The enigmatic Bradley Wiggins
Brad Wiggins is an enigma. There is a lot about him that makes him easy to dislike. That mopey, Pete Townshend look on his face and mop hairdo are the low-hanging fruit in this case, with the length of his socks being there to round out the podium in a close third. Also, he dropped Bont for Giro, which is unacceptable mostly because the Giros make his feet look like dolphin flippers. And don’t get me started on the beard.
His Tour de France win in 2012 was probably the least interesting of this century; the standout memory from that event being the rumours of back-of-the-bus catfights between him and Chris Froome. I’m picturing something out of the broom scene in Fantasia, which almost makes up for how crap the actual race was.
When he targeted Paris-Roubaix this year I was haunted by visions of him sitting on some hideous throne while trying to hoist that beautiful cobble over his head. Fans at the roadside were waving WIGGO flags around that had a cobblestone on it, which made me want to stop and start drinking simultaneously.
I’ve never been a fan, but somehow I’ve always found him to be one of the most interesting characters in the peloton and one who I continue to have my eye on, watching for his next move.
I feel strongly that when someone is at the top of the sport, there comes with that a responsibility to lead and to be an ambassador. At the same time, I’ve always appreciated his unapologetic uneasiness with leadership and with being in the spotlight. He was also the first person in history to call the whole of the Cycling public both cunts and wankers in a single press conference, which is so wildly offensive that it kind of goes full circle to being funny.
He was born in Belgium. You have to love that. And he’s the only Grand Tour contender to target a cobbled classic since Greg LeMond, albeit not in the same year. Finally, he has a deep respect for the sport’s history, to the extent that he raced up the Ventoux with a photo of Tom Simpson in his jersey pocket in honor of his fallen countryman. Not to mention that he’s a bit of a fashion hound, striving to look as Fantastic off the bike as on it. Our personal tastes may differ, but at least he’s a Velominatus.
Finally, he’s the only one of the Time Trial Triumvirate of Faboo, Wiggins, and Der Panzerwagon to stake out the Hour Record as a goal immediately after the UCI modified the regulations, and went on to crush it, restoring honor to what was once one of the coolest events in Cycling.
In a modern Cycling model where the principle objective appears to be repeating the same feats as many times as possible, I find it incredibly refreshing that Wiggo seems satisfied with achieving a goal once and moving on to the next challenge with little thought of repeating. What’s next for Brad Wiggins? Sounds like he’s hoping for some Olympic shenanigans but who knows. He’s done that before.
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I think what some fans and detractors see in Wiggins is much the same thing - that "smarter than average" idea is something some people like and something some people don't and it's all bundled up in how people view the perceived aloofness or arrogance that goes with it. I think if you asked some fans for an example of something he's said or done that sums up why they love or hate him they'd point to the same example but some look at it say it makes him an arrogant jerk, while others will say it makes smarter than the average jerk. He's a yardstick character that tells you as much about the person talking about him, as the person talking tells you about him (if that twisted sentence makes any sense) - and perhaps that's a part of what makes him enigmatic.
The other thing this article got me thinking about was the extent to which success breeds interest and the interest an average rider in the peleton can generate. For all his unique style, would we care or even know about it if he was just another rider slogging away for the team? I'd like to think fans underestimate how smart and interesting the average pro cyclist is, but I prefer not to know lest it turn out to be disappointingly untrue. You look at guy like Adam Hansen - and he's got a persona as a bright guy tinkering with his shoes and the team logistic's system - not just interested in cycling. There must be plenty of riders like that, or riders who have a particular style about them, maybe they're movie buffs of wide readers or whatever, but because they haven't ridden 13 grand tours straight, or haven't stood on a podium in a grand tour or classic we don't hear about them. Jens is another interesting one to consider - there is an element of outstanding riding that drew attention to him - one of those guys always in the break and then later, often on the front driving the pace - but there's also an interest beyond that, a sheer force of character at play. I guess what I'm getting at is there's the cult of success figures, and the cult figures, and then there's a mix of the two. Maybe we need a scale of Merckx to someone - but who's the someone? It's got to be a cult figure that didn't really have much success but that we still remember on the sheer weight of their personality. Jens obviously springs to mind, but he wasn't entirely without success. I'd go with Adam Hansen - the consecutive tours is an amazing record but he's not exactly a prolific breakaway figure or stage winner (is it one stage win in the giro?) - and he's got that cult thing going on with his shoes and the logistics database thing he did.
So on the Success-Personality Scale of Cultness (patent pending with the European Patent Office - "the other EPO") I'd put Wiggins over towards the Merckx end rather than the Hansen end. Probably about a quarter of the way down the scale.
There is a lot to like about Wiggins. I think I am a fan on his press comments alone. One thing that I haven't seen raised much is the absolute dominance of his 2012 season, in stage races, compared to the rest of his career. His performance that year was basically a season like no other in memory - certainly in the "modern era". I think he won just about every stage race he entered that year?
4 stage race victories in 2012 - Paris-Nice, Dauphine, Romandie and TdF. 3 other "top level" stage races in his career - Dauphine, California and Britain (and top level is being kind to Britain).
Explicable, given his supposed absolute focus in that year, his progression to that from the track and after 2012, a conspiracy of circumstances in the form of Froome and his fairly rapid move to apparent disenchantment with the whole circus? Maybe.
But no doubt curious as well.
@frank
The 2012 Tour couldn't have been more suited to Wiggins if he has designed the course himself. It was horrendously boring in that exemplified Sky's racing by data technique. It was successful but boring.
@Oli
Think he meant Cofodis
@dyalander
Hansen has won a stage in all of the GT's I'm pretty sure, for more on why he's awesome, see below.
@frank
Roundel.
And I think you're doing him a disservice there - saying he's "adopted" a persona as if he was Taylor Swift calculating some marketing image.
The thing that really defines whether people love or hate Wiggins is that he's completely genuine. It all comes out with Wiggins, sometimes contradictory, sometimes touching, sometimes bizarre.
But there always seems to be nothing less than complete honesty and you have to respect that in anyone, let alone a public figure.
@Mikael Liddy
I hadn't seen that - it's a good sum up. Cosmo does great work.
I'd forgotten Hansen's Vuelta win - don't think he has a TDF win though - I recall him out front on at least one stage late but getting caught within the last 10kms.
The obvious cult-figure archetype is Jens, but I've always preferred Hansen and since I made it up I'm sticking with it being Merckx-Hansen on the scale. Jens is just a whisker inside Hansen because Jens might not have individual stage wins in GTs (from memory he's just been part of a TTT win in the tour?) he has worn yellow a couple of times, held the hour record, and also has more race wins than Hansen in general, so his cult of personality has a little more success behind it than Hansen's.
Sir* Bradley Wigging. COTHO, quite literally.
@Pete B
If we're not allowed to have opinions on pro riders, because they are all better than us, then we'd probably better close down this site.
I agreed with you to that point, by the way. But telling people you don't really know on an open discussion website not to share their opinions if they don't agree with you doesn't make you a goodie.
Does that mean you're as good as Wiggins since you are also expressing an opinion or does that only apply to opinions you agree with?
@Pete B