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Bradley Wiggins in discussion over new one-year deal with Team Sky Bradley Wiggins in discussion over new one-year deal with Team Sky
(about 1 hour later)
Bradley Wiggins says his main targets next year will be an attempt on the world hour record and the Paris-Roubaix Classic – not winning the Tour de France. However, a report in La Gazzetta dello Sport that he has signed for Sky for 2015 is premature. Discussions are ongoing, but it is understood that a deal is unlikely to be finalised until the autumn. Dave Brailsford is hopeful he can persuade Bradley Wiggins to stay with Team Sky – and says he is willing to support his ambition to compete in the Rio Olympics “in any way” possible.
But Wiggins has not ruled out competing in the Tour next year – especially as Chris Froome’s crash last week has made Team Sky re-evaluate his importance in Grand Tours. At 34, Wiggins might not be Plan A anymore, but they realise his experience and class would have been invaluable this year. Speaking during the stage to La Planche des Belle Filles, won by Wiggins two years ago, Brailsford dismissed reports in Italian newspapers that a deal had been signed as untrue. But he admitted the pair were talking about an arrangement that could lead to Wiggins focusing primarily on adding to his seven Olympic medals – a British record – in 2016.
Wiggins, who won the Tour in 2012, is also not short of offers, having been courted by Orica GreenEdge and Garmin-Sharp after not being selected by Sky for this year’s Tour. “As we’ve said before he is a great champion,” said Brailsford. “He is very much part of the Team Sky story. And I think with his goal set on Rio, if we can support that in any way that would be a great thing.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, he said: “I’m thinking about the Hour Record. Not this year but I’ll try next year.” He also expressed his desire to have another pop at Paris-Roubaix next April, after finishing ninth this year. “They’re the most beautiful roads, in the most fascinating race in the world: Roubaix,” he said. “I rode this year but next year I want to win it. It’ll be my big goal for 2015.” “I don’t think we can forget that one of Team Sky’s original goals was to support the Olympic efforts of British cycling as well as to win the Tour. In that respect I think it makes sense. We did it with Geraint Thomas and we did it with Pete Kennaugh, where they had very modified race programmes which allowed them to optimise their preparations for the Olympic Games.
Sky’s team principal Dave Brailsford has called Wiggins “a great champion who has been integral to the Sky story. We are keen to support him in the best way as he works towards his ultimate goal of achieving Olympic success in Rio,” he added. “We’re looking to see whether something similar can be done.”
Wiggins has not raced in a Grand Tour since slipping out of the Giro D’Italia last May and did not go on Sky’s high-altitude training camp this year. He will ride in this year’s Vuelta a España after competing at the Commonwealth Games as preparation for his main goal of 2014, the world time-trial championships. Wiggins, meanwhile, has says that main main targets next year will be an attempt on the world hour record and the Paris-Roubaix classic – not winning the Tour de France. Speaking to Gazzetta he was also reported to have said: “My time as a Grand Tour rider is over. I’ll still ride them but not to win them,”
Meanwhile Wiggins believes that Vincenzo Nibali should be regarded as favourite for this year’s race. “I think Nibali will win the Tour, he’s my favourite,” he said. “If he goes as well as he did when he won the Giro last year, if he’s got the same condition, I think he’s unbeatable.” Yet it is understood that Wiggins has not ruled out competing in the Tour next year – especially as Chris Froome’s crash last week has made Team Sky re-evaluate his importance in grand tours. Wiggins might not be Plan A anymore, but his experience and class would have been invaluable in Froome’s absence.
Wiggins is also not short of offers, having been courted by Orica GreenEdge and Garmin-Sharp after not being selected by Sky for this year’s Tour, but it is understood that all sides expect a deal will be reached in the early autumn.
Speaking to La Gazzetta dello Sport, Wiggins revealed he was also eyeing Ondrej Sosenka’s world hour record, which has stood since 2005: “I’m thinking about the Hour Record,” he said. “Not this year but I’ll try next year.”
Wiggins also expressed his desire to have another pop at Paris-Roubaix next April, after finishing ninth this year. “They’re the most beautiful roads, in the most fascinating race in the world: Roubaix,” he said. “I rode this year but next year I want to win it. It’ll be my big goal for 2015.”
Next Wiggins will ride in the Commonwealth Games later this month and Vuelta e Espana in August but both events will be used as a tune up for his main target in 2014: the world time-trial championships.