Here's something else that didn't previously appear on this blog. It was a feature for the Majorca Daily Bulletin in February.
In any walk of life it is hard to come to terms with the fact that you are unhappy and that you are going through the motions. For a high-performance and high-achieving athlete it must be even harder. Without happiness and without motivation, what is the point of what you are doing?
We all know Bradley Wiggins. Don't we? We all know the sideburns, the Mod look and the bit of a geezer style (all now discarded), the Olympic champion, the winner of the Tour de France. We know all this but actually we know nothing. One can only come to know so much about someone in the course of twenty minutes, but at Team Sky's Alcúdia hotel on Tuesday evening, Wiggins was remarkably frank and honest. I didn't know him before. I know something of him now.
Why unhappy though? Two years ago at the Mallorca training camp, he had been happy. But that was before everything that happened in 2012. In that summer he had left for the Tour de France and the Olympics "pretty much unknown" and had returned "the most famous man in the country". This "shortcut to fame" had been hard for him to handle and for his family. At the training camp a year ago he had yet to come to terms with the consequences of 2012. There was all the "hangover" from 2012. He hadn't looked forward to racing and when he did, it was a case of going through the motions. Missing the Tour de France last year was, he admits, a "blessing in disguise".
To make matters worse, there was the fallout from Lance Armstrong and his admission of having been a doper. His kids were "harassed" and "bullied". Was their dad taking drugs as well? He had to move them to a different school. "It was horrible. I felt responsible and it all added to my unhappiness." Then there was the team itself. The end of that season of success in 2012 should have been a time for celebration. There was a party (in London), but instead, "it felt more like a wake".
Apart from all this, there was the need to come to terms with a different situation within the team. The elevation of Chris Froome to team leader and the apparent issues these raised for Wiggins have been chewed over enough times. Whatever issues there were, they are resolved. Wiggins' renewed happiness stems in part from "not carrying the burden any more". "Chris has taken the mantle and is set to dominate the Tour de France for the next few years. I want to do the team and do Chris justice, and to do this, I have to be there when it matters at the crucial moments." There was a time last year when he "was really struggling" and when he questioned if he was able to do a job that warranted his being on the team.
The training camp in Mallorca has helped to mend bridges and to put the team and Wiggins back into a better place. Whether in a room talking with Froome and other team members or out on the road, the time spent at the Alcúdia base both before Christmas and since the start of the new year has been hugely positive. "A complete contrast to where I was this time last year." A much happier Bradley, therefore, who is looking forward to racing with and supporting Froome and to also doing himself justice.
A key target is obviously this year's Tour de France, and there is a sense in which Wiggins wants to right what he perceives as a wrong last year; right a wrong that was the conclusion drawn by some from Froome's performance in last year's Tour. He compares how it was for him to win in 2012 with how it was for Froome by drawing what might seem a strange analogy. He was watching the film "Gladiator", and he realised that by winning the crowd and so winning your freedom was how it had been for him in 2012. He had won his freedom. "It was the opposite for Chris because of his performances" and so because of the suspicions. "The Tour was horrible for the team last year. I'd like to win those people over a bit. I feel keener to do so. I feel much more comfortable in my own shoes. A year ago I wasn't interested in the bigger picture stuff."
This bigger picture stuff includes his own role in the world of cycling and the inspiration he offers. He accepts that there will always be those who are suspicious, but he places himself in a "very small club" of Tour winners who don't have a "history". It's a euphemism, but one understands what he means. The majority of people, rather than being suspicious, believe in him. "I got knighted by my country because they believe in you. Believe in you as a role model and believe you are a genuine person. Why would you go and cheat?"
There is a humility about Wiggins, one that may be a reflection of him having come to terms with how roles have changed, but there is also a wish to tell the story of his success and of that of the team. "I'm blowing my own trumpet, but fuck it, why not? I have come through this system since I was seventeen, when Chris Boardman was the role model, to this incredible success from the track to what we do on the road. It's a different story to anyone else. No one else had gone from the track to the Tour."
And the track may just be where he ends his career; the track which was his "first love" as a cyclist and which was where it all started for him at the Sydney Olympics. "I don't think I'll go (to the Olympics in Rio in 2016) and defend my time-trial title, but I'd love to go back to the track." 2016 will be his last Olympics, if he makes the team, "so to finish on a high would be a great way to go out".
Shorter term, there are targets for this year. The Tour is one, albeit as a team member supporting Froome, another is the Tour of California, and California is a place he seems to have fallen for. There is a huge cycling community there, but he makes the point that that community "has been robbed a little by all that has gone on". The spectre of Armstrong is never far from the surface, and Armstrong was one reason why this time last year Wiggins was unhappy. That unhappiness has now gone, and the contentment of a more reflective Sir Bradley has been found, partly, on the roads of Mallorca. Out on a bike with his team mates; Froome in particular. "There's a lesson for us all to spend more time together. Just talking."
Showing posts with label Bradley Wiggins. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Bradley Wiggins. Show all posts
Thursday, December 25, 2014
Wednesday, February 05, 2014
A Tale Of Two Sirs: Team Sky
The first time I ever interviewed (I use the word in the loosest sense) a leading sports figure was when I was nine years old. "Will you play for England?" was my question. My interlocutor was non-committal. He was ever so humble. He was Basil D'Oliviera. I wanted his autograph. But I was, even at nine years of age, intrigued by him. Who was he? Why was he?
D'Oliveira had a back story that was unique. It was one from a different time and he was someone from a different era. Had his story been one from today, it would be analysed and discussed in a constant flurry of internet dissection. He himself would be scrutinised, followed, watched by an insatiable media. The scandal of his initial non-selection for South Africa would have been headlines for weeks, not just the day or two that it was in 1968. There would have been many more John Arlotts indignant at his treatment and dismissive of the cricketing establishment.
Keven Pietersen is, in a way, the current-day D'Oliveira, but only because of his South African connection. And as is the way of the current day, there is nothing we don't know of his story or believe that we don't know. Pietersen's uneasy relationship with the media stems from what the media believes him to be, even if he isn't, but it also stems from his own contrariness. His treatment is a product of his own complexities.
Pietersen, even before he was thrust under the Ashes-winning spotlight in 2005, was known about and discussed and analysed. The rights and wrongs of his qualification for England were as important as what we already thought we knew about him as a person; there were those stories of course of difficulties in the Nottinghamshire dressing-room. He has lived under that spotlight ever since. He didn't simply go from being an unknown to a highly known. He was always known.
Contrast him with Bradley Wiggins. Here is a sporting character with his own complexities, ones that were not exposed until he was suddenly under the spotlight. They were ones that caused him to suffer. I met him yesterday. He as much as admitted that he couldn't handle all that came along in 2012.
I had expected someone who might be stand-offish. One forms impressions, even if they are wrong ones. An at-times uneasy relationship with the media stems not just from his personality but also from all the baggage that his sport drags around with itself: the constant weight of doping insinuations that pull the bike back. Getting inside the head of Bradley Wiggins is a task for someone more intimately engaged with his sport and with him than for me, but in his media session in Alcúdia yesterday, one was able to get an inkling of what there is in that head.
Articulate and self-analytical, he veers between the humble and the boastful, but the boastful comes with a rider - "fuck it", why shouldn't I blow my own trumpet? Indeed, why shouldn't he? There was much that struck a chord and which I shall relate in an article for the "Majorca Daily Bulletin", but for now, there was one thing in particular that stood out. It was an epiphany moment that came from watching the film "Gladiator". I had to win to gain my freedom. I shall try and explain in that article.
Sir Dave Brailsford is the team principal of Team Sky. Again, impressions formed beforehand can be misleading. Brailsford, one might imagine, is a rather joyless egg-head, guided by data and management/sports science. Initially, I thought he might be a tough egg to crack. Was he interested in talking or not? Perhaps he thought he would be asked about the merely trivial. So I didn't. I wanted to know about how new riders were processed into the team. It was a good question, he said, and a difficult one. You find something that is important, and once you find it then an interview becomes that much easier. The interviewee is on your side. And then you ask about the most important subject of all. The interviewee himself.
You can gain only a small insight over the course of a total of half an hour into the minds of leading sportspeople. But some insight there was. More of it, therefore, to come.
D'Oliveira had a back story that was unique. It was one from a different time and he was someone from a different era. Had his story been one from today, it would be analysed and discussed in a constant flurry of internet dissection. He himself would be scrutinised, followed, watched by an insatiable media. The scandal of his initial non-selection for South Africa would have been headlines for weeks, not just the day or two that it was in 1968. There would have been many more John Arlotts indignant at his treatment and dismissive of the cricketing establishment.
Keven Pietersen is, in a way, the current-day D'Oliveira, but only because of his South African connection. And as is the way of the current day, there is nothing we don't know of his story or believe that we don't know. Pietersen's uneasy relationship with the media stems from what the media believes him to be, even if he isn't, but it also stems from his own contrariness. His treatment is a product of his own complexities.
Pietersen, even before he was thrust under the Ashes-winning spotlight in 2005, was known about and discussed and analysed. The rights and wrongs of his qualification for England were as important as what we already thought we knew about him as a person; there were those stories of course of difficulties in the Nottinghamshire dressing-room. He has lived under that spotlight ever since. He didn't simply go from being an unknown to a highly known. He was always known.
Contrast him with Bradley Wiggins. Here is a sporting character with his own complexities, ones that were not exposed until he was suddenly under the spotlight. They were ones that caused him to suffer. I met him yesterday. He as much as admitted that he couldn't handle all that came along in 2012.
I had expected someone who might be stand-offish. One forms impressions, even if they are wrong ones. An at-times uneasy relationship with the media stems not just from his personality but also from all the baggage that his sport drags around with itself: the constant weight of doping insinuations that pull the bike back. Getting inside the head of Bradley Wiggins is a task for someone more intimately engaged with his sport and with him than for me, but in his media session in Alcúdia yesterday, one was able to get an inkling of what there is in that head.
Articulate and self-analytical, he veers between the humble and the boastful, but the boastful comes with a rider - "fuck it", why shouldn't I blow my own trumpet? Indeed, why shouldn't he? There was much that struck a chord and which I shall relate in an article for the "Majorca Daily Bulletin", but for now, there was one thing in particular that stood out. It was an epiphany moment that came from watching the film "Gladiator". I had to win to gain my freedom. I shall try and explain in that article.
Sir Dave Brailsford is the team principal of Team Sky. Again, impressions formed beforehand can be misleading. Brailsford, one might imagine, is a rather joyless egg-head, guided by data and management/sports science. Initially, I thought he might be a tough egg to crack. Was he interested in talking or not? Perhaps he thought he would be asked about the merely trivial. So I didn't. I wanted to know about how new riders were processed into the team. It was a good question, he said, and a difficult one. You find something that is important, and once you find it then an interview becomes that much easier. The interviewee is on your side. And then you ask about the most important subject of all. The interviewee himself.
You can gain only a small insight over the course of a total of half an hour into the minds of leading sportspeople. But some insight there was. More of it, therefore, to come.
Sunday, January 27, 2013
The Mallorca Branding Of Bradley
Yesterday, I referred to the small attention that the Balearics tourism promotion action plan is to give to cycling tourism. As cycling tourism is meant to be a key component of winter tourism, this small attention seems perverse. And as Mallorca is currently in the midst of yet more Wiggo fever, it seems doubly perverse that not more attention is planned and that Bradley Wiggins isn't a part of this promotion.
On the face of it, the face of Wiggins would make a perfect fit with Mallorcan promotion of cycling tourism and tourism promotion in general, especially to a UK market. He spends much of his time on the island, he has expressed his fondness for the island, he is able to benefit from its diverse geography in his training. Wiggo, the face of Mallorca, or a facet of Mallorca makes sense.
However, it isn't quite this simple. The Wiggins face and the Wiggins name are two of the most marketable assets in sport at present. His are not assets as strong or as recognisable as, say, Beckham, Bolt or Messi, but they are strong nevertheless. And such strength means value, the value that comes from both image and name rights.
Wiggins has a smart agent. He is Jonathan Marks of MTC. It is Marks who looks after many of his affairs and it would be he who would advise on image rights. If it hasn't already been done, the Wiggins name is surely worth protecting, branding it as a trade mark and name. The Wiggins image - that hugely recognisable face - would be worth even more from its intellectual property protection.
There is some grey area about the use of a name for marketing purposes, but there is also a growing amount of case law that makes even the use of a name something to be wary of doing. The protection of a person's physical image is better understood and more clearly made under law, but whether it is just name or both name and image, then any organisation which might wish to gain from using either should watch out.
So, using Wiggins, his name or his face, would potentially be fraught with risk were they to be used without permission. It doesn't automatically follow that permission means payment, but normally of course it does, and for a highly recognisable "brand" such as Wiggins, the payment would almost certainly not be cheap.
Given Wiggins' affiliation with Mallorca and especially Alcúdia and Pollensa, he may feel personally that he wants to give something back and would so waive the need for compensation. He may feel this, but would his agent? It is his role to do as much as he can for his client and to ensure that he optimises the return on himself as a brand.
Mallorca has of course used names and images in the past. How successful any of this celebrity association has been is hard to say. Michael Douglas may be the one exception to an otherwise questionable investment in various "faces", but I say may be. The tourism ministry has pretty much turned its back on these endorsements and relationships, recognising that they don't necessarily work. This said, one reason for them not working lies with the fit between the celebrity and what is being promoted. Wiggins equals cycling tourism most certainly does fit, so there may be grounds for revisiting the whole issue of celebrity association. A caveat to this, however, would be just how well known the Wiggins image is internationally.
The relationship, though, is two way. What might be good for Mallorca, might not necessarily be good for Wiggins. Hot property that he is, requests for his image are doubtless hitting Mr. Marks desk every day. Not all will be agreed to. Strategic development of the Wiggins image demands that agreements coincide with this development. Then there is the man himself. He is, as most of us are now aware, less than comfortable with the trappings of celebrity. As a part-time resident of the island, would he really want his face being more known than it already is?
Suggestions as to celebrity associations are sometimes made without fully understanding the implications. A prime example was Pollensa's idea of using Agatha Christie, an idea about which nothing more has been heard. I suspect I know why. Firstly, the image was wrong (unless Puerto Pollensa does wish to promote itself solely as a retirement home for ageing dames, as the typical Christie image would convey). Secondly, the Christie estate guards the image jealously, which means a high tariff being placed on it.
Wiggins is altogether more sensible, but if cost were a factor, and it more than likely would be, which part of local government would be prepared to bear the cost? At present, none would probably be the answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
On the face of it, the face of Wiggins would make a perfect fit with Mallorcan promotion of cycling tourism and tourism promotion in general, especially to a UK market. He spends much of his time on the island, he has expressed his fondness for the island, he is able to benefit from its diverse geography in his training. Wiggo, the face of Mallorca, or a facet of Mallorca makes sense.
However, it isn't quite this simple. The Wiggins face and the Wiggins name are two of the most marketable assets in sport at present. His are not assets as strong or as recognisable as, say, Beckham, Bolt or Messi, but they are strong nevertheless. And such strength means value, the value that comes from both image and name rights.
Wiggins has a smart agent. He is Jonathan Marks of MTC. It is Marks who looks after many of his affairs and it would be he who would advise on image rights. If it hasn't already been done, the Wiggins name is surely worth protecting, branding it as a trade mark and name. The Wiggins image - that hugely recognisable face - would be worth even more from its intellectual property protection.
There is some grey area about the use of a name for marketing purposes, but there is also a growing amount of case law that makes even the use of a name something to be wary of doing. The protection of a person's physical image is better understood and more clearly made under law, but whether it is just name or both name and image, then any organisation which might wish to gain from using either should watch out.
So, using Wiggins, his name or his face, would potentially be fraught with risk were they to be used without permission. It doesn't automatically follow that permission means payment, but normally of course it does, and for a highly recognisable "brand" such as Wiggins, the payment would almost certainly not be cheap.
Given Wiggins' affiliation with Mallorca and especially Alcúdia and Pollensa, he may feel personally that he wants to give something back and would so waive the need for compensation. He may feel this, but would his agent? It is his role to do as much as he can for his client and to ensure that he optimises the return on himself as a brand.
Mallorca has of course used names and images in the past. How successful any of this celebrity association has been is hard to say. Michael Douglas may be the one exception to an otherwise questionable investment in various "faces", but I say may be. The tourism ministry has pretty much turned its back on these endorsements and relationships, recognising that they don't necessarily work. This said, one reason for them not working lies with the fit between the celebrity and what is being promoted. Wiggins equals cycling tourism most certainly does fit, so there may be grounds for revisiting the whole issue of celebrity association. A caveat to this, however, would be just how well known the Wiggins image is internationally.
The relationship, though, is two way. What might be good for Mallorca, might not necessarily be good for Wiggins. Hot property that he is, requests for his image are doubtless hitting Mr. Marks desk every day. Not all will be agreed to. Strategic development of the Wiggins image demands that agreements coincide with this development. Then there is the man himself. He is, as most of us are now aware, less than comfortable with the trappings of celebrity. As a part-time resident of the island, would he really want his face being more known than it already is?
Suggestions as to celebrity associations are sometimes made without fully understanding the implications. A prime example was Pollensa's idea of using Agatha Christie, an idea about which nothing more has been heard. I suspect I know why. Firstly, the image was wrong (unless Puerto Pollensa does wish to promote itself solely as a retirement home for ageing dames, as the typical Christie image would convey). Secondly, the Christie estate guards the image jealously, which means a high tariff being placed on it.
Wiggins is altogether more sensible, but if cost were a factor, and it more than likely would be, which part of local government would be prepared to bear the cost? At present, none would probably be the answer.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Saturday, November 24, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Wiggins looking for a house in Puerto Pollensa
A news story that isn't really a news story, i.e. that Bradley Wiggins is looking to buy a house in Puerto Pollensa. Until he does, there will be all the tittle-tattle of "ooh, I saw Bradley and his family looking at ..." or "I've been told that they're buying in ...". And once he has bought, well ... . Who cares.
See more: Diario de Mallorca
See more: Diario de Mallorca
Thursday, August 09, 2012
MALLORCA TODAY - Wiggins in Puerto Pollensa
Oh lummy, we're going to have to put up with all of this - Wiggo Fever in Puerto Pollensa. Here is Juan Carlos of "Ultima Hora" writing about Wiggins' achievements when he would rather have been writing about what Wiggo said to him last night. But he said nothing, other than "no press".
See more: Ultima Hora
See more: Ultima Hora
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
Ace Face (Of Mallorca): Bradley Wiggins
The Style Council made some rotten videos. So rotten were they, that you have to assume they were deliberate. The most rotten (and obscure) was one for "My Ever Changing Moods". Weller and Talbot were lycra-ed up and engaged in a cycle race. It was rubbish, unlike the song. It was postmodernist irony maybe, though the irony was lost on me.
The Modfather on a bike, though, was apt. Apt for the new Modfather on a bike. The biker with burns. The retro roader. Bradley Wiggins, Brad Wiggins, Wiggo, Wiggy; he sounds as though he could have been in The Jam or The Style Council. The nearest to a Wiggo who was (is) in the pop-music business was Pete Wiggs of the ultimate retro dance group Saint Etienne. More aptness; Saint Etienne, which became eponymous in a musical context because of the football club, and just north of where Stage 12 finished. Of the Tour de France.
Musically, the Tour de France has only ever been done by German postmodernists. Kraftwerk. But, with the short hair, the sharp suits, Kraftwerk could have been electro-Mod. Everything comes around in creating a coincidence of synchronicity, itself with a Mod motif: Sting, the Ace Face of "Quadrophenia" - Pete Townshend and The Who's paean to the Mods - and the composer of "Synchronicity".
Bradley Wiggins' affinity for Modism and Paul Weller in particular has been well-chronicled. It's stretching things to suggest that Wiggins' success makes cycling the new rock 'n' roll, but his success does highlight a commonality with his musical hero. Wiggins, and Mark Cavendish come to that, has attitude. He is edgy. He has given cycling a profile among the British that a more conventional figure such as Chris Hoy, or Chris Boardman twenty-odd years ago, could not have managed.
At the same time, however, he has revealed the extent to which he wants to be seen as a role model. This doesn't come across as the self-important narcissism of a braggart but as coming genuinely from the heart. He is a character many times over, a true sporting hero among many who are held up as being so but who are anything but heroic.
Wiggins, as has also been well-chronicled, has an affinity for Mallorca. His association with Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcúdia is such that he is almost claimed as one of our own. As Humphrey Carter in his "Daily Bulletin" leader yesterday alluded to, the Balearics tourism ministry should be looking at how this claim can be turned into promotional gold.
Cycling, as much if not more than golf, is the mainstay of Mallorca's off-season tourism. Not every cyclist is a Wiggins or a Cavendish, not every team that comes to Mallorca in the winter to train is Team Sky, not everyone who comes to Mallorca in winter, or who might come, is necessarily a cyclist, but association is what counts. Alcúdia, home to Team Sky; the Tour de France, trained in Mallorca. And there is probably more association to be forged thanks to the Olympics.
The great white hope of winter tourism, namely sports tourism, will have its forum this October. If they haven't already, the ministerial organisers should consider seeing if Wiggins and Team Sky are available for some promotion to coincide with the forum. (As an aside, it is satisfying to note that Judge Castro, in charge of the "caso Palma Arena" corruption investigations, has made an association similar to the one I made in a previous article in respect of this forum and has requested sight of the budget. It is said that the forum in October will be costing 80,000 euros, massively less than the 1.2 million euros that a similar event arranged by the Duke of Palma's organisation did.)
The forum offers a golden opportunity. Wiggins may seem an unlikely "face" of Mallorca, but only because he doesn't conform to the norm. Yet, that quirky mix of role model, attitude and retro might be highly appropriate. Mallorca, the model for other destinations to aspire to, one with a touch of swagger, arrogance even that comes from a new-found self-belief (one can but hope), and one with retro holiday brought up to date for the modern world: "This Is The Modern World" for the brave new world of Mallorca's tourism.
And that unlikely face, the Ace Face of cycling's Modism, will be spied now and then, as he has been before, taking a coffee at Puerto Pollensa's Cappuccino or 1919. More aptness. The Modfather of cycling to the Modfather himself whose Style Council alter ego was that of The Cappuccino Kid.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
The Modfather on a bike, though, was apt. Apt for the new Modfather on a bike. The biker with burns. The retro roader. Bradley Wiggins, Brad Wiggins, Wiggo, Wiggy; he sounds as though he could have been in The Jam or The Style Council. The nearest to a Wiggo who was (is) in the pop-music business was Pete Wiggs of the ultimate retro dance group Saint Etienne. More aptness; Saint Etienne, which became eponymous in a musical context because of the football club, and just north of where Stage 12 finished. Of the Tour de France.
Musically, the Tour de France has only ever been done by German postmodernists. Kraftwerk. But, with the short hair, the sharp suits, Kraftwerk could have been electro-Mod. Everything comes around in creating a coincidence of synchronicity, itself with a Mod motif: Sting, the Ace Face of "Quadrophenia" - Pete Townshend and The Who's paean to the Mods - and the composer of "Synchronicity".
Bradley Wiggins' affinity for Modism and Paul Weller in particular has been well-chronicled. It's stretching things to suggest that Wiggins' success makes cycling the new rock 'n' roll, but his success does highlight a commonality with his musical hero. Wiggins, and Mark Cavendish come to that, has attitude. He is edgy. He has given cycling a profile among the British that a more conventional figure such as Chris Hoy, or Chris Boardman twenty-odd years ago, could not have managed.
At the same time, however, he has revealed the extent to which he wants to be seen as a role model. This doesn't come across as the self-important narcissism of a braggart but as coming genuinely from the heart. He is a character many times over, a true sporting hero among many who are held up as being so but who are anything but heroic.
Wiggins, as has also been well-chronicled, has an affinity for Mallorca. His association with Puerto Pollensa and Puerto Alcúdia is such that he is almost claimed as one of our own. As Humphrey Carter in his "Daily Bulletin" leader yesterday alluded to, the Balearics tourism ministry should be looking at how this claim can be turned into promotional gold.
Cycling, as much if not more than golf, is the mainstay of Mallorca's off-season tourism. Not every cyclist is a Wiggins or a Cavendish, not every team that comes to Mallorca in the winter to train is Team Sky, not everyone who comes to Mallorca in winter, or who might come, is necessarily a cyclist, but association is what counts. Alcúdia, home to Team Sky; the Tour de France, trained in Mallorca. And there is probably more association to be forged thanks to the Olympics.
The great white hope of winter tourism, namely sports tourism, will have its forum this October. If they haven't already, the ministerial organisers should consider seeing if Wiggins and Team Sky are available for some promotion to coincide with the forum. (As an aside, it is satisfying to note that Judge Castro, in charge of the "caso Palma Arena" corruption investigations, has made an association similar to the one I made in a previous article in respect of this forum and has requested sight of the budget. It is said that the forum in October will be costing 80,000 euros, massively less than the 1.2 million euros that a similar event arranged by the Duke of Palma's organisation did.)
The forum offers a golden opportunity. Wiggins may seem an unlikely "face" of Mallorca, but only because he doesn't conform to the norm. Yet, that quirky mix of role model, attitude and retro might be highly appropriate. Mallorca, the model for other destinations to aspire to, one with a touch of swagger, arrogance even that comes from a new-found self-belief (one can but hope), and one with retro holiday brought up to date for the modern world: "This Is The Modern World" for the brave new world of Mallorca's tourism.
And that unlikely face, the Ace Face of cycling's Modism, will be spied now and then, as he has been before, taking a coffee at Puerto Pollensa's Cappuccino or 1919. More aptness. The Modfather of cycling to the Modfather himself whose Style Council alter ego was that of The Cappuccino Kid.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
