Wiggins Goes for Gold at the Track Worlds
Interview posted March 20
by Larry Hickmott (larryhickmott@britishcycling.org.uk)
In Athens 2004, Bradley Wiggins (above) made his mark on the Olympic competition in a big way, being the only British athlete to win three medals and in a weeks time, he will continue on his road to the Beijing Olympics with his first World Track Championships since 2003 when he won the Pursuit. A lot of miles on the road have passed under his wheels since then and after two Golds from two events at the Manchester World Track Cup in February, the Derbyshire based rider is now one of the big favourites for titles in Palma.
On Monday (March 19) britishcycling.org.uk caught up with Bradley after a long day on the track. After a morning where he spent three hours on the track doing Team Pursuit training, he returned in the afternoon to do some Individual Pursuit work. After two 1k standing starts, coach and riders decided enough was enough and Bradley knocked the session on the head, taking time to talk to us before returning to the team hotel.
He started by saying “preparation for the World Championships has been going quite good. Everyone was a bit nailed after the World Track Cup, more mentally than anything because there was so much emphasis placed on it. After that, we went out to Majorca and a camp there where we got together and regrouped which was quite good. At the time of the last World Track Cup, it sounded like a long time to the Worlds, five weeks, but now we’re a week out from competition, it has gone quite quick.”
Bradley then explained he was pleased where his form is saying “the main thing was that the form was there at Manchester and it was then just a case of maintaining it and not losing it by doing too little or too much. We have been hitting the numbers in the Team Pursuit and I can’t see us being beat. It’s just case of seeing who will ride because there are so many different combinations we can use.”
Asked to rate the team he is part of for the Team Pursuit, an event he hasn’t been part of for a few years now since Athens, he replied “It’s certainly the best team I have ever ridden in. Ed (Clancy) is now one of the fastest riders in the world now in the pickup position and Geraint Thomas was just a Junior when I was last doing the Team Pursuit and has come along and pushed his way into the team. Paul and Rob have again stepped up a level and I too have made improvements. So it’s for sure the best and fastest team I have ridden in.”
“We also have Steve Cummings to come back in to add even more strength so we couldn’t be in a better position.”
Bradley leads Paul Manning, Geraint Thomas and Ed Clancy during one of many Team Pursuit drills this and last week.
Talking about the Individual Pursuit which he won at Manchester, he says “the big thing at Manchester was to get the competition under my belt and I feel much more relaxed now going into the World Track Championships knowing what I have done and what I am capable of doing. Having been on the big stage of a World Track Cup at Manchester, the Worlds should be a bit easier as I won’t have some of the nerves I had before the World Track Cup.”
It has been a long time for Bradley between World Track Cups, with the last World Track Cups before Manchester being in 2000 prior to the Sydney Olympics as a 19 year old. Asked did he have trouble lifting himself for a World Track Cup being a champion of the World before and a reigning Olympic champion, he replied:
“Anything at Manchester is big. I get nervous for Revolutions you know and that is just the stage we have got to now as athletes. Every time we get on the track in front of a home crowd, we are expected to perform with a win. That’s the step up we have made in British cycling where medals don’t really matter any more, its Gold medals. That’s the reality of everything now. When you get a Bronze medal as part of the British team, its great for the individual but this team is about winning Gold’s now. So it’s great to be part of a team like this but it does come with a lot of pressure too.”
Pressure to win aside, Bradley does say “I have never been this relaxed going into a big competition and that has come from performing well at the World Track Cup in Manchester. That made me extremely confident in my ability and whether that wins me gold in the Individual, I don’t know as I can’t control what other people do, I just know what I am capable of doing.”
After so many years seeing Bradley working with former head coach, Simon Jones, I asked how it was having to adjust to working without Simon and in his place, Matt Parker (National Endurance coach) and Performance manager Shane Sutton.
“I have been working with Simon since I was 16 or 17 and think I have got to the stage now where at 26 I can control my own programme. I just run it over with Matt (Parker) and Shane (Sutton) and see what they think on things. We’re all pretty experienced enough to know what to do on the programme now in the Team Pursuit, the fitness levels we need for example, and so Shane and Matt are there to bounce things off.”
“I did get to a point in my career where I was quite reliant on Simon and didn’t know what to do once he left but its all good now. We have Chris Boardman there in the background as well who I can bounce ideas off and go to for assistance so its worked really well in the end.”
Bradley then told us what he has planned for the remaining time before they go to Majorca. “We leave on Friday so we have a few more days on the track and have an important session on Thursday in the Team Pursuit. I’m also on the track on Tuesday (20th) morning with Rob to do some Madison things together --- to hold each others hands for a few laps! It’s the first time we have done a Madison together since Athens.”
He then explained that should he had ridden the Madison at Manchester and won it with Rob, they would have been quite marked men, and although admitting they will probably be marked anyway, the less his rivals see them riding together the better adding they have a strategy already for Palma and they’ll be looking to win the event as they will all their events.
We wish Bradley lots of luck as he strives to win Gold for his country in three events and to help motivate him, as well as family and friends, he will also have his wife and children there to cheer him on saying his little boy will have his second birthday out there, yet more incentives to motivate him to win three medals at his first World Track Championships since Athens. Good luck Brad!
RELATED LINKS
GB Track World Championship Team
Home Page Manchester World Track Cup
Other Pre Worlds Interview (GB Riders)
