Exhausted Bradley Wiggins now knows he can win the Tour

Interesting interview of Bradly Wiggins in Tuesdays UK Guardian newspaper...amongst other things he says Contador and Armstrong were almost ready to fight each other....

Exhausted Bradley Wiggins now knows he can win the Tour de France | Sport | The Guardian

My money is on LA in a first round knockout. AC just seems like to much of a wuss.

Good read, thanks for the link.

I got Contador, did you see those haymakers he was throwing at the fans up Arcalis? Lethal!

Tbh I disagree with Wiggins. I don't think he can win the T de F if Contador is on the road. He's just too good. That being said I would have thought he could win the KOM jersey & stands a reasonable chance of winning Grand Tours that Contador won't enter.

My vote is contador. Armstrong is so self centred he wouldn't notice that anyone else was there.

Thanks for the link!

Somthing that got me by surprise was this comment by BW:

"Armstrong is likely to be interested in Cavendish and Wiggins when he finally retires and concentrates on building his own team. If Cavendish speaks of his awe for Armstrong, Wiggins is more measured. "It would be interesting to ride for someone like Lance but Andy Schleck is going there." - BW

Andy Schleck going to Radio Shack team?!?!?

I buy the Guardian newspaper most days.

It is an interesting article/interview.
On the printed copy of the interview, BW's photograph is very interesting.
The man look skeletal.

According to the article he lost 20lbs in weight before the Tour de France.
I wouldn't have thought that Wiggins would have had 20lbs to spare, to lose.
Huge weight loss.
Throw in the fact that riders lose weight during along stage race and I think that BW must be emaciated now.

The article also suggests that he's at 4% body fat.
That is dangerously low, imo.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

Armstrong too made claims of weight loss to justify his performance uptick after winning in 1999. I don't think neither he nor Wiggins has lost enough weight to justify their performances. What was Wiggins' previous highest placing in the Tour? I could be wrong but I think it was a DNF.

Now, I don't believe Contador, the Schlecks or Armstrong were clean this year and I don't think the one clean rider finished fourth.

Beware Brits: your country had a great 2009 Tour, but Wiggins is just as dirty as Armstrong is just as dirty as Cavendish is just as dirty as Yauheni Hutarovich, and as the days, weeks, months and years roll by the evidence will mount.

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"Bait in 08" --nns1400

BW looks skeletal compared to his build recently.

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.."But finally the last thing I’ll say to the people who don’t believe in cycling, the cynics and the sceptics. I'm sorry for you. I’m sorry that you can’t dream big. [I]I'm sorry you don't believe in miracles. You should believe in these athletes, and you should believe in these people. I'll be a fan of the Tour de France for as long as I live. And there are no secrets - this is a hard sporting event and hard work wins it" - Armstrong 2005 TDF
morelike hypocrisy.

good to see you're back.

armstrong has recently engaged in a bit of personal revisionist history. a few months back, in an "outside" magazine interview to pump his return to cycling, armstrong tailored his myth to rebut the questions about just how much weight he'd have to lose to generate the wattages necessary to perform as he did (i think it was ashenden's critique, but don't hold me to that.). there he's now on record stating that (and i paraphrase) it was his bike getting lighter. left to stand alone, fair enough for argument's sake. like most of his public positioning, he hopes the readers don't do the homework and realise that just about everybody's bikes got lighter. for all his faults, armstrong does entertain.

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"Kick over the statues and the tyrants die. Wave bye bye to their heroes with a hammer."
--The Redskins, Kick Over the Statues

Lim, it's time for some tough love: Did your commitment to Ullrich teach you nothing? Bradley Wiggins is not going to get that close to the podium clean.

Certainly you don't think Contador entered a 12-step program before the 2009 Tour and got clean? And Armstrong... clean? Do you think they sat down with Bruyneel and said, "You know what? I've got this crazy idea. Let's try to win this year's Tour without doping."

Of course they didn't say that. They doped. They all did.

Look, Wiggins is talented -- pound-four-pound one of the most talented to come down the pipe in a long time. But so is Contador. And Armstrong. They're all talented. And they all dope.

It's just the way it is.

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"Bait in 08" --nns1400

Wiggins placing seems shady to me. At P-N he was completely dejected when he was beaten by Contador on an course that should have been perfect for Wiggins. I have this sneaking suspicion that Wiggins may have had his eyes opened at that point and decided to do what he had to do to be competitive.

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"You are like the wind and I like the lion. You form the tempest. The sand stings my eyes and the ground is parched. I roar in defiance but you do not hear. But between us there is a difference. I, like the lion, must remain in my place. While you like the wind will never know yours." -- Mulay Hamid El Raisuli, Lord of the Riff, Sultan to the Berbers, Last of the Barbary Pirates

Yeah I am not too excited about Wiggins. Makes me revisit the British track squad performance also. I am probably out of line but at the time it didnt feel right to me - particularly the chicks.

I also think Vaughters is bad news. The way he plays the clean card is almost up there with the way Armstrong plays the 'cant touch me cos im all for charity' card. Millar is bad news. I dont like young aussie talent going to garmin.

Clusterfcuks happening in the sport left right and centre now. Which was on the cards as soon as the UCI and ASO mysteriously 'kissed and made up' virtually on the spot in 2008. That was weird.

The whole pro tour licensing needs complete overhaul. Its a politicised kickback mess. (I completely made up the last sentence with no idea what it means or if it makes any sense and certainly without any evidence whatsoever. But it sounds good. Good it sounds good. Actually the whole post is made up from inside my head.)

I thought the exact same thing. Had the potential to be a turning point emotionally.