Bradley Wiggins confirmed this morning that he will not be riding the Tour de France if the defending champion Chris Froome holds his form up to the start of the race in Leeds on 5 July. “As it stands I won’t be there,” the 2012 winner told BBC Breakfast. “The team is focused around Chris Froome who has got a chance of winning his second Tour and it’s been decided to base the team around him.”
“I’m gutted,” Wiggins added. “I’ve worked hard all year for this, I went to California and won that, I feel I’m in the form I was in 2012, but I understand that cycling is a team sport and at the end of the day it’s about the team winning; at the end of the day it’s about Chris winning.”
Indeed the writing appeared to be on the wall recently when both the Sky head Dave Brailsford and Froome dismissed the idea of Wiggins riding as No2 to last year’s winner, while Wiggins’s non-selection for the key Tour buildup race, the Dauphiné Libéré, where Froome will ride with his right-hand man Richie Porte, confirmed he was not in Sky’s core Tour de France squad.
From the Guardian:
Bradley Wiggins confirmed this morning that he will not be riding the Tour de France if the defending champion Chris Froome holds his form up to the start of the race in Leeds on 5 July. “As it stands I won’t be there,” the 2012 winner told BBC Breakfast. “The team is focused around Chris Froome who has got a chance of winning his second Tour and it’s been decided to base the team around him.”
“I’m gutted,” Wiggins added. “I’ve worked hard all year for this, I went to California and won that, I feel I’m in the form I was in 2012, but I understand that cycling is a team sport and at the end of the day it’s about the team winning; at the end of the day it’s about Chris winning.”
Indeed the writing appeared to be on the wall recently when both the Sky head Dave Brailsford and Froome dismissed the idea of Wiggins riding as No2 to last year’s winner, while Wiggins’s non-selection for the key Tour buildup race, the Dauphiné Libéré, where Froome will ride with his right-hand man Richie Porte, confirmed he was not in Sky’s core Tour de France squad.
Thanks Bay for this and the other comment on their not liking each other.
Still hard to believe that a tour winner from only 2 years ago wouldn’t be on the team...