[Closed] Have we done Wiggo's answer to doping allegations at the press conference?

Procyclists who throw their toys out of the pram when drugs get mentioned need to have a wee word with themselves.

I'm sure Sky will have had a word with Bradley on behalf of his best interests.

They're only words, crikey, calm down.

swearing doesn't help.

Dave Brailsford's comments are bang on IMHO! The only people I can see having an issue with it really, are the competition (who've got their own agendas), trolls and a small minority of bed-wetters

I'm sorry crikey, but thats the most sanctimonious, self-righteous, faux indignant guff i've ever read.

[i]They're only words, crikey, calm down.[/i]

Calm as anything here, not swearing or owt 😉

I had a little chuckle at Millar's response on twitter:

"Wiggo's now better at me in everything to do with cycling, profanity-filled interviews were all I had left. Now he's taken that crown. Darn."

I don't see why he has to respond in a measured, robotic, nice way.
Footballers all do that, but look at the reputation they have for their behaviour on the pitch and in public.
As a role model? Maybe, but kids should be brought up to know what the press are like and that they are ****ers.
As a representative of their sponsors? Maybe, but being Sky, I expect their ethos is 'any exposure is good exposure'.

So who exactly does/ should this upset apart from the hand-wringing, apologist, self-proclaimed defenders of the weak and victimised?

[i]I'm sorry crikey, but thats the most sanctimonious, self-righteous, faux indignant guff i've ever read.[/i]

Yes, it is a bit OTT, but it does convey how people feel cheated, and emphasises the need for riders to engage their critics, not call them names.

An open letter to the peloton

If Brad was guilty of any of the accusations thrown about in that, then they might have a point, rather than being just as bad as those directly accusing him of doping. I don't see why he should have to answer for the silence of all those in the peleton who've watched their team-mates dope any more than he should meekly accept accusations that he's doping.

but it does convey how people feel cheated,

Who exactly has Bradley cheated? Nobody! [b]This [/b]is the whole point! Why on earth should he tolerate having his integrity questioned, by nameless people on the basis of no evidence, then apparently have to engage them with polite and non-offensive replies?

For my money, he'd have been quite justified in punching people! Or are you suggesting that we should all be tried, and found guilty, via Twitter and insinuation by tabloid hack? For something we may or may not have done? Don't worry -no actual evidence required? 🙄

Has anyone considered that the anger might be a side-effect of the 'juice' he's fueled up on?

I do feel like I'm repeating myself now, but I'll use a quote from someone who knows better than me;

[i]"No one's got any faith in who's in yellow now. The whole thing is null and void as far as I'm concerned this year. I don't blame people for doubting the credibility of the Tour de France for the next five, six, seven years.”

-Bradley Wiggins, July 27, 2007 [/i]

SUMMARY

Some of us think applaud Wiggins swearing, some of us thought it was a silly thing to do.

Next...

crikey - did you read what Brailsford said? Explain to me how he's wrong...

Sorry, off out.

It'll take a good few years before I believe anything procyclists or their managers say about doping, and as noted, I don't think swearing at people makes that any better.

Crikey - that's a quite from 5 years ago! Are you seriously suggesting that the situation now is the same with regard to doping? That the organisers have turned a blind eye, and not addressed the issue?

Things now are very very different! But don't let that get in the way of some completely depressing cynicism eh?

Has anyone considered that the anger might be a side-effect of the 'juice' he's fueled up on?

You do nothing to dispel doping suspicions, to out cheats, and to clean up the sport. You are the blight on the sport, not us.

Bertie was a big surprise tbh and I think he damaged the sport and all its recent good work to clean up

To ask wiggins if he was a cheat based on twitter trolls or even because of the past is still a rubbish question.
Do any of us expect Brad to be asked a question based on this threaD today?

If the person making the alegation was there the reaction may have been different. It was the nature of the allegation and thefact that it was second hand, unattributable, and that really looks to have got on his nerves. Imagine what your reaction would be if you were at work and your boss asked you if you were a waste of space who could not do their job without "help", but it was not your bosses fault that they were asking, just that "Nobody-26" on Twitter had said that you were. I don't imagine I would have bee too polite.

Personally I like the fact that he was just Brad and not a corporate clone. He is not asking you to like him, nor how he speaks. He is a grown up and probably aware of the perception of the language he is using. He may just think that is acceptable, which you may not, but that is what free speech is all about. He has just as much right to say what he did as the person making the allegations does. The difference is that he is happy with people knowing that he talks like that, unlike the people who hide behind a keyboard like most of us.

I still agree with crikey's first post - of course wiggo will be angry to be accused liked that, but it comes with the territory and shouldn't really wind him up so much and there are better ways to react. Thank god he was in a separate room to the media or else he might have gone all 'cuddles' on them..

wiggins has a long history of being a clean and transparent rider. he published his blood results back when he got a 'surprise' 4th at the Tour to rebuff the naysayers. he has come from a Lottery funded British Cycling programme, effectively using public money to support athletes. any hint of doping would cause a national scandal.

my take on it is that he is as demonstrably clean as he can be, as are most, if not all of Sky. therefore when he was asked about the twitterati spreading unsubstantiated rumour, gossip and hearsay, he said what he thought about them.

wiggins also has 'previous' on being a slightly awkward sod to interview. often complains at rubbish questions, did the turbo warm down thing with a towel over his head ignoring journos, and single word answers during the Tour intros this year. you could argue that he should be showing better PR for 2million euros a year, but if he delivers a TdF win I genuinely could not give a monkeys...

his reaction was in a completely different context to a professional footballer calling fans the same sort of thing.

suggestions of Cuddles getting an advantage out of this? laughable.

i mean, ignore what Sam said on page 2, he's awwwwstraaalian and simply milking this for an angle. i mean, dennis lilley had a scrap with javed miandad once... i was appalled :o)

Do any of us expect Brad to be asked a question based on this threaD today?

Somebody on here must know a journo to prime...

Love that clip above and loved it when it was shown on the news at the time with some line about him getting angry when someone tried to stroke his pet dog... 😀

Its amazing that any prof cyclist doesnt expect to be questioned about doping.

"suggestions of Cuddles getting an advantage out of this? laughable."

How so ?

Sky plan everything to the last degree to get minimum gains across the board for a maximim whole effect.

How does this outburst work into those very detailed plans?

My point is Wiggo's actions will not help his chances of winning the Tour. If it's not helping... it may well be hindering (Dave B is already wasting time fielding questions on it)and therefore it's playing into Cuddles hands.

Evans is the ONLY thing to be worried/concerned about... everything else is a distraction.... But lets hope not

And lets hope that in two weeks will be singing the praises of a worthy English Tour winner and this sorry episode is the smallest of footnotes.

That Cadel Evans video, thats roid rage that is 😀

PSA: ITV4 now

I think Pat McQuaid and Hein Verbruggen are still there no? I think cycling has a long, long, long tradition of substance abuse. I think the limited length of cycling careers and the subsequent employment of riders as DS's or commentators or publicity workers means that the historical attitudes do not disappear when people stop cycling.

I think that any pro rider should be able to answer questions about the sport and its doping problems without resorting to insults and abuse.

Wiggins missed the perfect opportunity to say
'Look, I know cycling has a dirty history, we are actively trying to show that you can be competitive and successful without doping, and I would like to be judged as a clean athlete.'

Instead, he called people c***s.

Naive, immature and a massive wasted opportunity.
If I was a journalist, I'd be asking Dave Brailsford about Brian Holm and Rolf Aldag, and be looking at Wiggins when he was at Cofidis...

CB approves of Wiggins reaction.

Let me see, who's opinion do I prefer on this, CB or crikey...

I think that any pro rider should be able to answer questions about the sport and its doping problems without resorting to insults and abuse.

Even those who have never been involved in the doping culture and are well known for being clean? Are they expected to do some research into the issue purely to answer questions from cowardly journos who don't even dare ask the question directly?

Wiggins missed the perfect opportunity to say
'Look, I know cycling has a dirty history, we are actively trying to show that you can be competitive and successful without doping, and I would like to be judged as a clean athlete.'

Instead, he called people c***s.

But he wasn't asked about doping in general. He was asked what he made about 3rd party accusations that he was doping from anonymous people.

Re: Cadel's "ne touche pas" vid - he had crashed the day before and at the time suspected a fracture in his shoulder - you can see it's all strapped up in the vid. I don't think I'd like anyone going near it either.
There was a huge amount of pressure on Evans in 2008 (as there is now with Wiggo). In the end Evans marked the Schlecks, while Sastre pulled a fast one.

If I was a journalist, I'd be asking Dave Brailsford about Brian Holm and Rolf Aldag, and be looking at Wiggins when he was at Cofidis...

No, if you were a journalist you'd be Melanie Phillips.

Fair play Wiggins.

As for the STW critics, F@%k off and get a life.

"suggestions of Cuddles getting an advantage out of this? laughable."

How so ?

well, because i don't see it as 'an outburst'.

it doesn't betray a weakness of Wiggins' character that could be exploited on a pyrenean pass.

cuddles has a history of histrionics, over-sensitivity, and moody press interactions himself (not to say Wiggo's comment demonstrates any of that btw).

having said that, maybe calling people 'c@nts' is actually a marginal gain 😀

aracer- correct, that is my understanding too... he has said enough anti-doping stuff in the past to make his stance pretty clear, particularly post 2009 Tour i seem to recall.

"Fair play Wiggins.

As for the STW critics, F@%k off and get a life. "

Bore Off.. you charmless whelk of a troll.

See that's how Wiggo should have responded.

"well, because i don't see it as 'an outburst'."

He walk off after and clearly had the needle therefore its emotional and an outburst of said emotion.

"cuddles has a history of histrionics, over-sensitivity, and moody press interactions himself (not to say Wiggo's comment demonstrates any of that btw)."

Yep and when he was did he win the Tour? Did Evan have an outburst last year? I can't remember one.

You're clutching at straws there Ro5ey. Such comments will make no difference to the result of the TdF either way.

Did Evan have an outburst last year? I can't remember one.

He didn't wear yellow until the very last day after the ITT, so he wasn't under such close scrutiny. He was also quite resistant to questioning, there was footage of him pretty much running away from journalists to avoid having to answer any questions.

Hope so ... I just don't see how it's the good thing.

I truly hope he/the press/everyone else can forget it and he enjoys wearing yellow to Paris.

I truly hope he/the press/everyone else can forget it and he enjoys wearing yellow to Paris.

Why forget it? Calling lying scumbag hacks, and cowardly faceless Twitter [s]critics[/s] morons *ing *ers and ****s sends Brad up in my estimation, as he's clearly stating the truth. Unlike them

I wouldn't worry too much about the fact that you dropped your knitting in horror at such frightful profanity. Given time, you'll get over it. I hope to god you never catch sight of Janet Jacksons 'wardrobe malfunction'. I doubt your heart would take it! 😉

cycling has no credibility as long as Pat McQuaid has anything to do with, that said Brad's clean and Froome won the Vuelta (Cobo's a doper) :p

Nop binners I will not bite like wiggo did.... Jog on.

Your restraint is admirable. There's a lesson there for all of us. Brad included

*runs off to start Twitter campaign against Ro5ey*

😀

I don't know if it's the nature of this year's TDF or its proximity to the Olympics but riders seem to have crammed more outbursts into the first week than I think I've seen in recent years. So far, we've had Wiggo's outburst on doping and punching of a cameraman, a rider (whose name I can't recall) clouting a spectator who was running alongside on a climb and Farrar's confrontation at the door of the team bus of the bloke who caused his crash.

Maybe the enjoyment to risk ratio is pretty low this year.

If I were Specialized's tyre man, I'd keep away from Tony Martin for a day or so.

Yep and when he was did he win the Tour? Did Evan have an outburst last year? I can't remember one.

PS If I were to calm down on here would I also would become faster at pedalling

maybe in years past the dope they were on turned them into pedalling automatons with zero emotion... now it's all handbags and flouncing out of interviews

After Wigs smashed it today, I'm happily wrong.

Hope I continue to be.

Outta hear

there is an audio recording, if you listen you'll hear his reaction was far from an angry outburst - it was a measured response to a retarded question designed to get a reaction from Wiggo akin to poking him with a stick - the press have asked him stupid questions in press conferences before and got similar responses albeit without the swears.
...and there's a questions as to whether he actually said 'c**ts' at the end or whether he said 'cut'.

Yep heard the audio on the ITV4 coverage... Agreed not really an outburst at all, despite the language.

Then a very measured interview with Ned after the stage win addressing the very points I was making. Said he "was concentrating very business like on the job ahead".... and "perhapes you win the Tour keeping your cool"

Good.... all is well and now we can bask in the glory of an Englishman in yellow for the next two weeks.

Happy Days

Well it certainly seems to have had the desired effect.

It reminds me of when Ronnie used to play for United. He used to get pure grief from away fans, mostly questioning his sexuality. In one game, can't recall exactly who were playing, but he was at the receiving end of torrents of abuse. In response he put on an absolute masterclass in the first half. At half time, the opposition manager (think it was Alex Mcleish) said "I wish our fans would stop giving him so much grief. It just fires him up even more! Its not helping."

Seems there's a bit of that going on here. Go on Bradley lad! 😀

Good for you Brad, it's easy for all the sanctimonious p#@*s to complain about a bit of bad language, but the point is that Sky from day one have staked there whole reputation on being a clean team and winning clean, by employing methods learnt from the GB track team in eking tiny performance gains from everywhere from training methods, nutrition and equipment and on top of that very very hard work which when you put that all together you get the results that we are seeing now. It's not like this has happened overnight so for a fiery character like Brad to react in such a way is totally reasonable and it would be really boring if everybody was pious and PC all the time !

Come on Wiggo !

[url= http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-18921784 ]interesting article [/url] was from the radio 4 maths program