Bradley Wiggins: Never underestimate the Giro, this is why it’s the best race in the calendar
:focal(140x151:142x149)/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/04/28/2811917-58003384-310-310.png)
Updated 06/10/2020 at 09:48 GMT
It was a brutal day at the Giro d’Italia on Monday for Geraint Thomas. For close friend Sir Bradley Wiggins it was tough viewing, but as the former Tour de France winner pointed out on the latest episode of his podcast, The Bradley Wiggins Show, it is precisely this sort of chaos that makes the Giro the best race on the calendar. Listen and subscribe on the platform of your choice.
Overall leader Team Ineos rider Italy's Filippo Ganna, wearing the pink jersey (L), Team Ineos rider Great Britain's Geraint Thomas (2ndL) and Team Ineos rider Australia's Rohan Dennis (R) ride behind on October 5, 2020
Image credit: Getty Images
Before Stage 3 of the Giro d’Italia on Monday pundits were predicting fireworks on Mount Etna, but no-one expected just how big those fireworks were going to be.
In a dramatic day the headline news was one of the pre-race favourites, Geraint Thomas, having his title hopes blown to pieces in a big GC shake-up.
Speaking on the latest episode of his podcast, The Bradley Wiggins Show, former Tour de France and Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins tried to digest what he had just seen.
What he was sure about, however, was that you can never underestimate the Giro.
“It just shows you the nature of the Giro and how quickly it can turn around.” Wiggins said in conversation with Graham Willgoss.
I wouldn’t have believed that would happen but I never underestimate the Giro.
“Great to watch, wasn’t pleasant for me [personally] to watch Geraint [Thomas] struggle but on the flip side it was great to see [Vincenzo] Nibali up there. What a stage”
“It’s such a shake-up I’m still trying to get my head round the whole thing. The other one who has somehow ridden himself back into contention is Jakob Fuglsang.”
The GC is wide open now with six riders less than a minute back from new pink jersey wearer Joao Almeida of Deceuninck Quick-Step. A further 18 riders are within four minutes and as Wiggins points out there is a far greater leeway with time when it comes to the Giro.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/10/05/2905022-59770448-2560-1440.jpg)
Videos show crash which ended Geraint Thomas's Giro dream
“The Tour was played out between 30 seconds and a minute for three weeks. Nibali has come back from three minutes down in the past to win, you look at Froome a few years back.
It’s why it’s the best race in the calendar.
“From a spectacle point of view as sad as it was to see G like that my other favourite rider in that peloton is Nibali and I’m going to be egging him on.”
Touching on another British hopeful, Simon Yates, who is 3:46 back Wiggins is hopeful it’s just a one-off, akin to Liverpool’s surprising capitulation against Aston Villa at the weekend in the Premier League.
/origin-imgresizer.eurosport.com/2020/10/05/2905016-59770328-2560-1440.jpg)
Stage 3 Highlights - Race-defining day at the Giro as Thomas and Yates struggle on Mount Etna
“It’s not over for Simon. My only hope is that it was a blip, a bit like Liverpool. It could be worse though, could be a Man Utd fan at the moment.
“On Simon Yates, we did see Matt White at the finish and he wasn’t aware of anything. The thing that struck me the most was that when he came across the line he had his shirt fully undone.
“He looked in distress compared to his team-mate and the company he was in, it was a group you wouldn’t expect Simon to be in at the top of the climb and he looked as if he was struggling the most of that group so it doesn’t bode well for it being a blip.
“It was his facial expressions that were worrying me.”
And finally the talk turned to the future of the race for Ineos after what happened to Thomas, and Wiggins believes it’s not clear-cut who becomes their leader.
“I don’t know, they have to shuffle up now. I think he’ll [Tao Geoghegan Hart] be disappointed that he’ll have to become team leader now. I think he’ll have been relishing the prospect of doing that for G. Maybe [Jonathan] Castroviejo who knows.”
The Bradley Wiggins Show is back for the Giro d’Italia with new podcast episodes nearly every day of the three-week Grand Tour. Listen and subscribe now on your podcast platform of choice.
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement