Tour de France 2012: why Bradley Wiggins doesn’t need drugs

Bradley Wiggins

Mud sticks, the old saying goes. Or does it?

I can’t say I was surprised to read that a cursory eyebrow had been raised amongst the Spanish and Belgian Twitterati at the sight of Bradley Wiggins in a yellow jersey.

He would have been expecting it, just not so soon. His response was unequivocal, if unnecessarily terse. In a sport blighted by innumerable drugs scandals, it is unusual to see a rider defend himself quite so aggressively when questioned about doping. The applause which greeted his response in the press conference was illustration enough that the endless anodyne answers riders have given in the past have worn a little thin.

But, if not drugs, how has he done it? Firstly, this is not a sudden increase in form. Wiggins finished fourth in the 2009 Tour (on a route which, like this year, suited him), was third at last year’s Vuelta (despite riding with metal pins in a broken collarbone sustained at last summer’s Tour), as well as a series of high profile wins this year. It’s been coming.

The upturn comes from a training regime and application to it that has been unwavering. For more detail, check out the brilliant pieces by Brendan Gallagher and William Fotheringham, who were privileged enough to go and see Wiggins at his training camp in Tenerife earlier this year. Where some use drugs, Wiggins uses application and hard work.

What sort of distraction wearing the yellow jersey will offer Wiggins remains to be seen. It will be like a light attracting those doping questions over the next two weeks. And, as has been documented, once it is on your back, the post-stage routine in elongated by over an hour: the sanctuary of the team bus becomes even further away. If he is to keep it all the way to Paris, it will be a test – on and off the bike – unlike any other.  

But whatever the result come 22 July, we should all salute Wiggins – a beacon of hope at what can be achieved through nothing more than talent and single-minded dedication. And for answering straightforward questions with straightforward answers. 

In his case at least, the mud just won’t stick.