Do people think @BradleyWiggins legs are up for climbing this season?

Some great analysis in this
Some great analysis in this thread. Top work chaps. :H

So thoughts?
So thoughts? 👿

Gkam84 wrote: A nice way to

Gkam84 wrote:

A nice way to build up an excuse for just not being a good enough rider to win the TdF and shouldn’t really be a team leader

Ooh, that’s a bit harsh. Let’s face it, over the past quarter century, only 11 riders have won it, and of course there are question marks hanging over a good few of those.

Is Wiggo better than Contador, if he can repeat his Giro form, or Andy Schleck, if he’s in the same condition as he was 12 months ago? I doubt it.

But is he better prepared for the race than he was 12 months ago? Almost certainly. The Dauphine certainly isn’t the Giro d’Italia, it’s a shorter race and one that is much easier to recover from – even Contador is saying that he’s still feeling the effects of this year’s Giro a fortnight after it finished.

There are riders out there who can attack on the odd day in the mountains, but Contador and perhaps Schleck are the only two who I think can do it day in, day out. The chain incident apart, there was very little to separate them on last year’s race.

Wiggins meanwhile is focusing on what he does best – effectively time trialling his way up the ascents. It would have been easy for him to panic yesterday when the attacks came – he didn’t, he rode at his own pace, and ended up increasing his lead.

It could be, of course, that Contador or Schleck will suffer a mishap at some point in the Tour that will rule them out of contention. Wiggins is one of the riders that can profit from that. I certainly see him improving on last year and a top ten finish should be well within his grasp.

Beyond that, who knows? If he’s in touch going into the penultimate day’s ITT in Grenoble, anything’s possible.

One thing that is certain – the odds on him getting a podium in the TDF are a lot shorter than they were this time last week.

It’s a great thing to add to
It’s a great thing to add to his palmares and I’m pleased for Wiggins if that’s what he wanted but I wonder if he hasn’t just blown his shot at a good showing in the Tour.

He said last year he got too carried away by doing the Giro and putting in a strong performance but then not having enough time to recover. Has he done the same thing again ?

OK the Dauphine is only a week rather than three but apart from Indurain and Armstrong (and Wiggins is not in their class as a GT rider) the list of recent Dauphine winners is largely a list of people who were “ones to watch” but never quite backed it up at the Tour.

Because Sky wont build a team
Because Sky wont build a team around Cav, so he’ll not join unless he can have his own little team

Cav currently thinks he’s in the “best team in the world” and as long as he’s winning will be happy to stay with HTC

Comments like this

Wiggins said that Team Sky would not operate specifically around one sprinter.

“It would be an issue,” Wiggins said. “I know a lot of our riders that left Columbia — Thomas Lofkvist, Michael Barry, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Greg Henderson — they all left because they felt the whole team was built round Cav and they weren’t getting their opportunity.

Dr Plumbster wrote:Do you lot

Dr Plumbster wrote:

Do you lot above feel silly now that Wiggo is likely gonna win the DL?

Dont count your chickens, he’s only 1.52 ahead of Vino with a HUGE climb tomorrow where his legs will just explode as Vino leaves him for dead, that SHOULD happen, but i dont know if he will lose nearly 2 mins, i think he’ll win the whole thing by 17 seconds, he has surprised me tho, but i think thats it for the season, TdF best he can hope for is 5th 😀

Do you lot above feel silly
Do you lot above feel silly now that Wiggo is likely gonna win the DL?