Wiggins: Marginal gains and inner chimp were a load of rubbish
Bradley Wiggins with the Soccer AM crew. He says he hasn't ridden his bike since November and doesn't miss it "one bit".
Bradley Wiggins has said Team Sky’s marginal gains philosophy was Dave Brailsford calling card but was really “a load of rubbish”.
And the former Team Sky leader and 2012 Tour de France winner added when he eventually got to have his say about recent controversies he would shock a few people.
Wiggins has been criticised for his refusal to speak publicly about his TUEs, save for a brief BBC interview last year, and the separate controversy over the delivery of a jiffy bag to France in 2011 for him.
A UK Anti Doping inquiry and parliamentary inquiry are still underway into practices at Team Sky and British Cycling. All involved, including Wiggins, deny there was ever any doping or cheating the TUE system.
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Appearing on the Soccer AM TV show in Britain today he said while he could still not offer substantive comment, when the current investigations were completed he would be speaking out.
"It's the worst thing to be accused of as a man of my integrity given what I believe and what I've done to get to where I am today,” he said if being accused of cheating.
"But fortunately there is an investigation underway and I can't say too much, but that will run its course.
"Eventually I will get my say and there is a lot to say. It's going to shock a few people."
Bradley Wiggins hasn't ridden a bike since November! ? pic.twitter.com/j9uvCkQPhp
— Soccer AM (@SoccerAM) March 25, 2017
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Separately, speaking at a JLA motivational breakfast event, he said the marginal gains philosophy espoused by Dave Brailsford was nonsense.
JLA, which was running the event is, the UK's largest “speaker bureau for business speakers, motivational speakers, after dinner speakers, awards hosts and performers”.
Eurosport have carried coverage of the event at which Wiggins was being interviewed on stage by Sky News presenter Sarah-Jane Mee.
“I think it’s a load of rubbish, if I’m honest. I do,” Wiggins said.
“A lot of people made a lot of money out of it and David Brailsford used it constantly as his calling card. But I always thought it was a load of rubbish.”
He expressed a similar view towards the chimp paradox, a technique for mental control set out in a book by Dr Steve Peters, Team Sky’s former head of medicine.
“The same with the whole chimp theory; that there’s a chimp living inside you,” Wiggins said.
“It never struck a chord with me. The people it struck a chord with are those who made fortunes selling it and telling you it’s the best thing since microwaves."
Control of the inner chimp
During his career Wiggins spoke of using the technique to let his fears and weaknesses out and them put the ‘chimp back in a box’ so he could focus on the challenge at hand.
However, he now says what won him all his races, titles and medals were talent and hard work.
" At the end of the day, chimp theories and marginal gains and all these buzz words... a lot of the time, I just think you have got to get the fundamentals right,” he said.
“Go ride your bike, put the work in, and you’re either good or you’re not good. Sometimes in life or in sport, whatever, you’re either good at something or you’re not.
“That’s what makes you a better athlete: your physical ability and whether you’ve trained enough – not whether you’ve slept on a certain pillow or mattress."
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