Photography by Cor Vos

Roche believes Sky is justified in leaving Wiggins off Tour squad

Says Briton is a complicated character, and that avoiding conflict is essential for Tour campaign

Shane Stokes - June 9, 2014

Former Tour de France winner Stephen Roche has said that he believes Team Sky is justified in leaving Bradley Wiggins off its Tour team, saying that team harmony and the synergistic effect of a well-chosen line-up are more important than the physical attributes of any one rider.

Roche famously battled his co-leader Robert Visentini for the 1987 Giro d’Italia title, being chased by his own team-mates at one point, and as a result knows what it is like to be part of a divided squad. He said that with Team Sky’s priority being a third Tour de France victory, anything that could make that task more complicated must be considered a risk.

“The team has to avoid internal conflict. There is enough conflict from the outside, from other opponents,” Roche told CyclingTips when asked to give his viewpoint on the matter. “The one thing you don’t want is problems internally.”

Wiggins created headlines on Friday when he told BBC television and radio that he was very unlikely to be part of Sky’s Tour de France team. He won the race in 2012 but there was visible tension between himself and Froome in the race, with the younger rider being asked to support Wiggins in the mountains and to hold back on more than one occasion.

Froome eventually finished second overall in Paris. The duo did not speak for an extended period of time afterwards and Wiggins withheld bonus payments which had been handed out to the others on the Tour squad.

The difficult relationship between the two was highlighted recently by Froome in his autobiography, in which he said that Wiggins was a complicated individual and that the team and other riders had to be careful about how they acted.

“We rode around him and his moods like he was a traffic island,” he wrote.

Speaking to the BBC on Friday, Wiggins said that he had several conversations with general manager Dave Brailsford and had been told he wouldn’t be riding. “As it stands today I won’t be on the start line at the Tour. The team is going to be based around Chris Froome, the defending champion,” he told 5 live. “Obviously he is bidding to win his second Tour.

“The selectors have decided that the team they have got is strong enough to do that. Personally I’m really disappointed. Having missed it last year due to injury, I’d worked hard all winter to get back to where I was in 2012. I’ve come off quite a successful year. But at the same time I understand why they have done that and that it is not about one man, it is about the team, coming back with a second Tour.”

Brailsford has since indicated that the final team lineup hasn’t been decided, but Wiggins feels he will not be part of it.

Roche said the difficult relationship between the two riders is the issue. “We have seen in the past that the fuse is quite easily lit with Bradley and Froome. We saw that a couple of years ago that when they were having their head to head during the Tour. Even the wives got involved. It was a bit ridiculous at the time, but that is the way it is. That is modern sport for you.

“I think the team and especially the sponsor want to very much avoid those sort of problems. So for me the decision is totally understandable.”

He suggested that the team’s overall strength means it is in a position to do so. “It is great to have the option to leave someone like Bradley Wiggins at home [to have the rider level to be in the position of choice – ed]. It is very comfortable for the team. I am sure they would have liked to have had Bradley Wiggins’ experience and skills beside Froome, but independent of that they had to look at it in light of it being a three week long event. That’s the issue.

“In any three week event, there will always be friction and tensions in the last week as everyone is so tired, whether it be personnel, riders, management. In every team, no matter what they say, there is always friction there in that third week. Everyone is under pressure.

“In the first week, things can happen and nobody raises an eyebrow, but in the last week everyone gets very narky over the smallest little thing.

“Tours are generally won and lost in the last week, so they cannot take any risk that there could possibly be any rupture.”

“Bradley isn’t that bad, but he has his own attitude.”

Almost every rider who wins the Tour has the goal of trying to defend the title the following season. However Wiggins is one of a very small number of riders who decided not to do this, declaring at the presentation of the 2013 Tour de France in October 2012 that he would willingly give up that chance to instead try to win the Giro d’Italia.

“I am probably going to concentrate on the Giro next year, because for me it is the only other race on the cycling calendar – along with Paris-Roubaix – that is up there with the Tour de France in terms of historicalness,” he told Eurosport then. “It is just beautiful. I’d love to win that pink jersey.

“My priority will be the Tour of Italy. It has become apparent that it is very difficult to compete in two Grand Tours at that level, so it is more than likely that I will be there [at the Tour] in a helping capacity.”

He said then that he would ride for Froome in the race, but ultimately didn’t perform in the Giro d’Italia and pulled out injured. He didn’t start the Tour, which Froome went on to win.

Roche feels that success effectively handed team leadership to Froome, and that Wiggins can’t now automatically expect Tour selection.

“That has been a bit of Bradley’s attitude over the past couple of years. He hasn’t really been too coherent in what he is saying. People basically take it as it comes as he is quite capable of changing [his mind] – Paris-Roubaix was a non runner for him before, but now he loves Paris-Roubaix.

“I think that it maybe didn’t do him any good [to make that decision about not defending the Tour] as it can definitely be thrown back at him today. And rightly so – he said what he said at the time, he can’t go back on it now. So I think that is it. The cake is cooked.”

Wiggins has said that he only way he believes he could do the Tour de France again would be to move to another team. He has been linked to a possible contract with Orica GreenEdge, although both he and the team have said that no serious negotiations have started at this point in time.

Asked if he believed this could be a good fit, Roche said that it was up to Wiggins himself. “If he puts his mind to it, Bradley can get on in most teams. But it depends on who he is with. He is the kind of guy who needs a lot of space around him when he wants space. He is very individual in that way. When he wants space, he has to have space. When he wants attention, he needs attention. It has to be there.

“I think Bradley is a strange person, a likeable/hateable guy, but he has got a good track record in racing and getting results. It is the same with football – you tolerate certain things because they are super athletes, but in the normal world you wouldn’t tolerate a tenth of the things people do.

“Bradley isn’t that bad, but he has his own attitude.”

He said that he believes this was all taken into consideration by Team Sky when it was deciding whether or not he should get a start in the race. “They know their man very well. They are the ones who brought Bradley to winning the Tour de France. They know his attitude, his good points and his bad points,” he said. “I think Brailsford has managed the team in a way over the last couple of years to win. He hasn’t put together a team just with the best riders available, he has combined cyclists in terms of mental and physical attributes to get the best general combination there is available to him.

“I think that physically, yes, Bradley would be a good choice, and also in terms of decisions and tactics made on the road, but Brailsford has to add in the possibility of them having a fight or an argument. If there was a chance of that, it could be tactically, physically, mentally, morally and commercially bad.

“Look, with the cost of teams these days, I am sure Brailsford is saying, ‘shit, I am paying this guy big money and leaving him at home.’ I am sure that Sky are looking at this the same way. But they are going into the Tour to win the Tour, and they want everything possible on their side so they can achieve that.”

Tags: 2014 Tour de France, Bradley Wiggins, Stephen Roche

velocodger

Probably not many English-speaking folks saw Wiggins at his worst on
French television during the 2012 Tour. France 3 had just finished a 1/2
hour homage to English cycling, with clips of Tom Simpson, among
others. The commentator had put on sideburns as a tribute to Wiggins.
His response? Nothing but insults! His reply to the adulation; “you
don’t like the English, do you?” (in French to be sure the whole nation
knew they had been insulted.). He couldn’t have acted more the ass if he
tried. I speculate that in the early days of Aicar use,
the dosages had not been worked out, and Bradley suffered from side
effects.
- Michele
  
  I saw the footage you’re referring to velocodger …. and I have no problem with Wiggins’ reaction.
  
  The commentator donning the sideburns was about as funny as your little snide remark about Aicar.
  - velocodger
    
    I guess what is a homage to one person is an insult to another. Must be a cultural thing. It sure looked like an attempt to please Wiggo that went awry. I felt the French were genuinely being welcoming to the English riders, and particularly Wiggo. Apparently nothing less than abject capitulation pleases the British Imperial psyche.
Mike Hobbs

#wewantwiggo !!
- hoorayhenry
  
  No we don’t
Abdu

Roche becomes less relevant by the minute.

He did touch on one issue though, the stupid inclusion of Froome’s girlfriend in the sport. Seriously, some bimbo tweeting is not worth discussing, yet we have cycling journo’s repeating her inane tweets in stories and race coverage. Brailsford is weak to allow it to interfere with his running if the team too. No oxygen for that stupid aspect please.

We finally have someone with personality, and anything can happen when he’s racing. Wiggins is quality, but is brittle and subject to losing the plot.

Why would people not like that in the sport? Personally, the Team Sky death march on stages and completely boring blanketing of the Tour is not for me.
- Abdu
  
  And also…Wiggo loves the Giro, but does it love him? Could be the wet and downhills might not be for him.
  
  Another thing, Wiggo has shown he loves the sport, and the great races like P-R. He’s keen to do them all, not just target one race like Lance..
- Michele
  
  I unfortunately don’t hold Roche in too high a regard.
  
  His reaction to when Kimmage released Rough Ride wasn’t too different to Lance’s reaction to Landis when the proverbial hit the fan a few years ago at the Tour of California.
  
  Sure, the sport had progressed, and there is considerable more $$$ in the peloton then there was when Roche was riding.
  
  But the motive for Roche “protecting the peloton” [read: protecting his public image and his commercial interests] was no different to how Lance looked after himself when his empire started to show some cracks.
  
  That’s why I have no respect for the person.
  
  Yes, Abdu; he is more irrelevant than ever before.
  - Sean
    
    Agree, I don’t trust or care for riders from that era. I know quite a few who raced and they freely admit it was dirty as mud. Like you say, his reaction to Kimmage was a joke.
  - jules
    
    Roche won the Giro, Tour and WChamps that year.. pretty impressive feat..
    - Michele
      
      He certainly did. And that feat will never be repeated again.
      
      But if Roche performed his feat in 1997, or 2007, and not 1987, it’s fair to say that the ever popular asterisk would be rearing it’s ugly head.
      
      Ahh, 1987 - the good old times. When one could dope, but do so with a naive innocence.
      - CB
        
        Recall Bontempi tested positive during the 87 Tour and Roche claimed to know nothing about what he was up to. Innocent? Not exactly
Michele

Of course, it would be nice to keep in mind the following facts re: the Roche vs. Visentini rivalry at that particular Giro, which have been left out of the intro in this article:

- Visentini was the reigning Giro champion
- Roche was in Pink early in the Giro, but lost the lead comprehenisvely to Visentini following an ITT
- Several days later, Roche did the dirty on his team mate and attacked him. This attack went against Team Orders, and led to Roche reclaiming the leaders’ jersey
- As a result Visentini had his team mates chase Roche

I find Roche’s comments slightly amusing, because if Wiggins’ did race the TdF this year, his situation in the squad, would be very similar to Roche’s from the 1987 Giro.
Rob

Not sure how anyone could favour that mechanical, robot-like Froome over Wiggins, who has SOME personality. And his efforts in this years Roubaix won him a few new fans.
- Michele
  
  I agree Rob. But your comment shows exactly why Brailsford & Co. are putting all their eggs into the one basket.
  
  Sky like to control the “controllables”. A robot-like rider in Froome gives them this.
  
  I never, ever want to wish evil upon another rider. But let’s just say, I wouldn’t be upset if Froome gets caught up in one of those final 3-5 km spills that occur in the nervous first week and loses some skin.
  
  There are some things SKY can’t control. They can certainly minimise them, but not remove them. If one of those un-controllables occur, then we might get an interesting race.
- pedr09
  
  We can’t all be charming and witty Rob and it’s really not anyone’s fault. It’s a shame you condemn a guy for something he has no control or say over. He is who he is and I find him no less than well-spoken and very amiable. Wiggins on the other hand, is a real card but somehow he leaves me cold. That’s just my opinion though isn’t it.
  
  Michele on the other hand is assuming you mean Froome’s riding style is ‘robot-like’ which I think is pretty funny as I can’t think of anyone whose riding style is more robot-like than Wiggins…
- hoorayhenry
  
  Sure Wiggins has the personality of a pain in the proverbial
CB

If it’s Froome V Wiggins on the road, off it and in the press, at least amongst former riders, it’s Millar v Roche, and I am firmly aligned with the comments made by Millar on CN. Great shot by the way, 87 Giro?
runrider

Roche can’t be serious after what he did in the 1987 Giro. Froome is even less exciting to watch than Indurain was! I don’t regard him as a true champion, he might be a nice guy, but he has 0% panache or style. It looks like a cyclo tourist has joined in when you see him in a race.

Wiggo is finished now as a Grand Tour GC man, due to his age & team choice. He seems to jump all over the place. One minute he is doing Paris Roubaix, then he is talking about the Olympics, then its something else. What a pity Quintana wont be riding this year, he could have shaken up Sky again like last year. Perhaps Nibali & Conto can help make a race of it?
Bones

Personally, I would love to see a LeMond/Hinault style battle unfold at the Tour with Wiggo and Froome. That would be very entertaining. And that is what we are talking about here, entertainment. It’s a gamble either way, don’t take Wiggo and then Froome crashes out or gets sick, take Wiggo and they split the team and attack each other. Much better than the last few processions thru France.
jules

it’s depressing reading this. why don’t we just turn the whole race into a 3000km team time trial and award the winner to the highest average power output? intrigue, controversy, conflict - we don’t want any of that! when does the Vuelta start again?
- Michele
  
  Well Jules, agree 100%.
  
  Least we had a rather interesting Giro. :)
hoorayhenry

Don’t know why the English are so hung up on Wiggins. Froome is amuch better climber and now he can time trial there is no competition from Bradley. Given Froome’s performance to date in the Dauphine, pro-Wiggos should shut up. Wiggins is not a team player, he is a selfish git and having him in a Froome lead squad will lead to a lot of dissension. Froome can win, Wiggins can’t unless he has Froome lead him up the mountains.