Well as a sporting achievement, it’s mightily impressive. But as a TV event, it passed me by completely.
What you want from a sporting contest – drama, controversy, swaying emotions and an unknown outcome – were largely missing. Wiggins actually lived close to me during his school days. I can’t recall ever coming across him – I think I would have remembered a lyrca-clad youngster dodging traffic on Kilburn High Road. Unless you’ve lived under a stone for the last few years, you wouldn’t have missed his much repeated catchphrase that ‘Kids from Kilburn aren’t supposed to win the Tour de France’. I would actually claim that his nan’s house where he lived during his school days is actually closer to affluent Maida Vale but I guess ‘middle class privately educated boy winning the tour’ would not have the same ring to it.
But I’m being a little facetious, he’s had the most amazing career and his personality has helped him gain great fame and fortune. Wiggins has been key in the massive surge of interest in cycling and we should all thank him for that. I loved seeing his success in the Tour and it’s a shame for everyone that he won’t be competing in France this summer. Chris Froome is just as talented (if not more so), but he lacks the edginess or sheer charisma that Wiggins exudes.