Tour de France 2022 - ‘We've been robbed’ – Bradley Wiggins questions cobbles after Primoz Roglic disaster

Former Tour de France winner and Eurosport expert Sir Bradley Wiggins has questioned the inclusion of a cobbled stage so early in the 2022 edition of cycling’s premier race.

Wednesday’s Stage 5 of the Tour produced an astonishing spectacle, with Jumbo-Visma in particular the hardest hit, watching yellow jersey winner Wout van Aert hit the deck and nearly get hit by a car, as well as co-leader Primoz Roglic getting taken out by an errant haybale and losing considerable time to defending champion Tadej Pogacar.

A number of people within the sport have expressed their displeasure at the stage coming so early, including Chris Froome, when it can cause so much chaos, with an air of tension through the peloton throughout the day.

And speaking after the stage on his Eurosport podcast, The Bradley Wiggins Show, alongside Matt Stephens, Wiggins questioned the inclusion of the cobbles.

“So I was thinking today Matt, we have Paris-Roubaix and for obvious reasons people choose that. We have cobbled specialists for that,” Wiggins said.

“You kind of have to think after the start we had and with the potential damage that could have been caused on the bridge, we had a rainy prologue, we’ve got our first summit finish on Friday in this race…

“As much of a spectacle as the cobbled stages are to the viewers and to us we see the carnage it causes and we see the damage it does to people who prepare for this race all year long.

“And I ask the question: is it a necessity to have one stage like this in the first week with everything else that we have that is so specific and so much for a specialist that, I mean yes we could argue that Tadej [Pogacar] comes through it and the best all-around riders come through it, but there is a lot of luck involved isn’t there?”

In his response Stephens was torn, appreciating the spectacle it creates, but as a former rider also appreciating the inherent risk. Ultimately both Stephens and Wiggins agreed that the luck involved is the deciding factor, and that shouldn’t be the case. Wiggins lamented the fact that whilst the spectacle is great for viewers, at the same time it does mean that they have been denied a potentially epic battle between Roglic and Pogacar.

Roglic is currently 2'17'' down on GC already with the race yet to hit the mountains. Meanwhile, Pogacar is sitting pretty just 19 seconds off leader Wout van Aert.

“I say I’m torn, I think as a spectacle it’s amazing, I think it adds a little bit of spice to proceedings, not that the Tour de France needs spice and they certainly don’t do it every year but I for one, I really like it," said Wiggins. "I think it creates a lot of stress but as a spectacle it’s absolutely spectacular, it’s a wonderful advert for the sport.

“But I temper that with the fact that I completely understand why some pros might not want to ride it. We all knew, heading into today’s stage, and I said it that one or two riders will lose their GC hopes, and one or two riders will be going home because they’ll have crashed. And that doesn’t normally happen on any road stage, you might lose a bit of time but generally speaking luck doesn’t play such a bigger part. There’s only so much room on those roads and you’ve got such a mix of abilities.

“But also this new landscape I think that we talk about so often, this new style of racing and these new protagonists. The guys that are coming to the fore and are winning the Grand Tours and Classics are increasingly complete riders. And Tadej Pogacar is a complete rider, as is Wout van Aert. So I do like it, but I do understand riders who maybe don’t like if you look at Jumbo-Visma they’ll be thinking today ‘oh my goodness, this shouldn’t be in the race’ but they’ve still got the jersey [Jonas] Vingegaard is still in with a shout, but boy that must have been a ridiculously stressful stage for that squad.”

Wiggins added: “On the other hand I feel like we’ve been robbed of a Pogacar-Roglic battle up where the Tour is most famous for, on the climbs and La Planche des Belles Filles through a dislodged haybale. I think that’s where we have to draw the line here, is that Roglic hasn’t been distanced today on legs. He’s been distanced by misfortune of no making of his own and quite horrendously as well because we’ve lost another rider in Jack Haig through haybales that have to be put on road furniture at certain sections as it narrows down etc etc.

“You have to ask the question. Is today’s racing and the style of racing given how fast the sport is, and how competitive the sport is, ultimately causing misfortune to the likes of Roglic again as he did last year of course with the sign that the spectator had.”

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