"Gutted" - Sir Bradley Wiggins confirms he won't ride Tour de France

I'm gutted wiggo is not in the tour. The door to cycling in this great country has taken a long time to re-open. To win the start of the tour in Yorkshire was and is huge, huge news. To not see britains biggest cycling personality riding it is crazy. This could be have been stratospheric. The shine has gone : ( for me and I bet many others too. I'm too sad to type anymore...

How I would love Brad to ride next year and win le tour leaving his African competitor in his wake. Sky have lost my support for treating the first and only british resident to win tour, so badly.

I don't think Wiggins has the same chance as Froome. Froome can TT nearly as fast and is a class apart on the mountains. He also can look after himself a little more when it comes down to small groups in the mountains which makes the team's work a little easier.

It is disappointing for Wiggins' fans not to see him in Yorkshire, but for the team winning is more important and they presumably see themselves as having a stronger line up to support Froome without Wiggins. For once, the PR seems to have taken a back seat to the performance of the team.

I do assume that every one above works for Sky and is the person who actually knows all of the facts.
Nope . Guess work and personal preference takes the stage.

A very dignified response from a Knight of the Realm. Cool, calm and collected.

There's more to come from Sir Bradley, I'm sure.

Perhaps Froome was worried that Sir Wiggins would come second just one second behind, demonstrating that Sir Wiggo could easily have won.

Well, that has rather spoiled my Saturday morning!

For a a team operated by one of the slickest media operations in the world, this is a shambles. Team Sky should be announcing the TDF squad, not Sir Brad. I never thought I would hear myself say this but I am now going to be pulling for one of the European squads, rather than Sky. Who would I rather see win the GC? A plastic Brit who lives in Monaco (I would much prefer the Brit who lives in Lancashire if I am honest) or the likes of Contador, Nibali et al? My interest has now shifted to the points category and the battle between Cav, Kittel and Sagan.

Wiggo has been very diginified about the way this has been handled and although I have purchased several books about British cycling. I know which one I will be giving a miss.

Perhaps Wiggo will be giving Mr Tinkov's tweet a second thought! Either that or Alonso, Movistar, Orica's overtures.

I think it's those commenting on how the public will perceive this, particularly with the Tour starting in the UK this year, that have correctly understood the impact of this decision. It seems to me to be a bit of a PR own goal.

As I follow the sport, I understand the team dynamics of cycling and the reason why Wiggo isn't riding, Joe Public doesn't and so wonders why the most prominent Britsh rider of recent years isn't participating in the biggest event in the sport. That's exactly why he appeared on a mainstream forum like BBC Breakfast to explain what was what.

The fact is that Froome just doesn't have the same level of non-enthusiast public support as Wiggins does, and I suspect there will be some who won't now watch the Tour as a result. Niche sports like cycling need their personalities to remain promiment at the highest level to keep the public interested, which in turn helps to keep the public on bikes themselves. I'm sure plenty of kids got into cycling too off the back of 2012 because they wanted to be "just like Bradley Wiggins", I just don't think the same can be said about Froome, even if he were to win again this year.

So disappointing, can't believe this is not entirely Froomes input, seeing how Brad rode the time trial in the Tour of California, it looks like he is as fit as he has ever been. Not to decry the other team members selected, but really, what? they all rank better than Wiggins....I don't think so.
I hope for Brailsfords and Froomes sake he wins, or you'll never hear the end of it.
I have tried to like Froome, and found it very difficult as he seems to have the same type of cariama as Andy Murray, I'm afraid I won't be cheering the South African (passports don't count) on during the tour.
An excellent and entertaining race spoiled.

What was the original reason for Wiggins being on the show?

This is purely wiggos take on the provisional squad talks DB hasn't announced it yet so there was every chance he could have been included if he performed at the TdS , however he has now probably crippled his chances by saying he is gutted blah blah blah.

Froome is and should be the main gc contender as this TdF route is better suited to him wiggo simply doesn't want to play second fiddle to anyone hence his diplomatic way of removing himself from the selection process .

And to those of you who were going to cheer SKY if wiggo rode and are now saying you won't because froome is the no.1 , why? Because you all believe wiggo has a God given right to lead? Laughable....

The more I think about this the angrier I get. Our top cyclist, first ever British winner of the Tour de France which is starting in the UK, back in the shape of his life and he's not riding? Are you kidding me? Brailsford you have seriously lost the plot.
Froome had better win if he ever wants to set foot in this country again, not that he will

I think it's time to start a petition

I cannot see what all the hooha is about. Team sky are all about winning the Tour, end of. They will pick the best team for that, without the chance of any unrest in the team during the race. Wiggins could not win this years tour, he wouldn't have won last years even if he was fit, Froome did & will have a better chance than wiggins this year. It's hard enough to win with a full team behind you without wondering if one will shaft you at some time.

Great summary by Robert Millar

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-blog-man-down

It's really sad that he won't be riding the tour on British soil.

Our (joint) most decorated Olympian, a knight of the realm, a genuine Tour champion, a magnet for the media and an inspiration to many. In a sport that loves it's own history, it seems strange that sky can't see the value of all this to the team and the brand.

A team that once could not put a foot wrong seems to have lost the plot and it's Brad and the fans that suffer.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/blogs/robert-millar/robert-millar-blog-man-down

Why has Wiggo got a stethoscope round his neck in the picture…