Sir Bradley Wiggins says he will stay with Team Sky next season with his main targets being Paris-Roubaix and a potential return to the velodrome for an attempt at the Hour Record. However, he does not expect to ride the Tour de France next year, and while he says he will still ride Grand Tours, it will not be to target victory.
Wiggins was speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport after flying to Italy for the weekend to take part in the Pina Cycling Marathon, and confirmed he was considering the Hour Record, and on a Pinarello bike since he is staying at Team Sky, which is sponsored by the Italian brand.
He confirmed that Paris-Roubaix, where he finished ninth this season, would be his big goal for 2015, and praised Vincenzo Nibali’s performance over the cobbles on stage five of the Tour de France last Wednesday when the Astana rider finished third to consolidate his overall lead.
Wiggins added that if Nibali is in the same form as he was when he won the Giro d’Italia last year, a race the Sky rider abandoned halfway through, he could not see him being beaten at the Tour de France.
The 2012 winner has not returned to the race since his victory, and his likely absence next year raises the prospect that he may become the only post-war champion never to ride the Tour de France again.
Later this month, Wiggins, who in June won the British time trial championship, heads to Glasgow to represent England in the Commonwealth Games.
He will then ride the Vuelta, meaning he won’t defend his Tour of Britain title, ahead of the World Championships in Ponferrada, Spain, where he is targeting the time trial. He will not be targeting the overall at the Vuelta, instead using it as preparation for the Worlds.
The Pina Cycling Marathon was originally launched to mark Giovanni Pinarello's 75th birthday and now honours his son Andrea Pinarello, former head of marketing at the family-owned business, who died of a heart attack in 2011 at the age of 40 shortly after completing a stage of the amateur Giro del Friuli.
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I question the decision a professional cyclist makes regarding his career.
I get explanations of Chinese proverbs.
Truly marvellous stuff!
@ronin - The expression is 'finding a horse while riding a donkey', meaning trading up. Chinese cows are as inappropriate animals for transport as British ones.
Huh??? What are you talking about? Can you read:
騎牛找馬
Isn't it now you say: old man, how is it you see these things.
And I say: grasshopper, how is it you do not.
I think also if he has ambitions to ride the track at Rio 2016 he'll need to be with a team that supports that. Cav's experience at OPQS shows that it may be hard to find that outside of Sky, especially as they may feel that they owe him after this year's debacle.
What debacle would that be?
I imagine that the benefits outweigh the negatives for him now. If he's saying he's done with GC at the Grand Tour level then it's unlikely that teams are going to be snapping at his heels for his price margin, whereas Sky will keep him for the name and let him ride whatever he fancies instead and probably put their hand in their pocket.
In pro cycling, Wiggins is no longer a young man, he has a family and he already has money — his statements make perfect sense for a man in his position. With Sky he's on a top team with people and practices he knows well, and can pursue new goals — why would he move to another team?
I think this sums it up... Whilst Wiggins fans feel he has been short changed by Sky, we don't know what is said behind closed doors.
At Sky he can choose his goals, is with a structure that he knows and likes and no doubt will pay him handsomely.
Moving teams may open GC doors in the tour de france, but thats about it.. and at his age, can he really be arsed to put it all on the line again?
Froome will not leave, simple as that.
Also Wiggins might not be the white knight everyone thinks he is and knows he can get a wad of money with Sky so has decided to stay.
This just seems ridiculous, it makes no sense to me.
I like the idea of more riders going for the hour record though.
There is a saying in chinese - Riding a cow to find a horse. Maybe he's just waiting till a better offer comes along. It's always better to be in work while you're looking for a job right
You are quite possibly right, but it seems a little odd to sign a new years contract if you were planning on leaving. He can hardly flick the Vs at Sky and saunter off to a new team if Brailsford has a contract that the ink is still wet on, can he?
I guess he could be bought out, but realistically how many teams would be in the market for buying out a Sky contract?
Have you considered that Froome might be on his way?
GC protected riders - Porte and Kennaugh
Classics protected riders - Boom (rumoured to be on his way) and Wiggins
Wonder if Wiggo will support Froome in the La Vuelta if Froome decided to have a crack at it