The biggest names in the Dolphin

With respect to the bairns of this year’s Giro, it wasn’t the most stellar field. Nairo Quintana is a big name, but once Joaquim Rodriguez had pulled out, he was racing against riders we were all fairly certain were inferior. You can quibble with that and point to Rigoberto Uran, but I’d say he merely confirmed his status as being a worthy rider who’s always ever-so-slightly off the pace.

The Tour, however? There’s a reason why it’s the biggest race of the year. This chapter of the year is set in France and features very familiar characters.

Froome, Contador and Nibali

These three are all riding the Dauphiné (literally, ‘the dolphin‘) which starts tomorrow. It’s a mountainous stage race, they’re Tour contenders and the race is in France a month before the big ‘un. It’s easy to see why this race is of interest.

It’s even more interesting to me this year, because I’ve just finished cycling the length of France with my dad (who’s 70). Now I too know what it’s like to travel great distances along French roads by bike. In summary: hills go on, roundabouts are admirably well-decorated and it’s surprisingly hard to get a morning coffee north of Provence.

Neither of us will be racing this year, however. And nor will…

Bradley Wiggins

There’s an outside chance that Sky are playing some elaborate game by pretending that Bradley Wiggins isn’t going to ride the Tour. I doubt it though. I can’t see why they’d do that. They like things to be nice and predictable and his late inclusion would instigate kerfuffle. Sky hate all forms of rumples, irregularities and imperfections. They even wear black so that you can’t see the creases.

No, it seems like Sir Wiggo may be suffering from having been a bit of a diva in years gone by. When you’re winning the Tour, you can be indulged. When you’re looking to take on the ‘third-to-last to peel off on a mountain stage’ role, your unpredictable moods and tense relationship with Chris Froome suddenly seem more trouble than they’re worth. Why not instead opt for the blank, stainless steel metronomy of Vasil Kiryienka, a man who has heard of emotions, but long ago thought to himself: ‘Why risk it?’

I guess the new plan is for Wiggins to ride the Vuelta and then he may well be off to Orica GreenEDGE. He’ll also be riding the Tour de Suisse from next Saturday. He might be out to make a point, or he might just have a megasulk.


Comments

9 responses to “The biggest names in the Dolphin”

  1. daneel avatar

    I know it’s not nice to wish ill of someone, but if Froome were to fall off and break something during the TdF (preferably during one of the Yorkshire stages), I for one, will find it extremely funny.

    I’d even prefer a Contador win this year.

    1. I dunno. I don’t think he’s a bad guy. It cuts both ways and Wiggins was needling Froome last year by talking about maybe being Tour leader when Froome had already been earmarked to lead at the race. It might also be that it’s David Brailsford who simply doesn’t want the drama of Wiggins’ presence and all the soap opera that would come with it.

      It’s a shame though. It would have been really good to see the two of them racing alongside each other like grown-ups.

      1. daneel avatar

        But this is good. It allows me to return to my default position of loathing everything tainted by Sky and Murdoch, and I can concentrate on Cavendish without being distracted by the yellow jersey.

        I’m sure that Froome isn’t a bad guy and Wiggins is no angel, but all the penis waving fighting between teammates really gets me down, just like it does when it happens in Formula One. They should all grow the hell up. Egomaniac children.

        I believe that Wiggins would have been an asset for a Sky/Froome and I think they’ve treated him shoddily. Their prerogative, of course, but I won’t support them any more.

      2. I’m getting really frustrated by all the tribal “I won’t support Sky anymore for the way they have treated Wiggins” cries all over the internet. I’m no Team Sky fan but this is bike racing and it’s a Team Sport; if Brailsford (or any other DS for that matter) is doing his job properly he won’t care whether it’s Wiggins or Froome in yellow, as long as it’s one of them.

        Forget the British obsession with Bradley Wiggins and imagine you have to choose between two riders for the Tour (and you do have to choose, because the alternative is Hinault/LeMond II). One is the defending champion, focussed on the Tour and in pretty good form all season. The other won two years ago, has no form until a month before the tour; and has spent the intervening two years swinging between wanting to ride the Tour and not wanting to; whilst announcing they are going to switch focus to the track and/or becoming a classics rider.

      3. …I know Hinault/LeMond is a tired reference for this, but useful.

  2. daneel avatar

    It sounds to me like 85 & 86 were excellent races, and how would you have expected Hinault fans to react if they were told that he wasn’t even going to be in the race for reasons of team unity?

    Not that I think Wiggins even wanted to go as anything other than a domestique.

    Like I said, it’s Sky’s prerogative. But I shall have a chuckle when Froome is isolated because Porte has been dropped and Geraint Thomas has fallen off somewhere.

    I’m not obliged to wish Sky well. If Froome (and Mrs Froome) came across as more likeable, perhaps I would.

    1. Absolutely they were, but if you were running Late Vie Claire it would have been a nightmare. My point was more that I think that its a bit disappointing that whatever Sky do will be wrong in the eyes of their fans.

      I wasn’t really aiming it at you either, of course you’re entitled to wish whoever you want whatever you want; and I should add that I am definitely not a Sky or Froome fan (though I do admire his terrible bike position, and don’t know anything about his wife).

  3. daneel avatar

    “whatever Sky do will be wrong in the eyes of their fans.”

    I don’t think Sky’s fans are really Sky fans; they’re British fans – mostly coming over from watching Olympic track racing. Sky has been happy to cultivate the idea that the British team and Sky are synonymous and benefit from that association, and now it’s biting them in the posterior.

    1. I think you’re right, they are definitely victims of their own PR, and trading on the idea of being a “British team” with six British licenses in a roster or 28 can only go on so long.

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