Tue 21 May 2013 | 
Sense of sedation in Brad's ground-out Tour success
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Enlarge textHas this been the most sedate Tour de France in almost 20 years? Michael Tomalaris muses on just that subject.
Like for like? Bradley Wiggins and Miguel Indurain have been compared because of their similar race-grind styles.
- 152 Comments | Join the discussion
So has it? Those of us who adore everything this marathon three week bike race has to offer will surely not agree.
But the many who follow the Grand Tour as a once-a-year fix watching from the comfort of a lounge suite, have suggested otherwise.
Is Team Sky to blame for the lack of excitement?
Does the fact that Bradley Wiggins and Fabian Cancellara have been the only riders to wear the yellow jersey have something to do with the staleness of this year's event?
I'd like to think not, but there are certainly signs that suggest otherwise.
The Tour is all about dominating, controlling and winning, whatever the cost and whatever it takes.
There's no doubt Wiggins fits into this category extremely well - his performances have been clinical and methodical.
He has ridden at the front of the peloton with his Sky lieutenants, out of trouble, every day for three weeks.
He has done everything required to conquer the Tour, and all but barring a disaster, he will be crowned champion in Paris, the first Brit in Tour history.
But, while his success should not be underestimated, indeed praised, will it be remembered?
I would argue that history shows personality and panache generate the iconic moments in television sport, the moments we savour, the moments we love.
Eddie Merckx, Laurent Jalabert, Greg LeMond, Lance Armstrong and Alberto Contador (to name a few) are past Tour winners who were blessed with such ingredients.
Sadly, as Wiggo rides into Tour history as the first winner from across the English Channel, I can't think of too many moments when he has been lauded for attacking the peloton.
Sure, some may say by defending the race lead he doesn't need to - this is understandable. But, the common comments to describe his style are, "lacking charisma" or "boring on the bike."
Some prefer to compare him, perhaps cruelly, with five-time Spanish winner Miguel Indurain, likened for his possession of a diesel-like engine, capable of success, sans flair.
Team-mate Christopher Froome thought about lighting up the race more than once, only to be put back in his box.
Take the likes of Thomas Voeckler, Alejandro Valverde, Peter Sagan and Luis Leon Sanchez - all have been praised for their attempts to ignite life into the race.
Perhaps the parcours has played into the hands of such a criticism, and Wiggins’ racing style.
Tour director Christian Prudhomme may have made a faux pas by positioning the first time trial in Arc-et-Senans before the Alpine stages and may have to re-think the structure of next year’s course as a result.
I can appreciate the amount of commitment and sacrifice it takes for any cyclist to win the Tour de France and the same applies to Wiggins.
That said, in a world where sport and entertainment are so closely intertwined, perhaps we shouldn't be looking to the man with the impressive sideburns.
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Comments (152)
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14 Jan 2013 18:27 AEST
From: Umina Beach
A bit late with this, but for Laurent Jalabert read Laurent Fignon.
14 Oct 2012 18:51 AEST
From: Bright
Well there's no getting around it - it was a boring Tour. And staying up until 2am every stage to watch Sky grinding it out with futile attacks as Sky watched their wattage meters and pulled them back at 450 every time. To see a real tour, the likes of those Tomo talks about, the race radios need to go, along with the wattage meters. And really, to compare Wiggins with Indurain, one of my all time favourites - surely you can't think they're of the same ilk? Indurain was beautiful to watch.
29 Aug 2012 7:55 AEST
From: Melbourne
I know this blog is a month old, but in light of the Armstrong-USADA case, then the "panache" that Tomo speaks of is just PED-fuelled racing. It's exactly why this year's Tour has been so sedate. And last year's win by Cadel was a win for clean cycling. I suggest that whenever "panache" or other descriptors are used of past Tours, then an acknowledgement of the damage PEDs have had on the sport also ought to be included. I'm sick to death of drug cheats. They cheat us of our trust in cyclists.
30 Jul 2012 11:37 AEST
From: West Beach
Nothing can take away from the fantastic effort Bradley Wiggins and Team Skye put in they were just too good and rode a perfect tour. If it means the Tour was boring because of it - so be it. I can't believe the criticism of Tomo, I love listening to his breakdown of each stage with whoever is his guests, he has done so much to promote cycling interest in Australia, like us all he slips up now and then but don't believe he meant the way it sounded to Matt Goss, he is on his side.
29 Jul 2012 15:44 AEST
From:
Yes it was not as exciting as previous tours, but it is professional sport , and not a circus. It costantly evolves. How long did it take to defeat Sky? Not long! Great Olympic race last night!
26 Jul 2012 17:40 AEST
From:
Yea Tommo did bugger up a bit there. It was the right question to ask but at the wrong time. Green Edge rode well but I am pretty sure they were disappointed to come so close to that elusive stage win on a number of occasions and just miss out.
26 Jul 2012 17:32 AEST
From:
I seldom agree with Tommo but he is right it was overall quite boring. The GC was decided early, as was the green jersey early and only the polkadots gave a frission of interest. Matt Keenan is good but Ligget and Sherwin are past it and continually make errors about the identities, what is actually happening in the race and contradict each other. Of course the casual viewer loves them because they are quite colourful and they don't realise what a load of pap they are being fed.
26 Jul 2012 15:35 AEST
From: Melbourne
So the new people to the sport may not know the past but Mike Tomalaris is one of the reasons why you get to watch the tour. The amount of work the guy has done for cycling in Australia is enormous. Maybe before commenting you should find out some facts. I'm pretty sure that Tomo has done more in one day for Australian cycling than you will ever do in your lifetime. Having said that I think he would like to take back his sentence to Gossy, that one did not come out right...
26 Jul 2012 13:47 AEST
From: Brisbane
Question to Mike Tomalaris: "Talk us through your feelings Mike. What are you feeling, having just completed the commentary on the Tour with no success? Can you give us your feelings right now? Loved Dave McKenzie. Great insights to some of the finishes. Great interviews and sensible questions.
26 Jul 2012 7:52 AEST
From: Canberra
Matt Keenan is a great commentator..... The rest are rubbish though. Agreed - Tomo should go, along with Loigget and co.
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Stay in touch with the ProTour road cycling season with SBS's cycling blog, featuring race reports, video highlights and blog coverage of every race of 2010, as well as details of SBS's racing coverage
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