Giro d'Italia - Bradley Wiggins: Is it not Vaughters' duty to pull team out if he's so concerned?

ByDan Quarrell

Published 15/10/2020 at 21:43 GMT

On the latest episode of The Bradley Wiggins Show, Brad and fellow Eurosport expert Brian Smith unpick Jonathan Vaughters' interview with Orla Chennaoui on a surprising day that saw EF Pro Cycling call for the 2020 Giro d’Italia to be brought to a halt early.

Bradley Wiggins has questioned why Jonathan Vaughters is not pulling his team out of the Giro d'Italia on the latest episode of The Bradley Wiggins Show.

Eurosport exclusively revealed that EF Pro Cycling wrote a letter to the UCI and race organisers asking for the Giro d’Italia to be stopped after the second week of racing.

The proposal from the team to halt the race on the second rest day of the race, because of "a clearly compromised bubble", had been refused by the UCI, Eurosport reported.

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But Wiggins suggested on his latest podcast that if EF Pro Cycling manager Vaughters was so concerned about the situation he should have pulled his team out of the race rather than make the stand.

• Exclusive: EF Pro Cycling call for Giro to be stopped early
• Exclusive: 'We’re not threatening to leave the race' - EF Pro Cycling boss
• 'We recommend the Giro be stopped early' – Bombshell letter from EF Pro Cycling

"It seems a strange one, given the stances of Jumbo-Visma and Mitchelton–Scott," Wiggins said on the podcast, in reference to the two major teams who have already pulled out of the race.

For someone who is so concerned about this bubble that has been burst and the health of the race and everything, is it not his duty to pull his own team out if he is that concerned?

Vaughters exclusive: 'We’re not threatening to leave the race'

"From what I understand, it was a closed letter and now it has become an open letter. I don't know if that was his intention.

"He's certainly been back-tracking now so I wonder if it was ever supposed to go public and now he feels a bit silly about it?"

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Fellow Eurosport expert Brian Smith agreed with Wiggins and suggested that it was a strange way to go about the situation if Vaughters felt so strongly.

"I just don't see the point," Smith said. "You get solidarity from everyone, because then it comes with some power, rather than just one team saying you might want to halt the race on Sunday.

You don't just write a letter, you just do it. If you are unhappy about something, you just do it.

"Why, when you know the race organisers have already said publicly they are going all the way to Milan are you writing that letter? I don't see the point."

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