With Team Sky potentially set to omit Bradley Wiggins from the Tour, where does the biggest star in British cycling go from here?
Many think Wiggins still has the ability to enjoy more days like this. But for whom will that be? Photo © Reuters
Bradley Wiggins dropped a bombshell last week during an interview with the BBC that he would be very unlikely to ride the Tour de France this year.
The response has been mixed. Most journalists and cycling insiders seem to believe that it is the right, or at least most logical thing, to do while Wiggins’ fanbase has condemned the ‘decision’.
As Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford has been moved to point out in response, the decision has yet to be finalised. Presumably, this leaves the door ajar for Wiggo to impress. A victory at the Tour of Switzerland certainly would do that – but would it be enough?
Given the ongoing media-fuelled saga between the pair, there is a certain logic to leaving Wiggins out of the team for the betterment of Froome’s chances – after all, the less distractions there are, the better. The rivalry between the two would inevitably be a sub-story throughout the Tour – so better just to nip it in the bud now.
Also, regardless of Brailsford’s assertion that the riders (read: Froome) do not pick the team, it would be counter-intuitive to not place Froome’s preferences as an important cornerstone in deciding who is picked and who isn’t. You’d want the team leader to be happy and content with the selection, therefore that rider’s opinion needs to be at least respected – and in this game, respect usually means concession.
With that in mind, it’s understandable that Wiggins felt it inevitable that he wouldn’t be picked for the Tour. He knows better than anyone what’s going on in the team and he also knows that Froome is now top dog for the grand tours. If it were the other way around, it’s likely he’d have something to say about Froome’s inclusion too, and he probably appreciates that through a combination of age, experience and circumstance.
Wiggins, though, is not done yet. Whether by accident or by design, his declaration that he wont be present for the Grand Dèpart in Yorkshire this summer has turned into something of a PR coup. His popularity, fundamentally, dwarfs all other British cyclists. A combination of his irreverent personality and ability to appeal to the British sense of… Britishness… and his huge success on the track and road has seen to that. Even Mark Cavendish and Chris Hoy have never had such a universal appeal as Wiggins. Therefore, removing himself from the biggest summer of cycling Britain has ever seen has been seen by most as, at best, undesirable.
To most, his absence will be seen as a travesty – and he probably knows this. So what has he to lose by, essentially, kicking up a fuss by displaying the aura of a beaten man when it comes to the selection for the biggest cycle race in the world? It’s an aura that British cycling is unaccustomed to from it’s most popular star.
Multiplying the issue is the sense that it’d be a PR disaster for Team Sky, the Tour and the Grand Dèpart to have one of world cycling’s biggest stars absent.
It would seem that Wiggins is exercising his great influence as a human being, setting himself against the autonomic machine and slightly dry nature of Team Sky and its leader Chris Froome. In doing so, he has cast Froome in the role of pantomime villain and has at least claimed a small victory in that regard should he not be selected.
With his contract running out at the end of the 2014 season, Wiggins also has options. Safe in the knowledge that he’s likely to be overlooked for the Tour for the forseeable future, and with Team Sky’s questionable success in the classics that he has stated are of interest to him, he may be best served by moving elsewhere after this season’s Commonwealths and Worlds.
So, where would he go? Orica Green-Edge seem an enticing option, proving this year their strength in the classics through Simon Gerrans. They’ve also never really figured in the grand tours, which having Wiggins on board would help address.
Other options? Italian outfit Lampre-Merida may look to replace veteran Chris Horner after his shaky year thus far, while Omega Pharma-Quick Step may also take a punt if Wiggins decides he wants to focus solely on the classics (the likelihood of him being considered ahead of Rigoberto Uran is at best 50-50). Perhaps even the new team mooted by Formula One star Fernando Alonso could see Wiggins installed as the experienced man needed to lead them through their early years.
Then it’d be off to the 2016 Olympics for Wiggins and potentially into retirement – or a tilt at the one-hour record.
What do you think could become of British cycling’s main man?
Rolling Resistance 