The cycling legend’s entry into the Channel 4 reality show will be seen by some as a sell-out, but we can’t expect our sporting heroes to have impeccable legaciesCycling fans have long been inured to being let down by their heroes. Even still, there has been a special pang of say-it-ain’t-so-Joe disappointment with the announcement from Bradley Wiggins that, starting next month, he will be going head-to-head with Towie’s Lydia Bright and Spencer Matthews from Made in Chelsea to see who’s better at giant slalom. At stake, the prestigious Cowbell Trophy.“Skiing is a big passion of mine,” said Wiggins, revealing that he would be one of 14 competitors on Channel 4’s reality show The Jump. “It was a mix of...
Sir Dave Brailsford and Shane Sutton will appear before MPs on the culture, media and sport select committee on Monday. What should they be asked?Back when Team Sky was in utero, Sir Dave Brailsford made a startling statement of intent. “People come into professional cycling and compromise,” he told the Guardian in 2009. “We can’t compromise.” He was discussing specifically why he was avoiding riders associated with doping, but his words carried a deeper message: others might sprint into grey and black to be successful but Sky’s aim was to be straight as well as successful.There was always a contrast between the public projection of the Sky image – marginal gains, no stone left unturned, glory upon glory – and the...
The UCI president breaks his silence over the Fancy Bears hack and TUE revelations to insist ‘it’s clear, as far as I can see, no rules have been broken’As the planet’s finest cyclists battled through Doha’s searing temperatures and eerie crowd-free calm at the world road racing championships, Brian Cookson could be forgiven if he was starting to feel the heat too.Amid the furore over the three therapeutic use exemptions (TUE) granted to Bradley Wiggins in 2011, 2012 and 2013, then the claims made by the former Sky rider Jonathan Tiernan-Lock about the powerful painkiller Tramadol and, finally, the mystery medical package delivered to Sky on the day Wiggins won the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2011, increasingly uncomfortable questions have...