New book says Sir Bradley Wiggins withheld Chris Froome's share of 2012 Tour de France prize money

As a Maillot Jaune your future prosperity (and place in history) was essentially guaranteed with the high profile sponsorship deals that would follow as well as the not inconsiderable salary a TdF winner can command. The "tradition" came about to motivate/reward/thank all the team riders who sacrificed themselves for the cause of one.

Froome came second but no one was there to help him in that quest, what he did he did under his own efforts and he would have been required to give it up in an instant to protect the race leader so I don't get this "he should throw his winnings in the pot" suggestion. Whilst you can argue he 'dragged his cleats' in support of Wiggins he still did it and easy to make the case that without Froome Wiggins would have been in trouble on some of those climbs so he owes him big time.

Froome clearly was the stronger rider at the 2011 Vuelta and sacrificed himself for Wiggins, folly by SKY who continue to demonstrate tactical naivety and inflexibility, and had he not lost time behind a crash at the 2012 Tour he would certainly have pressured Wiggins who, let us not forget, threatened to walk off the race. That and these subsequent actions, if true, do not reflect well on him.

I wonder why David Walsh would want to paint Wiggins as a bad guy and Chris Froome as the plucky lovable under dog?

Oh what's that David? You are going to be co-authoring Chris Froome's up coming biography? Well, isn't that a shock announcement.....

http://www.chris-froome.com/news/65-news-upcoming-autobiography

I'm just surprised David Walsh didn't blame Irish cycling fans for stealing the money.

Gents, regardless of what tradition dictates team sky have rules which are as follows

TEAM SKY’S RULES

We will respect one another and watch each other’s backs
We will be honest with one another
We will respect team equipment
We will be on time
We will communicate openly and regularly
If we want our helmets cleaned we will leave them on the bus
We will pool all prize money from races and distribute at the end of the year
Any team bonuses from the team will be split between riders on that race
We will give 15% of all race bonuses and prize money to staff
We will speak English if we are in a group
We will debrief after every race
We will always wear team kit and apparel as instructed in the team dress code
We will not use our phones at dinner – if absolutely required we will leave the table to have the conversation
We will respect the bus
We will respect personnel and management
We will ask for any changes to be made to the bikes (gearing, wheel selection etc) the night before the race and not on race day
We will follow the RULES

They are fairly well documented... But by the sound of it not everyone follows

David Walsh innit... Never let the complete facts get in the way of something sensational.

Yeah, hats off to the guy for going at Armstrong like he did, but honestly, I can't see why he has to go around trying to make out that certain folk are cheats and arses all the time.

Maybe focus on something more positive for once.

Nothing makes sense until the divi on who got what is declared, a realistic view on fairness can then be made, but then again that depends on where they happen to be in the pecking order.

Suspect there's more to this than the headline suggests – or else Michelle Cound would have Tweeted about it.

But it doesn't stop people jumping to conclusions.

I agree with others. There's probably a whole lot more to this story.

I remember in Tyler Hamilton's book where Armstrong basically forced him to accept a reduced share if his Tour bonus so it seems that the money is paid to the winner and then distributed, rather than put in the team coffers and shared.

But the point about Froome's share seems interesting. I agree with the sentiments of others here, that if the winner has to divvy up then it is the same with those of other riders. In fact I thought it was de facto that all winnings were sliced up (you often here the commentators talking about how teams have slim pickings and that a win will greatly improve things for the team).

I should think (without reading the book - don't we have a resident book worm on the case?) that Froome did his part and expected Brad to do his and didn't....otherwise it is a particularly nasty way of retelling the event which makes Brad look like a shit which would otherwise make Froome look like one.

If I owe money to someone I pay them as quickly as possible, and it annoys me when that sentiment isn't returned.

What was the benefit of Wiggins holding back the money he owed Froome (remembering he paid everyone else, apparently) - for over 1 year - other than making himself look like a bit of a vindictive a**hole?

Hero to Zero

Its not really the way to solve the problem to pay him nothing for 14 months! I'm sure the with spin-off's etc Wiggins has been well compensated.

Wiggins is a great rider, but not a patch on Froome to watch.

This is a tradition that came about because the team would typically beast themselves to get the leader into yellow but individually come away with little or nothing. It is almost unprecedented for another team member to come away with as much prize money as that given to Froome. I'm with Wiggins on this as he's rewarding those who otherwise wouldn't have financially benefited. The points above are valid about Froome splitting his prize money, too. And the relationship between the two may still have been a factor.

I call foul... The team will be paid winnings which will then be divided between the riders. I can't see a situation where Wiggins could hold the cash back.
I'm guessing the only situation where the team might take such action is where, as mentioned, Froome refused to share his part of the team winnings and accordingly he was not included in the team pay out.
I like the way Wiggins is always portrayed as the cnut in these situations... Whilst I don't doubt there is some pre madonna action going on, my hunch is that it's not the man with the sideburns driving that.

You're a team, surely the winnings of all riders is split? That said, Brad is a self-confessed man who knows the history of the sport. I'm sure this tradition didn't slip his mind.

Historically the winner always pays his teammates for their hard work during the TdF. Acting like a wanker towards you teammates gains you little respect.

Surely the fair thing would be for all the team prize money to be added together and then divided equally.

Theres no mention in the story of what happened to Froome's prize money. If he divided it between everyone in the team then he deserves his share of Wiggins winnings. If not it seems a bit weird for the 2nd place rider to walk away with 200 000 euro more than the winner.

Just to clarify in my own mind:

Froome wins €200k and keeps it all?
Wiggins wins €450k + but has to divvy it up?

Tradition is tradition and I'm not surprised brad did this tbh ....he has been seen to be a prima donna on a number of occasions

Fair is fair. Froome did a lot of work for Wiggins and was obviously stronger in the mountains.

Probably Wiggo being practical rather than difficult. How many domestiques come second and earn €200k? That's not really what the tradition was designed for is it?