In the manner of a true champion, Wiggins won Olympic Gold AND The 2012 Tour de France. The World Pro Cycling Scene is just starting to realize he won in a way that has no peers except Armstrong, Coppi and Merckx. Plus he gets the acclaim for being the first Briton to do so. He showed the time trialling ability of Miguel Indurain but with a lot more charisma. He showed the consistent climbing class of the great Lance Armstrong but had more to offer his team to support the lead out trains in the sprints and on the flat. And he was streets ahead of those skinny hill climbers over the years, who normally hide in the peleton and waited until everyone else was having a bad day in the mountains, to steal several minutes lead. Often the race was made for the lightweight freaks, until Armstrong's team ethic and pacemakers started to eliminate the chances for the little guys, to catch the race by surprise.
Wiggins won with real class and he did it for five clear reasons:
Talent - it was seen from an early age that he had the height, the leg length and the cardio engine to create very high pedal revolutions in high gears and thus maintain a consistent high speed. Also the need to win is often in your DNA. Some people are born champions, often because they are just such bad losers. In Bradley's case this is partly true, but he also had something positive to prove from his childhood. Just as with Lance Armstrong, a loving Mother and distant biological father seems to spark that extra level of hunger. The earlier victories at Olympic and World levels proved an exclusive pedigree for cycling speed.
Focus - this year there was just this one goal, with no distraction. The track racing was dropped. The London Olympics were merely an interesting opportunist week in the racing calendar. Everything was focused on Le Tour.
Experience - Wiggins knows that his Tour de France crash and quitting last year, due to a broken collar bone, gave him extra drive this year. It should be remembered that he was already 'mixing-it' with the elite climbers, as long ago as three years' ago. When he held his own until the very final attacks on the Mont Ventoux with the exhalted company of Schleck, Contador and The Great Armstrong, Wiggins showed his latent class. Plus it gave him real inspiration to climb those Grand Cols in his own way - avoiding the unpredictability of Alberto Contador's (allegedly artificially stimulated) uphill attacks or the short-term climbing bursts of Luxembourg's star Andy Schleck and, this year, the Italian Nibali.
Professionalism - this was reflected by the whole Team Sky Racing Team set-up. Their selection of team members, stringent mental and physical preparation in a whole season's perfect racing programme, caused three other stage-race victories to come Bradley's way. Plus the single-minded attitude and planning of the whole team set-up. However, it also needed Wiggins himself, to take his rigid outspoken self-discipline and focus to a new level. This was not easy with his new-found wealth and his young family at home, which he hardly saw during long nights of recuperation in corporate hotels through arduous training camps and long stage races. But his level or organised professional self-discipline really improved.
Belief - a new grade of his self-belief came from Wiggins' internal acceptance that he had everything in his physical make-up to realize the ultimate road cyclist's dream. This was supported by his back-up team, but also came from a rising level of respect among the super-elite cadre of the world's top riders. Slowing the peleton after Cadel Evans' misfortune was not just sportsmanship, but the action of someone who realized he was "Le Patron" at last.
There may just be one more year for Bradley to repeat this dominant victory again. But other teams and other Grand Tour contenders will find it very hard, in the short term, to establish these five factors for his success .
Wiggins won with real class and he did it for five clear reasons:
Talent - it was seen from an early age that he had the height, the leg length and the cardio engine to create very high pedal revolutions in high gears and thus maintain a consistent high speed. Also the need to win is often in your DNA. Some people are born champions, often because they are just such bad losers. In Bradley's case this is partly true, but he also had something positive to prove from his childhood. Just as with Lance Armstrong, a loving Mother and distant biological father seems to spark that extra level of hunger. The earlier victories at Olympic and World levels proved an exclusive pedigree for cycling speed.
Focus - this year there was just this one goal, with no distraction. The track racing was dropped. The London Olympics were merely an interesting opportunist week in the racing calendar. Everything was focused on Le Tour.
Experience - Wiggins knows that his Tour de France crash and quitting last year, due to a broken collar bone, gave him extra drive this year. It should be remembered that he was already 'mixing-it' with the elite climbers, as long ago as three years' ago. When he held his own until the very final attacks on the Mont Ventoux with the exhalted company of Schleck, Contador and The Great Armstrong, Wiggins showed his latent class. Plus it gave him real inspiration to climb those Grand Cols in his own way - avoiding the unpredictability of Alberto Contador's (allegedly artificially stimulated) uphill attacks or the short-term climbing bursts of Luxembourg's star Andy Schleck and, this year, the Italian Nibali.
Professionalism - this was reflected by the whole Team Sky Racing Team set-up. Their selection of team members, stringent mental and physical preparation in a whole season's perfect racing programme, caused three other stage-race victories to come Bradley's way. Plus the single-minded attitude and planning of the whole team set-up. However, it also needed Wiggins himself, to take his rigid outspoken self-discipline and focus to a new level. This was not easy with his new-found wealth and his young family at home, which he hardly saw during long nights of recuperation in corporate hotels through arduous training camps and long stage races. But his level or organised professional self-discipline really improved.
Belief - a new grade of his self-belief came from Wiggins' internal acceptance that he had everything in his physical make-up to realize the ultimate road cyclist's dream. This was supported by his back-up team, but also came from a rising level of respect among the super-elite cadre of the world's top riders. Slowing the peleton after Cadel Evans' misfortune was not just sportsmanship, but the action of someone who realized he was "Le Patron" at last.
There may just be one more year for Bradley to repeat this dominant victory again. But other teams and other Grand Tour contenders will find it very hard, in the short term, to establish these five factors for his success .
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