Professional Cycling For the Fans - Wiggins

A major revelation on the mountains, flats - and everywhere in the tour.

Big surprise here. Will be interesting to see how he holds up over the next 4 days of racing.

I'm really interested in seeing if this holds out to be true. It really reminds me of Kohl. All of a sudden Wiggins has come out of nowhere to be a Podium contender. Just seems fishy to me. I hate that I can't watch this sport without feeling that someone might be doping but in the past few years when people suddenly start performing amazingly it has seemed to be they doped. I hope for Wiggins it isn't the case. Remember in 2007 his whole team was dropped from the tour for one rider that was caught doping...

Just seems too good to be true.

just read he lost 20 pounds since last year. That is a tremendous amount for a professional cyclist and that could be a contributing factor. Still a little odd to me though.

I'm really interested in seeing if this holds out to be true. It really reminds me of Kohl. All of a sudden Wiggins has come out of nowhere to be a Podium contender. Just seems fishy to me. I hate that I can't watch this sport without feeling that someone might be doping but in the past few years when people suddenly start performing amazingly it has seemed to be they doped. I hope for Wiggins it isn't the case. Remember in 2007 his whole team was dropped from the tour for one rider that was caught doping...

Just seems too good to be true.

just read he lost 20 pounds since last year. That is a tremendous amount for a professional cyclist and that could be a contributing factor. Still a little odd to me though.

So what are you saying?

He was the world's best pursuit cyclist ... just surprised how much he has improved in the mountains.

Saying the guy has finished the tour once and was 124th place...he didn't compete last year and his team was dropped for doping in 2007 and now he's a podium contender. Sounds fishy to me. The lost weight is probably a huge factor but I don't know if it turns him into a podium contender.

I'm really interested in seeing if this holds out to be true. It really reminds me of Kohl. All of a sudden Wiggins has come out of nowhere to be a Podium contender. Just seems fishy to me. I hate that I can't watch this sport without feeling that someone might be doping but in the past few years when people suddenly start performing amazingly it has seemed to be they doped. I hope for Wiggins it isn't the case. Remember in 2007 his whole team was dropped from the tour for one rider that was caught doping...

Just seems too good to be true.

just read he lost 20 pounds since last year. That is a tremendous amount for a professional cyclist and that could be a contributing factor. Still a little odd to me though.

There's your answer. He's not coming out of nowhere like Kohl. As was mentioned, he was already an amazing cyclist, just in a different discipline. He shifted his focus and was succesful in that shift. Kohl and especially Schumacher raised question marks in my head last year, but nothing seems "fishy" about Wiggins to me.

A major revelation on the mountains, flats - and everywhere in the tour.

incorrect.

He was the world's best pursuit cyclist ... just surprised how much he has improved in the mountains.

you're right ... there is a big question mark with wiggins.

ed rader

Side bet he doesn't finish in top 3?

I am pretty sure he will be 2nd or 3rd. He will gain time on the other contenders in the TT and it looks like he can climb.

More surprising as he finished in the 70s in the Giro just months ago.

[QUOTE=chrisvu05;9309224]Saying the guy has finished the tour once and was 124th place...

as a domestique.

"he didn't compete last year"

he was busy winning 4 track titles

"and his team was dropped for doping in 2007"

You mean, like Astana last year?

"and now he's a podium contender. Sounds fishy to me. The lost weight is probably a huge factor but I don't know if it turns him into a podium contender"

If you want to be competitive in the mountains, you need to lose weight. Ask Armstrong, Hincapie and any number of other slimmed-down former rouleurs........

If you call a rider a cheat by association, the sport is finished. Save this take until the test results are in, then you can apologise to Wiggins at your leisure......... or we'll all be shaking our heads, along with you.

More surprising as he finished in the 70s in the Giro just months ago.


Success in the Giro does not equal success in Le Tour (ask Denis Menchov) nor does a poor Giro performance mean a poor Tour.

My money is on Wiggins peaking for Le Tour and riding into shape in Italy.

There is nothing fishy about Wiggins. He started concentrating on road cycling and dropped 20lbs. The guy is a huge talent.

More surprising as he finished in the 70s in the Giro just months ago.

2008 Giro d'Italia

52 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Slipstream Chipotle presented by H30 1.43.59

2008 Tour de France

5 Christian Vande Velde (USA) Team Garmin-Chipotle p/b H30 3.05


:rolleyes:

Doesn't Garmin have extra strict doping control? I'm betting he's natural.

After some of the things Wiggins has said about his old teammate Moreno (?) who got Cofidis kicked out of the tour in '07, and what he preaches to everyone, I whole-heartedly believe he's for real.

I'd like to see more track Olympians try their hand in road races ... Chris Hoy? Too heavy maybe.

I'd like to see more track Olympians try their hand in road races ... Chris Hoy? Too heavy maybe.

Well Hayden Roulston is not doing too badly in his first tour. Maybe it's easier for pursuiters rather than sprinters to switch to road cycling.

There's a long tradition of pursuiters switching to the road- or doing both simultaneously.

Cavendish is a points/ madison guy, of course.

There is nothing fishy about Wiggins. He started concentrating on road cycling and dropped 20lbs. The guy is a huge talent.


Going from 73kg to 64 kg, would be worth something in the neighborhood of .5 watts per kg( assuming you didn't lose power) Or the difference between "pro rider" and World Class on the Coggan and Allen chart.


So if Wiggins could have lost the weight, without losing threshold power, that would explain the difference.

He could be a great rival - he's better at TT than Schleck.

Saying the guy has finished the tour once and was 124th place...he didn't compete last year and his team was dropped for doping in 2007 and now he's a podium contender. Sounds fishy to me. The lost weight is probably a huge factor but I don't know if it turns him into a podium contender.

So you really have no clue what you are talking about.

Well Hayden Roulston is not doing too badly in his first tour. Maybe it's easier for pursuiters rather than sprinters to switch to road cycling.

If you've ever been to a velodrome or raced in either of these events, you'd know the answer.

Just seems too good to be true.



I know what you mean. Any change like that seems suspicious, but I think that's just the bitter experience of past tours. It's a bitter realism that robs us of our belief in true sporting champions. We're all a little jaded, I think, and weary. But in my heart I think Wiggins is clean. I know there's some talk of new EPOs, but I hope and pray we're in a different era now.
Call me naive, call me deluded, call me what you will, but I prefer to believe he's clean.

[QUOTE=chrisvu05;9309224]

"and his team was dropped for doping in 2007"

You mean, like Astana last year?

<snip>

If you call a rider a cheat by association, the sport is finished. Save this take until the test results are in, then you can apologise to Wiggins at your leisure......... or we'll all be shaking our heads, along with you.

The reference to "Astana last year" sounds a lot like "guilt by association", so what are you saying?

Unless I'mmitaken, the relationship between the Astana that got thrown out last year and the Astana this year is the sponsor.

Somehow I feel track cyclists are more clean, if only because their regimen is different...

Great article in one of the British cycling mags about Wiggins. How he was so into British track and his success in the worlds and olympics was the realization of all his dreams and how he went on a pretty healthy bender (man Brits can DRINK!!) and that afterwards he was shattered and low on life.

Pretty much realized - about the same time as Millar did - that the Tour and commitment to road biking and stage racing is a different beast. That is around the time that he supposedly went onto a weight/fitness program to shed track muscle and develop his endurance/power on the road.

To the people who say he "came out of no where" - you are right ... if you only wake up to watch the Tour and go back into cycling hibernation each August. Wiggins has been around a long time - he is one of the most successful British cycling talents of all time.

And - to the person who commented on his days with a prior team ... he was rip sh-t at the team, how they treated him and what they allowed to happen.

With all that, I've got to believe he is clean. I haven't checked his arms for needle marks but if anyone would know enough to ride clean it is Wiggins.

Great article in one of the British cycling mags about Wiggins. How he was so into British track and his success in the worlds and olympics was the realization of all his dreams and how he went on a pretty healthy bender (man Brits can DRINK!!) and that afterwards he was shattered and low on life.

Pretty much realized - about the same time as Millar did - that the Tour and commitment to road biking and stage racing is a different beast. That is around the time that he supposedly went onto a weight/fitness program to shed track muscle and develop his endurance/power on the road.

To the people who say he "came out of no where" - you are right ... if you only wake up to watch the Tour and go back into cycling hibernation each August. Wiggins has been around a long time - he is one of the most successful British cycling talents of all time.

And - to the person who commented on his days with a prior team ... he was rip sh-t at the team, how they treated him and what they allowed to happen.

With all that, I've got to believe he is clean. I haven't checked his arms for needle marks but if anyone would know enough to ride clean it is Wiggins.


Statistically speaking, that's 97.65347% of all the posters here.

Soon, they will be back on the road forum complaining about flats and such.

Believing he's on the juice would mean that all the testing and such that Slipstream does is BS. For now, I'll go with Slipstream's program.

I know what you mean. Any change like that seems suspicious, but I think that's just the bitter experience of past tours. It's a bitter realism that robs us of our belief in true sporting champions. We're all a little jaded, I think, and weary. But in my heart I think Wiggins is clean. I know there's some talk of new EPOs, but I hope and pray we're in a different era now.
Call me naive, call me deluded, call me what you will, but I prefer to believe he's clean.

i don't.


Somehow I feel track cyclists are more clean, if only because their regimen is different...

:lol:

http://www.isteroids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/court-rejected-cyclist-tammy-thomas-offer-of-new-trial.jpg

i don't.


Well, that's fair enough. There's really no truth in opinion, until facts come in to play. For myself, I think that the testers will be very aware of his performance and the questions it may or may not raise, and will pay special attention. That kind of swings it for me, but you may see it differently. That's cool. We all have our position, and there's nothing wrong with holding to it until facts prove otherwise.

Well, that's fair enough. There's really no truth in opinion, until facts come in to play. For myself, I think that the testers will be very aware of his performance and the questions it may or may not raise, and will pay special attention. That kind of swings it for me, but you may see it differently. That's cool. We all have our position, and there's nothing wrong with holding to it until facts prove otherwise.

he left cofidis after the 2007 TdF positive, to go to HighHorse.

he left HighHorse because he has his own ambitions, and chose another team that made a fuss about riding clean.

he's reportedly dropped 9 kg (that's just shy of 20 lbs for the luddites).

he also happens to be a 3 time world champ, and a 2 time olympic champ in the pursuit.

anyone who speculates that he's doping is clearly an uninformed idiot with an agenda.

just sayin'

Wiggins will probably fail in the Time Trial.

If you've ever been to a velodrome or raced in either of these events, you'd know the answer.

I been to a velodrome once or twice to watch the racing. They didn't have a pusuit. I haven't yet brought a track frame to get my butt handed to me on the track.

I'm aware that pusuiting is an evil endurance test and sprinting is about raw power and that is about it.

i have been burned soooo many times before but i know it's different this time and i believe!

yes I BELIEVE :roflmao2:!

http://www.fototime.com/F031E6F3B7024D0/standard.jpg

ed rader

i don't.



:lol:

http://www.isteroids.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2009/04/court-rejected-cyclist-tammy-thomas-offer-of-new-trial.jpg

christ on a bike!