There were really only two subjects swimming through the Twitterstream last week and those were Bradley Wiggins deciding not to ride the Tour de France and Lance Armstrong‘s charm offensive. Let’s start with Brad …
The Sky is Falling
When Wiggo abandoned the Giro, there was speculation as to whether he should have just manned up and carried on – or if, in fact, he was sick at all. The minute it became clear that Wiggo wasn’t going to do the double, as he had predicted before the Giro start, there was even *more* speculation as to whether he was going to go away, train himself back into form and force the issue over team leadership for the TdF. Almost immediately, both Sky Grand Poobah Dave Brailsford and Wiggins’ ‘father figure’ Shane Sutton said that, if Wiggo went to the TdF, he had to ride in support of SkyCap Froome. Not long afterwards, it was announced that Wiggo wasn’t going to have enough time to train properly to ride the TdF due to a knee injury. This set just about everyone off …
What was his future – at Sky, at the Grand Tours, in cycling in general?
Of course, the yin of Wiggins has been counterbalanced over the last year with the yang of Froome. 
Wiggo is one of those contentious figures in cycling and the responses from the Twitterati were split down the middle – some were gutted, some were not.
But what will he do with himself? We reveal his summer plans here …
![Wiggins Dr Who 1]()
Reach out and touch somebody’s hand …
Lance Armstrong has been unblocking some of his fiercest critics (egad!) and even (shock) engaging with them. And his fiercest critics are engaging right back. The strangest byproduct of this was a Tweet stream between Lance and FestinaGirl.
What I found bewildering about this exchange was the very fact that Suze had asked Lance to contribute his best/worst moments in the Tour. If she was writing an article on doping or disgraced athletes, that would make sense. But his best moment? ‘My best moment was standing on the top step of the podium on the Champs-Elysees the first (second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, seventh) time.’ I wonder what she thought he might say that she would have been able to use? I found Lance’s response a lot less bewildering. Why? Because he’s obviously on a charm offensive! (Mark my words, the man is going to run for Governor of Texas soon …)
And just a few other interesting/funny tweets on Mr Armstrong.
![G Lance GWhizz]()
![Lance nike quit]()
![Lance Peloton Cafe Lance free]()
The Gruppetto
On to less contentious issues. That Boy Phinney joins a French dance music duo.
And Jonathan Vaughters is the subject of a very clever teeshirt.
This, by the way, is Orville Redenbacher – he was a man who made millions by marketing gourmet popcorn in, oh, must have been the 70s onwards. If only Vaughters had that popcorn money to invest in the Sharpies.
The last word
I’m assuming that every cyclist knows how to turn his girdle. If Fabs ever needs any help with that …
