{"id":228352,"date":"2025-07-01T04:19:11","date_gmt":"2025-07-01T04:19:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/228352\/"},"modified":"2025-07-01T04:19:11","modified_gmt":"2025-07-01T04:19:11","slug":"i-threatened-to-leave-the-tour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/228352\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cI threatened to leave the Tour\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

Bradley Wiggins<\/a>\u2019 2012 Tour de France<\/a> victory remains one of
\nthe most iconic achievements in British cycling history. But more than a decade
\nlater, Wiggins has opened up about the turmoil behind the scenes, particularly
\nthe moment his teammate Chris Froome<\/a> attacked him on Stage 11 to La Toussuire.<\/p>\n

The move shocked fans at the time. Froome rode clear of
\neveryone, including race leader Wiggins, who was already in the yellow jersey
\nand holding a two-minute advantage. What looked like a moment of impulsive
\nambition caused visible tension between the pair on the road and sparked wider
\nquestions about Team Sky\u2019s leadership structure.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u201cI threatened to leave the Tour. I was leading by two
\nminutes and I didn’t expect that action at all,” Wiggins has now admitted at the Wattage Festival.<\/p>\n

Froome later claimed the move was strategic, motivated by
\nconcerns over bonus seconds. \u201cChris said he was worried about his position,
\nbecause of the bonus seconds at the finish. He was afraid he wouldn\u2019t be able
\nto catch Vincenzo Nibali in the time trial, so he wanted to gain as much time
\nas possible. At that point I became collateral damage.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Team Sky kept the leadership issue contained enough to
\nsecure Wiggins\u2019 historic win, the incident marked the beginning of a strained
\nrelationship between Britain\u2019s first two Tour winners. Wiggins never competed
\nin the Tour again after winning in 2012, and Froome went on to win the race
\nfour times himself.<\/p>\n

Yet for years, the
\ntwo remained publicly at odds.<\/p>\n

However, Wiggins has now revealed that he was the one who
\nre-initiated contact, at a low point in his post-cycling life. \u201cI was high and
\ndrinking when I called him. I was in a depressive period at the time with a lot
\nof self-loathing. Making up was part of it for me. I was very selfish during my
\ncareer. That was not the person I wanted to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

The call led to an honest reckoning between two riders who
\nwere once central to British cycling\u2019s golden era. \u201cWe were a threat to each
\nother’s ambitions, but now I understand that I have become a completely
\ndifferent person. That was liberating for me. We made up a few years ago. I
\ntold him then: Look … I was an asshole, you were too and our team manager
\nBrailsford was the biggest asshole. Then we kissed and hugged and from that
\nmoment on we are friends again.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bradley Wiggins\u2019 2012 Tour de France victory remains one of the most iconic achievements in British cycling history.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":228353,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4104],"tags":[4230,79,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-228352","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cycling","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-sports","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114776058474284937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228352","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228352"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228352\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/228353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228352"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228352"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228352"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}