’t know how you do it, I can do it for 90 minutes, I can’t do it for four weeks’ – so I think that sums it up for me,” he concluded.
Wiggins’ contract with Sky expires at the end of the season, a fact not lost on others within the sport.
How can Bradley Wiggins to end up being in yellow jersey? Sign with @tinkoff_saxo and wear all year long 
— Oleg Tinkov (@olegtinkov) June 6, 2014
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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116 comments
I'm gutted wiggo is not in the tour. The door to cycling in this great country has taken a long time to re-open. To win the start of the tour in Yorkshire was and is huge, huge news. To not see britains biggest cycling personality riding it is crazy. This could be have been stratospheric. The shine has gone : ( for me and I bet many others too. I'm too sad to type anymore...
How I would love Brad to ride next year and win le tour leaving his African competitor in his wake. Sky have lost my support for treating the first and only british resident to win tour, so badly.
I don't think Wiggins has the same chance as Froome. Froome can TT nearly as fast and is a class apart on the mountains. He also can look after himself a little more when it comes down to small groups in the mountains which makes the team's work a little easier.
It is disappointing for Wiggins' fans not to see him in Yorkshire, but for the team winning is more important and they presumably see themselves as having a stronger line up to support Froome without Wiggins. For once, the PR seems to have taken a back seat to the performance of the team.
I do assume that every one above works for Sky and is the person who actually knows all of the facts.
Nope . Guess work and personal preference takes the stage.
A very dignified response from a Knight of the Realm. Cool, calm and collected.
There's more to come from Sir Bradley, I'm sure.
Perhaps Froome was worried that Sir Wiggins would come second just one second behind, demonstrating that Sir Wiggo could easily have won.
Well, that has rather spoiled my Saturday morning!
For a a team operated by one of the slickest media operations in the world, this is a shambles. Team Sky should be announcing the TDF squad, not Sir Brad. I never thought I would hear myself say this but I am now going to be pulling for one of the European squads, rather than Sky. Who would I rather see win the GC? A plastic Brit who lives in Monaco (I would much prefer the Brit who lives in Lancashire if I am honest) or the likes of Contador, Nibali et al? My interest has now shifted to the points category and the battle between Cav, Kittel and Sagan.
Wiggo has been very diginified about the way this has been handled and although I have purchased several books about British cycling. I know which one I will be giving a miss.
Perhaps Wiggo will be giving Mr Tinkov's tweet a second thought! Either that or Alonso, Movistar, Orica's overtures.
I think it's those commenting on how the public will perceive this, particularly with the Tour starting in the UK this year, that have correctly understood the impact of this decision. It seems to me to be a bit of a PR own goal.
As I follow the sport, I understand the team dynamics of cycling and the reason why Wiggo isn't riding, Joe Public doesn't and so wonders why the most prominent Britsh rider of recent years isn't participating in the biggest event in the sport. That's exactly why he appeared on a mainstream forum like BBC Breakfast to explain what was what.
The fact is that Froome just doesn't have the same level of non-enthusiast public support as Wiggins does, and I suspect there will be some who won't now watch the Tour as a result. Niche sports like cycling need their personalities to remain promiment at the highest level to keep the public interested, which in turn helps to keep the public on bikes themselves. I'm sure plenty of kids got into cycling too off the back of 2012 because they wanted to be "just like Bradley Wiggins", I just don't think the same can be said about Froome, even if he were to win again this year.
So disappointing, can't believe this is not entirely Froomes input, seeing how Brad rode the time trial in the Tour of California, it looks like he is as fit as he has ever been. Not to decry the other team members selected, but really, what? they all rank better than Wiggins....I don't think so.
I hope for Brailsfords and Froomes sake he wins, or you'll never hear the end of it.
I have tried to like Froome, and found it very difficult as he seems to have the same type of cariama as Andy Murray, I'm afraid I won't be cheering the South African (passports don't count) on during the tour.
An excellent and entertaining race spoiled.
What was the original reason for Wiggins being on the show?
This is purely wiggos take on the provisional squad talks DB hasn't announced it yet so there was every chance he could have been included if he performed at the TdS , however he has now probably crippled his chances by saying he is gutted blah blah blah.
Froome is and should be the main gc contender as this TdF route is better suited to him wiggo simply doesn't want to play second fiddle to anyone hence his diplomatic way of removing himself from the selection process .
And to those of you who were going to cheer SKY if wiggo rode and are now saying you won't because froome is the no.1 , why? Because you all believe wiggo has a God given right to lead? Laughable....
The more I think about this the angrier I get. Our top cyclist, first ever British winner of the Tour de France which is starting in the UK, back in the shape of his life and he's not riding? Are you kidding me? Brailsford you have seriously lost the plot.
Froome had better win if he ever wants to set foot in this country again, not that he will
I think it's time to start a petition
I cannot see what all the hooha is about. Team sky are all about winning the Tour, end of. They will pick the best team for that, without the chance of any unrest in the team during the race. Wiggins could not win this years tour, he wouldn't have won last years even if he was fit, Froome did & will have a better chance than wiggins this year. It's hard enough to win with a full team behind you without wondering if one will shaft you at some time.
Great summary by Robert Millar
http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-blog-man-down
It's really sad that he won't be riding the tour on British soil.
Our (joint) most decorated Olympian, a knight of the realm, a genuine Tour champion, a magnet for the media and an inspiration to many. In a sport that loves it's own history, it seems strange that sky can't see the value of all this to the team and the brand.
A team that once could not put a foot wrong seems to have lost the plot and it's Brad and the fans that suffer.
http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-blog-man-down
I don't think he'll be able to get more money anywhere else in the peloton, unless Alonso's team have Qatari royalty backing them!
If Froome wins I don't think it will.
She was also pre-Madonna
Froome may now have a UK passport, but has he ever actually lived in Britain?
A few years ago at the final stage of the Tour of Britain in London, some bloke wandering past asked me if Chris Hoy was riding
Will it be to suggest that all the armchair experts give it a rest? If so, I'll sign.
It amazes me that so many numpties on t'internet seem to have a far better idea of what to do than the people that are employed by the team.
I feel for Bradley, the first British Tour winner, multi-Olympic medallist, it must be tough for him. However, the team must be selected to give what they consider the best chance of winning. I'm sure many, many hours will be put into it, checking the parcours, exploring options and possible outcomes. I wouldn't relish the responsibility.
Maybe so, but their losses from this debacle are already substantial.
Brailsford needs to learn that 'winning' is a long-term business, and this smacks of mental frailty on both his and Froome's part, combined with a staggering complacency regarding those from whom their support comes. There has been many a successful team containing players who frankly hate each others' guts: Ribery & Robben at Bayern Munich is but one example.
At the end of the day, cycling (like football) is frippery, an entertainment, albeit a wonderful one, and for Froome/Brailsford to think otherwise is arrogant in the extreme.
Good point, Beefy. But then, Brad hasn't done himself too many favours over the past couple of years. The reports that his team-mates had to wait nine months or more for their money after he won Le Tour don't sit too well with his 'man-of-the-people' image. Nevertheless, I hope he has a good season and that, next year and with a new team, he does even better. What's more, he will always be the first Englishman to win Le Tour.
Serious fans are interested in more than just who won.
Oh, is that joke 'coming around again'?
Ouch
Oh, are they? Thanks for letting the rest of us tourists know.
Anyway, rather patronising comment aside you're right of course, but if Froome wins then I still think that will eclipse internal Sky wranglings- this is a long way from a sort of legendary rivalry IMO.
I'm not sure you're right unclebadger.
SKY were first and second with these two riders in 2012.
And Hinault and Lemond were first and second respectively in 1985 and then the other way around in 1986.
So it can be done.
The surprising thing is that Brailsford has let Froome pick the team, by in effect giving him a right to veto Wiggins.
Why has Wiggo got a stethoscope round his neck in the picture…
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