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Team Ineos 'strangling the sport' says Bradley Wiggins

Argues the future of cycling is all in one team and says Ineos will ‘park the bus’ at the Tour de France

Sir Bradley Wiggins says it is a shame that Giro d’Italia leader Richard Carapaz is being linked with Team Ineos, arguing that his former team’s financial clout is ‘strangling the sport’.

At the time of writing, Movistar rider Carapaz is 1m54s ahead of former winner Vincenzo Nibali, and, as is so often the case when young riders show promise in Grand Tours, there have been rumours that the Ecuadorian has been discussing a move to Team Ineos.

Commenting on this on Eurosport, Wiggins conceded that it was difficult for him to criticise his former team, but said such a move would be ‘a shame’ as Ineos’s financial clout was making races more predictable.

“It’s a fantastic team, all the riders there – G and Froome and everyone. But we’ve enjoyed this race so much, and these attacks, and Nibali. It’s been a joy to watch, and we kind of can predict what’s going to happen at the Tour. They’re going to park the bus almost because they’ve got that strength in depth.”

Elaborating on this, he continued: "We’re talking about Bernal, G, Froome, Kwiatkowski, Poels… and it’s like when the lead group gets down to ten, five of them are going to be Ineos. It doesn’t allow for this racing, it’s a physical display – and I know that because I benefited from it. And it’s a physical demonstration of watts and threshold powers etc, and it doesn’t allow so much for this kind of spectacle racing.

"By adding another big major Grand Tour winner in there it feels like there’s a bit of a strangling of the sport, because who else is left now to enjoy these moments. Nibali is 35, he’s not around forever. They’ve got Bernal, they’ve (Pavel) Sivakov, they’ve got the future of the sport in one team, and I worry, where’s all the other talent? We had Mathieu van der Poel on the podcast a few weeks ago, will he end up going as well? What’s left?"

Wiggins said he didn’t know whether the situation was right or wrong and made it clear he wasn’t criticising the Carapaz or Team Ineos.

“Why wouldn’t you want to go to the best team in the world, tried and tested? They may say to him – you can try and win the Giro again next year, or the Vuelta, maybe the Tour team no because we’ve got ten others who can win that.”

Wiggins’ fellow Eurosport pundit Brian Smith, added: "I looked after Leopold Konig a couple of years ago. I advised him not to go to Team Sky, but he wanted to go purely because he wanted to learn from the best team in the world. That’s what they want to do."

Konig recorded top ten finishes in both the Tour de France and Vuelta a Espana while riding for NetApp-Endura (now Bora-Hansgrohe) and while he recorded his best Grand Tour result with Team Sky the following year with sixth at the Giro, he found he had limited opportunities and has since returned to his former team.

Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.

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6 comments

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OnTheRopes | 5 years ago
1 like

Just a few months ago Sir Brad said:

“People need to be careful what they wish for because if Sky go now the sport will be worse off for it,” Wiggins said on talkSPORT.

So which is it Brad?

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/dec/20/wiggins-warns-cycling-will...

Avatar
Rick_Rude | 5 years ago
2 likes

What Froome did last year at the Giro was not 'predictable'. Nor was Thomas winning the TDF.

Salty Wiggins.

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Sea of Sky | 5 years ago
1 like

Got to disagree a bit Sir  This has been a particularly boring Giro, especially the first week. The prolific amount of breakaway wins is a reflection of a weak field. A strong team manages breakaways so much better and makes for a great spectacle. No one has really challenged Movistar this tour and that has added to the boredom. Stage 19 last year was amazing, there isn't a team this year that could pull it off again. We need Sky/Ineos to be the 'villians' if you like. 

Avatar
don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
0 likes

It's alright Brad, once other teams have managed to get the same financial backing as Ineos, the playing field will be level again.

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nadsta replied to don simon fbpe | 5 years ago
1 like

don simon fbpe wrote:

It's alright Brad, once other teams have managed to get the same financial backing as Ineos, the playing field will be level again.

 

Reduce the amount of racing/limit the number of riders on a team/ introduce budget caps?

Avatar
whobiggs replied to nadsta | 5 years ago
2 likes

[/quote]

 

Reduce the amount of racing/limit the number of riders on a team/ introduce budget caps?

[/quote]

I'm not quite sure how this will help?

yes

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