Professional Cycling For the Fans - Lame Victory Speech

1. Stupid joke about raffle tickets
2. "Don't get too drunk tonight"
3. All in English.

Yup.

The other thing I noticed was Wiggins' almost nonchalant, left hand on his waist attitudinal stance while his country's national anthem was being sung by that awful singer. In contrast, Froome and Nibali were standing in a dignified manner.

Did you guys noticed that? Almost like a contempt for the singer or the Queen.

The other thing I noticed was Wiggins' almost nonchalant, left hand on his waist attitudinal stance while his country's national anthem was being sung by that awful singer. In contrast, Froome and Nibali were standing in a dignified manner.

Did you guys noticed that? Almost like a contempt for the singer or the Queen.

Yup, the body language showed contempt and non-interest.

Eh... he's a bike rider not an orator. I do always appreciate a good "Get home safely".

You guys aren't his intended audience. We don't generally do the hands over our hearts, looking fervently patriotic stuff when the national anthem is sung, like you do. And that was a seriously awful, cheesy bit of nationalistic display. Wiggins was deliberately distancing himself from that, much as to say "I'm still a working class lad who knows where he comes from, I'm not going to buy in to all this self-important BS".

Some of the watching Brits will disapprove of that, as you do. Others will relish it - there's a strong streak of cynicism in British society, especially about the motives of those who constantly appeal to patriotism. But whether they liked it or not, most of them will have got what he was doing.

And given that's what he was doing, there wouldn't have been much point in doing it in French.

You guys aren't his intended audience. We don't generally do the hands over our hearts, looking fervently patriotic stuff when the national anthem is sung, like you do. And that was a seriously awful, cheesy bit of nationalistic display. Wiggins was deliberately distancing himself from that, much as to say "I'm still a working class lad who knows where he comes from, I'm not going to buy in to all this self-important BS".

Some of the watching Brits will disapprove of that, as you do. Others will relish it - there's a strong streak of cynicism in British society, especially about the motives of those who constantly appeal to patriotism. But whether they liked it or not, most of them will have got what he was doing.

And given that's what he was doing, there wouldn't have been much point in doing it in French.

Okay. All I would have love to see is Wiggins just standing still (as Froome and Nibali did), and it would have been okay with me. Like tagaproject6 said, his body language just oozed contempt. Whether for the singer or the Queen, I don't know.

You guys aren't his intended audience. We don't generally do the hands over our hearts, looking fervently patriotic stuff when the national anthem is sung, like you do.

I don't care if he's patriotic. Let me propose an appropriate victory speech:

(in French) -

Thank you FRANCE, for creating and hosting the most beautiful bike race in the world.
Thank you my fellow competitors, for making this race what it is - I salute you as adversaries and brothers.
Thank you FANS for making it all worth while and exciting.
Thank you Team SKY for all your sacrifices, this victory belongs to you as much as me.
Thank you to my family; I love you and I'll be coming home soon.


Wow, I teared up a little bit reading that just now...:)

What a lame reason to dislike a rider.

What a lame reason to dislike a rider.

When there are so many available.

What a lame reason to dislike a rider.

He's been in yellow - what - 2/3 of the Tour? Plenty of time to rehearse. Somehow Sally Field's infamous "You like me! You really like me!" at Oscar's does not sound all that atrocious any more. At least she enunciated.....

You guys aren't his intended audience. We don't generally do the hands over our hearts, looking fervently patriotic stuff when the national anthem is sung, like you do. And that was a seriously awful, cheesy bit of nationalistic display. Wiggins was deliberately distancing himself from that, much as to say "I'm still a working class lad who knows where he comes from, I'm not going to buy in to all this self-important BS".

Some of the watching Brits will disapprove of that, as you do. Others will relish it - there's a strong streak of cynicism in British society, especially about the motives of those who constantly appeal to patriotism. But whether they liked it or not, most of them will have got what he was doing.

And given that's what he was doing, there wouldn't have been much point in doing it in French.


You gleaned all that, how?

I thought that he was experiencing physical pain listening to Lesley Garrett's rendition.

He's been in yellow - what - 2/3 of the Tour? Plenty of time to rehearse. Somehow Sally Field's infamous "You like me! You really like me!" at Oscar's does not sound all that atrocious any more. At least she enunciated.....

A pet peeve of mine forever is people who are not prepared for possibilities when the probability is there. Like, you are nominated for an Oscar or whatever with other people, and you did not take time (like two minutes) to prepare beforehand, write a little note/speech, and then when your name is called as the winner, you get up on there and make an a$$ of yourself.

I don't even care if you have to read the darn speech from a piece of paper, just have something thoughtful and meaningful to say!

I don't care if he's patriotic. Let me propose an appropriate victory speech:

(in French) -

Thank you FRANCE, for creating and hosting the most beautiful bike race in the world.
Thank you my fellow competitors, for making this race what it is - I salute you as adversaries and brothers.
Thank you FANS for making it all worth while and exciting.
Thank you Team SKY for all your sacrifices, this victory belongs to you as much as me.
Thank you to my family; I love you and I'll be coming home soon.


Yes!

My non-cycling friends commented today that the winner didn't have much to say on the podium.

But it was a thorough win.

Why does it even matter? He won a BICYCLE RACE, not a speech writing contest. Who cares.
This is such a spectator thing to do. Nit pick stupid crap.
If you don't like Wiggins, no matter what he does, people are going to talk ****.

Compare Wiggo's lame speech and less that sterling attitude on the podium to Cadel's own acceptance speech.

Cadel is clearly a man who respects his country as well as the host country. The first words out of his mouth were in French. Perhaps Cadel, not having being annointed as the "winner" at the start of the Tour as Wiggo was, was a tad more appreciative of his victory.

The funny thing is how Liggett and Sherwin kept commenting on how Wiggo is fully fluent in French. Hell, the man is barely fluent in the mother tongue! Maybe it is an "English thing" as some have mentioned here but I still think that it was a very poor showing.


http://youtu.be/cccCaKqwWqE

when there are so many available.

lol!!!

Did you guys noticed that? Almost like a contempt for the singer or the Queen.
As a brit, I feel the queen to be a waste of space.
As someone with ears, I know the singer was a waste of space.

As a brit, I feel the queen to be a waste of space.
As someone with ears, I know the singer was a waste of space.

Correct on both counts...and I am not even British!

You gleaned all that, how?

I thought that he was experiencing physical pain listening to Lesley Garrett's rendition.

I gleaned all that because I've seen, heard, and done it (not after winning the Tour, obviously) before. You have to understand how very different British culture, especially British working-class culture, is from yours.

He clearly was in pain at Lesley Garrett, too. Who wouldn't have been?

What a lame reason to dislike a rider.
Yea.. Ever hear a Mike Tyson victory speech?

So he didn't make any of his speech in French - so what? I've had the envy-riddled, monoglot, pleasure of seeing him answer questions in fluent French, with grace and humour - along with the occasional fairly brutal putdown (so I'm told). So like the home life of your own, dearly loved, Lance Armstrong ;) If you've already answered the French media in their own language, I'd say it's pretty unlikely that they'll take offence at the man L'Equipe called, affectionately, "Wiggo le Froggy" - which might, conceivably, be a French culturally referenced joke about tradional British, esp. English, headline writers attitudes to the French, aka known, in some circles, by the respectful cognomen of "cheese eating surrender monkeys", tho' I can't source that. Perhaps some of you might be able to help me out there.

And as for criticisms of how he stood! How we, as Brits, deal with our national anthem, is our business. If Americans want to stand there, checking that the guvmint hasn't put its hands their wallets, that's your business. Wiggins knows, and understands more about the history, culture and traditions of bike racing than the majority (very large) of the forumers on this site, including me.

The raffle joke? Simply a British cultural reference, familiar to everyone who's attended a British cycling club dinner and which raised, I suspect, a wry smile in those of us who aren't Yanks with the hairs of their arse tied together.

I gleaned all that because I've seen, heard, and done it (not after winning the Tour, obviously) before. You have to understand how very different British culture, especially British working-class culture, is from yours.

He clearly was in pain at Lesley Garrett, too. Who wouldn't have been?

I thought Wiggins was remarkably restrained during the anthem. I would have got off the podium and strangled Lesley Garrett to stop that noise coming out of her. I would have liked Wiggins to say a bit in French, something like "Merci tout le monde, allez les Rodbifs" and for him to shake hands with Froome and Nibali. But Wiggins is a very anti-establishment sort of guy and he'd probably just tell all us "w*nkers" to "b*gger off".

I thought Wiggins was remarkably restrained during the anthem. I would have got off the podium and strangled Lesley Garrett to stop that noise coming out of her. I would have liked Wiggins to say a bit in French, something like "Merci tout le monde, allez les Rodbifs" and for him to shake hands with Froome and Nibali. But Wiggins is a very anti-establishment sort of guy and he'd probably just tell all us "w*nkers" to "b*gger off".

Indeed. Actually it's an interesting business, trying to explain Brit manners to Americans. They assume, because of the hierarchical, class-ridden element, and the way the media play up to all the traditionalist imagery, that we are polite. Actually, routine discourse in the UK is so "disrespectful" - to choose an American word - that it would get one shot in the US. As a frequent visitor to the States I am always struck by how conformist it seems, and how much more foreign I feel there - despite a common language, and our constant saturation with American popular culture - than I do in countries like France, Spain, Italy, despite the language barrier.

It doesn't have to be this hard. A simple "thank you to those that made this possible" in ANY language would have made him look like less of an arrogant jackass in my book.

So I guess all the critics on this forum are perfect and have done and said the right things at every occasion, never having embarrassed yourselves stumbling over words or omitting someone in a thank you.

When I win the TdF, I think I get to do whatever I want.

I don't think he's an arrogant jackass - I just think he's a Goober.

And Americans invented Goober.

Take away the mic. It's a stupid new "tradition" anyways.

It was the drugs, don't y'know

So he didn't make any of his speech in French - so what? I've had the envy-riddled, monoglot, pleasure of seeing him answer questions in fluent French, with grace and humour - along with the occasional fairly brutal putdown (so I'm told). So like the home life of your own, dearly loved, Lance Armstrong ;) If you've already answered the French media in their own language, I'd say it's pretty unlikely that they'll take offence at the man L'Equipe called, affectionately, "Wiggo le Froggy" - which might, conceivably, be a French culturally referenced joke about tradional British, esp. English, headline writers attitudes to the French, aka known, in some circles, by the respectful cognomen of "cheese eating surrender monkeys", tho' I can't source that. Perhaps some of you might be able to help me out there.

And as for criticisms of how he stood! How we, as Brits, deal with our national anthem, is our business. If Americans want to stand there, checking that the guvmint hasn't put its hands their wallets, that's your business. Wiggins knows, and understands more about the history, culture and traditions of bike racing than the majority (very large) of the forumers on this site, including me.

The raffle joke? Simply a British cultural reference, familiar to everyone who's attended a British cycling club dinner and which raised, I suspect, a wry smile in those of us who aren't Yanks with the hairs of their arse tied together.

A touchy limey, ain't 'ya?

It doesn't have to be this hard. A simple "thank you to those that made this possible" in ANY language would have made him look like less of an arrogant jackass in my book.

Yup. And I don't care if he's anti-establishment or not, just being civil is good enough. Especially when the whole world is watching.

I don't dislike Wiggo, but I do think less of him b/cos of that classless display of attitude.

EDIT: I believe the attitude I was expecting from him is termed being GRACEFUL.

I was surprised he didn't say a word or two in French (although he did apologize at the outset for speaking English), but I sort of appreciated the nonchalance. Sure, he could have said the right things and thanked the right people, just like every other damn victory speech, but instead he was perfectly himself. I didn't fully get the raffle joke, but readily understood intent and found it rather endearing.

I was surprised he didn't say a word or two in French (although he did apologize at the outset for speaking English), but I sort of appreciated the nonchalance. Sure, he could have said the right things and thanked the right people, just like every other damn victory speech, but instead he was perfectly himself. I didn't fully get the raffle joke, but readily understood intent and found it rather endearing.

For me, it was just not his speech, it was his whole attitudinal stance. I believe he at one time had his left hand on his waist.

Take away the mic. It's a stupid new "tradition" anyways.

this. the guys let their legs do the talking for 3 weeks. how bout a podium girl extravaganza instead?

the thing is he mostly cares about cycling, The Who and mods, and his family.
He listens to the Jam while warming up!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSqpT6gfDU

Funny, here we had a Canuck win the Giro just a few months ago, and while I was happy and everything, I didn't feel any real sense of connection like I do with Wiggins because of all the mod stuff and the insouciant attitude. He's my kind of people.

I'm an American and I think Wiggo is a blast of fresh air. I like his work ethic and his "**** you wankers" attitude to all the pumped up pompous old world establisment in and out of bike racing. As for the British monarchy, why were'nt they all guillotined long ago? One of many thing the French got right long ago.

He listens to the Jam while warming up!


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fdSqpT6gfDU

Funny, here we had a Canuck win the Giro just a few months ago, and while I was happy and everything, I didn't feel any real sense of connection like I do with Wiggins because of all the mod stuff and the insouciant attitude. He's my kind of people.

A Jam fuelled victory........I love it!

Ok, who was the guy in the sunglasses who bumped into people and shook Wiggo's hand? He even waved his buddies up to the podium. The camera then crept up tight but you could see Wiggo staring at something going on and the top of a head going back and forth.

Next thing you know, the guy is gone. I think Hinault took him out.

Deleted a batch of posts in here.
please take any further discussion of politics to the P&R forum. Thanks

Ok, who was the guy in the sunglasses who bumped into people and shook Wiggo's hand? He even waved his buddies up to the podium. The camera then crept up tight but you could see Wiggo staring at something going on and the top of a head going back and forth.

Next thing you know, the guy is gone. I think Hinault took him out.

Podium crasher. The Badger does not abide...

http://velonews.competitor.com/2012/07/news/video-bernard-hinault-likes-an-orderly-podium_231366

Very cool. Thanks for that.

As someone who is terrible at public speaking and detests giving any sort of speech I was fine with it. Probably more than I would have said. They even pointed out that until Lance Armstrong came along it wasn't something that was ever done. So it's not like there's any sort of tradition in doing it.

A touchy limey, ain't 'ya?

Wot, me? As for criticism of his stance and where he put his left hand, really - how would you have reacted to the sight and sound of Lesley Garrett doing the national anthem - it's a turgid enough piece, without an opera singer giving it full belt (and unaccompanied) in a pretty hideous outfit. Of course, I forgot, he should have stood there with a look of heartfelt sincerity on his face.

So unlike some of the performances of the US national anthem at the Super Bowl, eh?

For years it's all been about cycling, and then at possibly the pinnacle of his career some hideous singing in a rediculous dress made it all about being British and tacky. I can appreciate he'd be embarressed to be associated with that, especially when you hear his views about being famous for his talent rather than being famous for being a celebrity.

I liked that his comment about the raffle would be appreciated by the people in cycling clubs around Britain.

The very idea of this thread is pure comedy.

The sheer range of criticisms levelled at Wiggins on the forum has been more revealing about posters than it ever has about the rider.

Wiggins is more of a Francophile than almost any of the winners since the 80s, which the French public seems to grasp quite easily. His lack of phoney cartoon nationalism will go down well within the French sporting public, which embraces non-conformity. If his achievement doesn't make Wiggins fill up with patriotic pride, why should he have to pretend?

Levels of animosity towards this year's Maillot Jaune seem out of proportion with his alleged crimes- but there is relief on the horizon, for the disappointed multitude. This is a transitional Tour: Wiggins' age alone suggests that. Soon the armchair critics can turn their attention to a young hopeful (and there are plenty of them) some backup quarterback, like one of the Schlecks- or another reformed bad boy, on the comeback trail, like Contador.

Froome against Van Garderen and Hesjedal- perhaps Pinot, or Sagan? Sure, why not? But levels of distaste for Wiggins- right from day one- have been unwarranted.

The very idea of this thread is pure comedy.

The very idea of this thread was to criticize his speech, not him. MMMDonuts was right though - I haven't heard anyone give a really good speech, maybe it's time to trash the whole idea.





The sheer range of criticisms levelled at Wiggins on the forum has been more revealing about posters than it ever has about the rider.

I think you're really over-stating the criticism of him as a person... other than a couple posters here I haven't heard any bad things about him at all. My take is he's a fine guy, a little goofy, and he should've taken his victory speech more seriously. I enjoyed watching him win, he was confident yet he had some vulnerabilities that he covered, and he earned his trophy. Most everyone I talk to in real life agrees.

For me, it was just not his speech, it was his whole attitudinal stance. I believe he at one time had his left hand on his waist.
You've apparently not watched any American sports events.

You've apparently not watched any American sports events.

So true!

I liked the raffle joke.