Abu Dhabi: Abu Dhabi Tour absentee Sir Bradley Wiggins could do with any friends he can get at the moment, so he will have been cheered by the warm words of rival Elia Viviani.
Wiggins had been due to compete against his ex-Team Sky teammate Viviani — a fellow 2016 Olympics gold medallist — in the UAE capital’s second annual cycling showpiece.
But last week the beleaguered star pulled out of the four-stage event, which got under way at Madinat Zayed on Thursday, as controversy continues to rage over his use of a banned drug.
Viviani, who won the omnium event at the Rio Games, briefly raced alongside Wiggins in 2015 before the Briton formed his eponymous Team Wiggins.
“He was a big champion to go out of the team [Sky],” said the 27-year-old Italian Viviani, who disappointingly finished outside the top 10 on the first day of the Abu Dhabi Tour after being among the favourites to win the sprint stage. “He decided to go on his own road with his own personal team and he won another gold medal [at the Olympics].
“He’s won a lot of gold medals, he’s won the Tour de France, he’s won the World Championship twice. He’s a real legend and we miss him for sure.”
Rare and welcome praise for Wiggins, then, in a week where fellow British cycling luminaries Sir Chris Hoy and Chris Froome have implored the 36-year-old to provide further answers over his use of the banned anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone.
Wiggins received three therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) to allow him to inject the substance, which has a history of abuse in cycling, although he has not been found guilty of any wrongdoing.
“What do I think about that?” Viviani, who won two stages of the four-stage Abu Dhabi Tour in its inaugural year in 2015, added. “I don’t know really about the history, so I can’t speak about that. I don’t know the specifics of what happened, but I think if the UCI [cycling’s governing body, Union Cycliste Internationale] give permission to have TUEs, then it’s not a problem for the rider or the team.”
