Bradley Wiggins Retirement

Daroxtar

From his Instagram page

I have been lucky enough to live a dream and fulfil my childhood aspiration of making a living and a career out of the sport I fell in love with at the age of 12. I've met my idols and ridden with and alongside the best for 20 years. I have worked with the world’s best coaches and managers who I will always be grateful to for their support.

What will stick with me forever is the support and love from the public though thick and thin, all as a result of riding a pushbike for a living. 2012 blew my mind and was a gas. Cycling has given me everything and I couldn't have done it without the support of my wonderful wife Cath and our amazing kids.

2016 is the end of the road for this chapter, onwards and upwards, "feet on the ground, head in the clouds" kids from Kilburn don't win Olympic Golds and Tour de Frances'! They do now.

https://twitter.com/Karl_PT/status/814122826064138240

ednwireland

yawn -much as i loved the guy as a cyclist i'm bored of his 'retirement' now.

Bristolscale7

I hear he's moving to a dry climate for his various allergies and such.

godtabh

i've seen a photo like that before. I wonder will time be good on Brad?

velo.2010

Maybe if he gave up the fags he wouldn't have needed the cough bottle?

irishrover99

godtabh wrote: »

i've seen a photo like that before. I wonder will time be good on Brad?

Brad seems more teflon than lance. His team sky boss has already been in front of of a parliamentary committee while brad is still been lauded.

Mr.Crinklewood

"The Verve " should re-release one of their songs in his honour.

JK.BMC

Mr.Crinklewood wrote: »

"The Verve " should re-release one of their songs in his honour.

Lucky Man? I agree with that. He has had a fair slice of luck in life.

Or is it Bittersweet Symphony????

Am I missing something here??????

judeboy101

Shares in asthma medicine companies have nosedived

Spanish Eyes

Went before he was pushed.

Allergies indeed. WTAF.

They must really think we are all stooopid.

Still, he will not see a poor day again.

ninoon

He helped to bring British Cycling forward in my opinion and he has not been charged or convicted of any offence that I know of, so innocent until proved guilty of wrongdoing , I say.

judeboy101

ninoon wrote: »

He helped to bring British Cycling forward in my opinion and he has not been charged or convicted of any offence that I know of, so innocent until proved guilty of wrongdoing , I say.

Lance retired without being charged or convicted.

NIMAN

I have my own thoughts on this guy, and would be delighted if he comes a cropper a la Lance.

RobFowl

Some very negative vibes here !

Personally wish the guy well, possibly the best every track cyclist and won his tour well beating everyone else and taking nothing his team mate wasn't any-ways ...

NIMAN

Win his tour well?

But did he win any of his top competitions fairly?

RobFowl

NIMAN wrote: »

Win his tour well?

But did he win any of his top competitions fairly?

As it stands he won them all with in the rules so, yes fairly

flutered

funny that when the questions begin to mount up and become very pointed he retired, wishing him well in the future, is the old there is no smoke without a fire raises questions in my cynical head

Brian?

RobFowl wrote: »

Some very negative vibes here !

Personally wish the guy well, possibly the best every track cyclist and won his tour well beating everyone else and taking nothing his team mate wasn't any-ways ...

He won the most boring Tour ever.

He was a seriously boring rider and I certainly won't miss him. He maximised his talent and is not guilty of any rule breach.

Don't Chute!

flutered wrote: »

funny that when the questions begin to mount up and become very pointed he retired, wishing him well in the future, is the old there is no smoke without a fire raises questions in my cynical head

He's 36 years old. How long do you expect him to go on for?

Bristolscale7

ninoon wrote: »

He helped to bring British Cycling forward in my opinion and he has not been charged or convicted of any offence that I know of, so innocent until proved guilty of wrongdoing , I say.

He's not guilty of anything other than having a weak constitution that requires sustained use of asthma medicine and other remedies. I think we all accept that the drug use he did was 'legal.' He didn't break the law. He's just an asshole.

76544567

Cycling. Where the rule is Guilty until proven innocent - and with good reason.

i dont watch it anymore. Cycling should just be banned as a sport at this stage.

Weepsie

I'd be thinking along the same lines as RobFowl.

He was a brilliant track cyclist before any of the team sky nonsense.

And as has been said, he didn't seemingly break any rules. Unethical maybe, but illegal no. I expect there's a hell of a lot more at it too

Its the system that's broken.

He's a long way from Lance Armstrong who created an entirely new systematic way of breaking the rules.

There's also been plenty of dull grand tours before 2012, and there'll be plenty more after. Its as if the people most vocal in their complaints tune in only those few weeks a year

Doc07

RobFowl wrote: »

Some very negative vibes here !

Personally wish the guy well, possibly the best every track cyclist and won his tour well beating everyone else and taking nothing his team mate wasn't any-ways ...

I always liked Wiggins. I got interested in cycling for first time in years after 2012 tour and watching his final time trial and then the Olympic TT.

However he deserves all the negative vibes and more. He and his team consciously , deliberately, in a very calculated fashion, chose to treat his aliments or potential ailments/allergies with the most famous performance enhancing drug (kenacort) in cycling outside of EPO/blood transfusions.

Yes the system 'allowed' it but he still made the ultimate decision to take it.

Lumen

I like Wiggo. He's an interesting personality, has an amazing position on the bike, and rode a smart TdF to win. It's not his fault he was born with a very flat power profile and can't hack steep climbs.

He was very thin for that race in 2012. Doesn't cortisone cause fluid retention?

I don't doubt the asthma was real, and I can see how a "captured" doctor could view the cortisone injections as a win-win. Pro cycling isn't healthy even without injections. In some ways the tramadol abuse is worse, riders flying along at 50kph half asleep gets people killed.

Lying about the no needles was totally wrong.

Can't help thinking we haven't reached the end of revelations about drug abuse in the current peloton, but it does feel quantitatively different to the EPO era. It's tricky with Sky to separate the effects of money from the possible effects of cheating (I'm not speculating).

Brian?

Weepsie wrote: »

I'd be thinking along the same lines as RobFowl.

He was a brilliant track cyclist before any of the team sky nonsense.

And as has been said, he didn't seemingly break any rules. Unethical maybe, but illegal no. I expect there's a hell of a lot more at it too

Its the system that's broken.

He's a long way from Lance Armstrong who created an entirely new systematic way of breaking the rules.

There's also been plenty of dull grand tours before 2012, and there'll be plenty more after. Its as if the people most vocal in their complaints tune in only those few weeks a year

I agree with the majority of this post. However the 2012 Tour took the biscuit when it came to boredom. I didn't even watch the last 2 mountain stages it was so predictable. This isn't Wiggins fault, it was the only way he could win. I just don't like him.

JK.BMC

76544567 wrote: »

Cycling. Where the rule is Guilty until proven innocent - and with good reason.

i dont watch it anymore. Cycling should just be banned as a sport at this stage.

So you just comment on cycling forums instead?

For me, Wiggins always was an incredibly stylish and tactical rider- bucket loads of class on the bike and he deserves every plaudit he gets.
Trouble is, the whole Sky thing is imploding, notwithstanding the fact that they have had their detractors since day 1. Plus Wiggins is not necessarily the best guy from a media point of view- perhaps he is an a..hole in real life but since I don't have to live with him I can overlook that.

Comparisons with LA are out of place if you ask me. That narrative just suits people with an agenda, a desire to see Sky fail, or just plain old irish begrudgery. Even if the asthma thing is a bit ridiculous

Brian?

JK.BMC wrote: »

So you just comment on cycling forums instead?

For me, Wiggins always was an incredibly stylish and tactical rider- bucket loads of class on the bike and he deserves every plaudit he gets.
Trouble is, the whole Sky thing is imploding, notwithstanding the fact that they have had their detractors since day 1. Plus Wiggins is not necessarily the best guy from a media point of view- perhaps he is an a..hole in real life but since I don't have to live with him I can overlook that.

Comparisons with LA are out of place if you ask me. That narrative just suits people with an agenda, a desire to see Sky fail, or just plain old irish begrudgery. Even if the asthma thing is a bit ridiculous

Wiggins was a stylish rider? I found him to be very mechanical.

JK.BMC

Brian? wrote: »

Wiggins was a stylish rider? I found him to be very mechanical.

I mean his technique, his cadence, his TT prowess, his tactical awareness and general bad ass coolness on the bike.
Ok, he ain't a Nibali or a Sagan or a Boonen but you can't take that from him

Harrybelafonte

RobFowl wrote: »

Some very negative vibes here !

Personally wish the guy well, possibly the best every track cyclist and won his tour well beating everyone else and taking nothing his team mate wasn't any-ways ...

Best ever track cyclist? Not a chance. Rest I'd be on side with.

pelevin

I'd certainly not be describing winning with the use of substances with big known history as ped's like corticosteroids as winning "fairly." Getting away with doping would be more how I'd see it, and would be more in tune with Tom Dumoulin's decription of seeing his fellow competitors behave in this manner as "It stinks." Someone could be swindled out of their savings but within the law. It doesn't mean it was fair.

And to add, that Wiggins was blatantly lying in his book about he & Sky being vehemently anti-needles in the midst of actively getting behind-the-scenes corticosteroid injections suggests he had a pretty good idea of how fairly these actions would be viewed by others.

RobFowl

Pretty much all the Indurain tours were as dull as ditchwater
Would say they were all substantially worse than 2012