Cycling - 'It's ridiculous' - Reaction to Primoz Roglic furore at Paris-Nice on Bradley Wiggins Show
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Updated 15/03/2021 at 14:24 GMT
Reaction to the Richard Freeman trial may have been the biggest talking point from the second episode of season four of The Bradley Wiggins Show podcast, but Brad and guest Adam Blythe still found time to address what was a hugely dramatic weekend for Primoz Roglic at the 2021 Paris-Nice as he stole the headlines and fell agonisingly short.
Fuss over Roglic racing to win Stage 7 'ridiculous' - Bradley Wiggins Show
Primoz Roglic may have upset some people in winning Stage 7 of Paris-Nice, but the consensus on the Bradley Wiggins Show was that it was just a "ridiculous" fuss.
It was a dramatic and emotional weekend in a number of ways for the Slovenian, who suffered a nightmare final stage at Paris-Nice as he was overhauled by Max Schachmann in heartbreaking fashion.
Roglic rolled out on Sunday with a 52-second advantage over Schachmann, but then he crashed twice on descents, revealing later he had dislocated his shoulder in the first, and was distanced due to a split in the peloton.
The 31-year-old, sporting a huge road rash on his left thigh, set about trying to close the gap with no team-mates left to help but the peloton, driven on by Bora, kept him away. It was another disastrous conclusion to a stage race in France for Roglic, with memories of his Tour de France time-trial collapse brought flooding back as Schachmann celebrated a title that should have been Roglic's.
Before all of that, there was controversy on Saturday's Stage 7 as Roglic swept past lone escapee Gino Mader (Bahrain Victorious) with the finish line in sight, but Wiggins and guest Adam Blythe did not believe he did anything wrong and lamented the fuss over the incident.
"He has honoured the race and he is a champion," Blythe said on the podcast of Roglic, who battled to the finish line despite suffering the heartbreak of defeat on the final stage.
"Sprinting past Mader is just part of it. He is just there to win a bike race, as we all are. You don't see in a classic someone out on their own and the bunch going, 'Woah, woah, woah, we're not catching him!'
It's just ridiculous that it even crosses their minds where people think, 'Ah, that would have been nice if he had given it to him'.
"It would have been nice if someone paid me £3 million to ride my bike, but it wouldn't have happened."
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‘Mader has his heart broken’ – Roglic seals dramatic win to consolidate Paris-Nice lead
Wiggins added: "There are some traditions in cycling that are very long standing and not written anywhere. If you are about to take the yellow jersey you tend to give the stage to someone else.
"It's kind of an unwritten rule, but sometimes that doesn't always happen or transpire. But people have their reasons to do that, you know.
"I think now there is less criticism for that happening and the yellow jersey doing that. You can never really please everyone.
People just want to see racing, now more than ever. That is what the sport is all about, getting over the line first.
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'We all want to win!' - Roglic on tense finish of Stage 7
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