Bradley Wiggins has praised Lance Armstrong as the “perfect winner” of the Tour de France envisioned by the race’s founder, Henri Desgrange.
Wiggins hails the disgraced former cyclist in a new book paying tribute to a series of the sport’s stars, according to The Times.
In the book ‘Icons’, Wiggins begins a chapter on Armstrong by warning: “Look away now if you’re easily offended.”
He writes: “Legend has it that Henri Desgrange, the father of the Tour, envisaged a ‘perfect winner’ … the ideal Tour de France would have one finisher, a type of super-athlete who would not only defeat his opponents but also whatever nature might throw at him.”
Wiggins wrote of his first meeting with Lance Armstrong: “It was during a bike race and he came up and rode alongside me. He said, ‘How you doin’ there, Wiggo?’ or words to that effect, and smiled at me. I felt 10ft tall because . . . well, because he was Lance Armstrong. Am I allowed to say that, or does it make me some sort of cycling heretic?”
“I feel privileged to be a member of this group of nutters; we are not what you might call ‘normal’ people, but ‘normal’ certainly doesn’t win you the Tour.
“Legend has it that Henri Desgrange, the father of the Tour, envisaged a ‘perfect winner’ … the ideal Tour de France would have one finisher, a type of super-athlete who would not only defeat his opponents but also whatever nature might throw at him.”
In the new book, Wiggins argues that the race’s victors are masochistic, obsessive and sometimes ‘borderline sociopathic’. His words set out the argument that the winners shouldn’t be judged by the same standards as ordinary people.
Wiggins has previously said the American “doesn’t need to” apologise for tarnishing the sport.
