Decision to be made later if he could miss race due to Olympic Games
Amid speculation that Bradley Wiggins could pass up the chance to ride next year’s Tour in order to prepare for the London Olympics, Sky Procycling coach Rod Ellingworth has said that it will ultimately be up to the rider to decide.
The 31 year old Briton finished fourth in 2009 and in winning the Critérium du Dauphiné this year, some felt that he had a chance of challenging for the overall title in France. However the chance of seeing if that or a podium finish could occur was dashed when he crashed out of the Tour with a fractured collarbone on stage seven.
Many media outlets have speculated that the rider will miss next year’s race in order to focus completely on the London Olympics. If so, he would be 33 years of age in 2013, perhaps too old to challenge strongly.
However Ellingworth states that no decision has been as yet. “At the end of the day, we will follow what he wants to to…that is the main thing,” he told VeloNation in a video interview. “If he doesn’t want to do it, you won’t get the best out of him. If he wants to go for the track, we will go full on for the track…if he wants to do the Tour, I think we have to go full on for the Tour.”
There has been some talk that Wiggins could end up riding the Vuelta a España in August in order to prepare for the worlds time trial. VeloNation suggested to Ellingworth that if the rider could get back into the same sort of shape he was in earlier this month, that he could be a big contender in Spain.
“Maybe…we are still not one hundred precent sure yet,” he answered. “Let’s just see how he goes, how he heals in the next couple of weeks. I presume his name will be down on the list at the moment, then we will see what happens. I think it looks like Rigo [Rigoberto Uran] will perhaps ride the Vuelta as well, so we will go there with a pretty decent team. The worlds will be quite an objective for Bradley in the time trial.”
Ellingworth was speaking at the team hotel on Tuesday morning, prior to Edvald Boasson Hagen’s second place to Thor Hushovd in Gap and his superb solo win into Pinerolo today. Those performances have clearly added to what Sky Procycling has achieved in this race, but he was already happy with how things had gone.
“We have had ups and downs with Bradley’s crash and Rigobert’s crash and Flecha’s crash… a lot of guys have fallen,” he said then. “But considering all that, I think it has gone pretty well. Our goal from the start was to go top ten, and now Rigoberto looks likely…if he keeps that going, I think that will be pretty good, really.”
Uran is now tenth overall, seven minutes and 36 seconds behind the race leader Thomas Voeckler. He faces two more days of climbing plus Saturday’s time trial, and he and the team will battle onwards to ensure the best possible result.
Click the video below for his opinion on Wiggins’ recovery and targets, as well as his assessment of some of Sky Procycling’s riders.