Wiggins promises to return after his ‘schoolboy error’ sinks rowing hopes
Cycling legend’s attempt to break into new sport fails to go to plan as blunder leaves him behind the pack
He arrived looking like a particularly hairy version of Bjorn Borg and stalked off under a cloud more befitting of John McEnroe. It was, in truth, hard to know what to make of Sir Bradley Wiggins’s first foray into the world of competitive rowing.
Wiggins – weighing 93kg, 26kg more than when he won the Tour de France in 2012 – finished 21st in the men’s open two kilometres at the Olympic velodrome in Stratford yesterday. His time of 6min 22.5sec was respectable given Wiggins is, well, a retired cyclist, 37 years old, and this was his first-ever 2km. But it fell a long way short of 6-02, his aim. And it poses plenty of questions about the five-time Olympic champion’s future involvement in the sport.
James Cracknell, the former Olympic champion who has been coaching Wiggins for nine months, had encouraged GB selectors to give the 2012 Tour de France champion a trial on the water had this event gone swimmingly, telling The Daily Telegraph GB selectors would be “stupid not to”, given the PR boost it could provide the sport.
Wiggins, himself, had spoken vaguely of a sixth Olympics in Tokyo in three years’ time. This performance will not have helped his cause.
There was intrigue, of course. This is Wiggins we are talking about.
He actually stopped rowing at one point when the announcer at the Olympic velodrome told the “red” section to put their oars down (Wiggins was in the blue section with the GB Rowing team). Although this would only have cost him a few seconds at most, Cracknell wondered out loud afterwards whether his protégé might have struggled mentally after that novice error.
“That kind of mistake will get in your head,” Cracknell said. “You saw that the experienced guys just carried on. It’s a similar thing to the Boat Race. If there’s a clash, you don’t stop unless the other boat stops. Brad had been looking very strong in the first 500m.”
Had Wiggins lost focus? Motivation? Certainly his 500m split times, having started out at 1min 31sec, which put him provisionally in the top 10, fell away alarmingly as his stroke rate slowed and his head began to loll. His last 500m split was a 1-40.1.
There were also rumours that Wiggins was unhappy with the proximity of cameras and TV crews situated a few yards in front of machine No12, albeit behind barriers.
It would have been nice to have asked him about that in person but Wiggins did not hang around at the finish. Whether that was because he could not face answering questions about Jiffy bags and Therapeutic Use Exemptions – Wiggins has barely spoken publicly since the Team Sky/ TUE scandal first broke last autumn – or whether he was just upset with himself, was unclear.
He stalked off down the tunnel and was not seen again. It was a shame for the crowd of 1,500 or so – unheard of at a British Indoor Rowing Championships.
At least Wiggins gave them good value for money at the start, arriving like a character out of a Wes Anderson film, dressed in a blue adidas sweatshirt and wearing a white headband to set off his long hair and enormous beard. He looked fairly nervous as he lined up alongside the GB rowers, but started well before the mistake threw him off balance. After taking the Hour Record here in 2015 and Madison gold here last year,
there was to be no hat-trick. Wiggins later posted his thoughts on Instagram. “Huge disappointment today!” he wrote. “Upon hearing a call in the background I thought the race had false-started so I put my oar down. Schoolboy error but hey we live & learn as my plan was 6-02. Fantastic racing with everyone, will come back 12 months stronger next year.”
It is thought he would need to post something in the region of 6-05 at the GB trials next autumn to be allowed to race on the water, presuming he takes the official route. Jurgen Grobler, the GB coach, could expedite that process. The German was present yesterday, exhorting greater effort from the GB contingent, although he did not stop to talk, either, so it was difficult to know his thinking.
Britain’s rowers seem keen. Adam Neill, the 6ft 7in monster who defended his title in 5-48.2, said he felt Wiggins “shouldn’t be too disappointed” and would “improve fast if he kept at it”, while Matt Rossiter, who took bronze for a second successive year in 5-53.3, described Wiggins’s mistake as a “shame” but added that he hoped Wiggins “sticks at it”.
It was left to Cracknell to have the final word on a strange afternoon. After such disappointment, he said, any athlete has to decide whether to walk away or keep trying. “It’s Wiggins,” he reflected. “I know which one I think he’ll do.”