Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins during the Open Men 2km during the British Indoor Rowing Championships at Lee Valley Veloparkhttps://t.co/ilffQk90ap
Pics by @StevenPaston pic.twitter.com/IiaT1ZZCkv
— PA Images (@PAImages) December 9, 2017
Bradley Wiggins hit a snag at the rowing championships today, above. He needs to reach a staggering 150 per cent of his 2012 cycling weight to catch up with the rowers he is competing against for a place on the British rowing team.
Bradley Wiggins big weight gain for rowing
Having won the Tour de France weighing approximately 67kg, Bradley Wiggins needs to hit 100kg to compete seriously in rowing.
However, he would gain about 15kg for his return to track racing, which ended with a team pursuit gold medal in Rio.
The weight will obviously come in muscle mass (not from pints and kebabs, sadly - Ed).
He has taken to his new sport of rowing apparently with the aim of making it to the 2020 Olympics.
But his first competitive outing today underlined how far he is behind the 100kg rowers he's vying with for a place at the Games.
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Wiggins finished in a lowly 21st place in the 2km event at the British indoor championships; held at the Lee Valley Velodrome.
Members of the GB rowing team filled the top five places. It means five-time cycling Olympic champion Wiggins faces an uphill battle if he really is to try and get to Tokyo.
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He slowed at the start today as he thought he had false started. And while he got going again very quickly, it was a serious slip at this level.
His time of 6mins 22.5secs was 34.3 seconds down on winner Adam Neill, the defending champion.
Huge disappointment today! Upon hearing a call in the background, I thought the race had false started so I put my oar down. School boy error but hey we live & learn as my plan was 6.02. Fantastic experience racing with everyone, will come back 12 months stronger next year! ?? pic.twitter.com/oMNPxKD8ip
— Brad Wiggins (@SirWiggo) December 9, 2017
Double Olympic rowing gold medallist James Cracknell, who has been mentoring Wiggins, said the ex cyclist’s time was 17 seconds off the target he had set for himself.
Cracknell added Wiggins would be “hurting” after coming up short. But he believed he would come back and do better.
However, Wiggins will be 40 years old in 2020. He must also make the transition from indoor competitive rowing to a boat.
And with so much to do in a relatively short period, the challenge of getting to Tokyo seems huge.
He also missed the trials to make the British rowing team for next year. However, that does not mean he couldn’t make it for 2019.
British Rowing chief executive Andy Parkinson said Wiggins could try to get onto the team. But he insisted the 2012 Tour champion would get no special treatment.
“It’s not quite as simple as pulling some good times (on an indoor machine) and dropping yourself in a boat,” he said.
“Our trials process tries to be as democratic or fair as possible. We don’t prejudice anyone coming into the system. But we don’t provide any favouritism either.”
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