Tuesday 24 July 2012

Tour de France? Tour de Force more like!

Incroyable!
King of Mod cycling LEGEND Bradley Wiggins has put his Tour de France disappointments of 2010 & 2011 behind him (Link: Bradley Wiggins Tour de France ).

Velodrome seen from Olympic Park
It seems highly appropriate the day after Sir Chris Hoy has been selected by the athletes to be Flag-Bearer for the British team for the Opening Ceremony (note it will be the first he has actually witnessed) and on the same day that some of the cycling team actually come into the Olympic Village that some reflection be called for.

How good is Wiggo then?
Information from several sources suggest he is clearly one of our great cyclists but the convetsations about his being one of the truly Great Britons alongside multiple medallists and true greats from across the sporting landscape should make us sit up and take time to take note of what he has achieved this past three weeks. After all, the tradition for cycling in the UK has been rooted in time trails & the track rather than endurance and hill climbs on the road.

'Inspire a Generation' on the side of the velodrome
However it may all be about to change the face for cycling in this country. Has Bradley Wiggins & Team Sky instead stolen a march on the 'Inspire a generation' theme of the London Olympics? Can't just have been London's balmy 27 degrees that had public parks such as Victoria Park whirring to the sounds of spinning pedals?

 Here's hoping that Cav can tame the 7 laps at Boxhill and the rest of Saturday's Road Race and be 1st to bring home gold for #TeamGB furthering the cementing of cycling as a contemporary British sport (and if not then PLEASE could it be Aberdeen's Hannah Miley for swimming?)?

Next stop UCI event dominance, more TdF success and then the challenges of the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome at Glasgow 2014!

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