Tour de France on TV

Tag: Bradley Wiggins

  • Contenders for the time trial at the 2013 World Championships

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    Alex
    in

    It ain’t much of a spectator sport, but the world time trial promises great drama this year. This is because there are three major contenders, whereas time trials often seem to be more about whether Tony Martin will get a puncture or not. Bradley Wiggins Wiggins is known for winning stage races off the back…

  • How did Bradley Wiggins win the Tour of Britain?

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    Alex
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    The same way he always wins stage races. He rode steadily and conservatively on all the road stages and then smashed everyone to pieces in the time trial. Why break from a winning formula? And to complete a picture of British cycling in microcosm, Mark Cavendish won the final stage. Cav winning the sprints, Wiggins…

  • Bradley Wiggins makes nothing happen on Caerphilly Mountain

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    Alex
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    When you’re ahead in a stage race, you basically want nothing to happen. If nothing happens, you win. If something happens, you might not. Sometimes, it can take a hell of a lot of effort to make nothing happen. Caerphilly Mountain invited attacks. Attacks came. Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky chased them down. Everyone important…

  • Bradley Wiggins wins a 10-mile time trial

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    Alex
    in

    Because road racing used to be banned in Britain, time trialling became a big thing because it allowed covert competition. Even though road racing has been legal for many years now, modern culture still reflects this history. You can see it in the distances. Road races are measured in kilometres; time trials are measured in…

  • Zdenek Stybar keeps it clean at the Eneco Tour

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    Alex
    in

    If you don’t know the Eneco Tour, think of it as being the Tour de Benelux. It’s a spring classics style seven-stage race where the winner is invariably more humanoid looking than the Grand Tour skeletons. It’s all about sprint finishes and short, steep climbs rather than long, Alpine slogs. This year’s winner was Zdenek…

  • Bradley Wiggins’ knee problem

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    Alex
    in

    The somewhat tiresome media-fuelled battle for Sky team leadership at the Tour de France might have been resolved. Bradley Wiggins is apparently suffering from knee-knack and can’t train properly. You need knees as a cyclist. They move quite a bit when you’re on the bike. I haven’t done the exact maths, but I think you…

  • In defence of the Sky mountain train

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    Alex
    in

    It was a rest day yesterday, which presents an opportunity to reflect on the race as a whole. I’d therefore like to offer a counterpoint to the prevailing view that Sky’s mountain train tactics are duller than a conversation that flits from cars to mobile phones and then back again. What’s a mountain train? To…

  • Cavendish wins, Wiggins doesn’t

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    Alex
    in

    It was less than a week ago that I tried to get us all to appreciate the near-inevitability of a Mark Cavendish sprint win. I don’t think I managed it and perhaps the measure of the man is that I feel in no hurry to correct that – I’ve infinite chances to get it right,…

  • Uran Uran unleashed

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    Alex
    in

    It’s amazing the difference a double-D can make. I’m not being lecherous; I’m referring to woeful 80s posers Duran Duran. They were rubbish, but Team Sky’s Uran Uran is very good. He won stage 10 and leapt into third place in the general classification in the process after finishing 30 seconds ahead of the leaders…

  • Alex Dowsett wins Bradley Wiggins’ stage

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    Alex
    in

    This is the problem when you have your entire offensive centred on just one stage. If it doesn’t go enormously well, what do you do? Bradley Wiggins was expecting to at least go into the race lead after yesterday’s time trial and he was hoping to put significant time into his rivals. As it turns…