MTC

'The best f***ing pursuiter of all time' - Lance Armstrong, 7 times Tour de France winner

Triple Olympic Gold medallist Bradley Wiggins is the brightest star in British cycling. A professional track and road cyclist, he has won medals at the European, Commonwealth and World Championships, as well as taking home Gold in the Individual Pursuit at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens and Gold in both the Individual and Team Pursuit at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and claimed an astonishing three GOLD medals at the World Championships in Manchester later that year.

His stunning transformation from track superstar to road star culminated in securing 4th place in 2009's Tour de France, equalling Robert Millar's best ever finish by a British rider 25 years earlier. Not content with this breakthrough performance, he went on to win the British National Time Trial Championships in September and followed this up with victory in the Tour Down Under that same year which proved to be his last race with Garmin Transitions.

Following much press speculation, Wiggins was signed by Dave Brailsford, his British Cycling mentor, to lead Team Sky in their ultimate pursuit of Tour de France glory. After a 2010 Tour that didn't lead to the instant success that the Sky team had hoped for, 2011 saw them come back stronger with Bradley going in to the Tour the National Road Champion and having won the Dauphine Libéré in June. He had lost weight and some said looked like he was in the form of his life - but sadly he never got to put this to the test after crashing out on stage 7 with a broken collarbone.

With his immediate attention still focussed on the road, Bradley still has his sights on achieving gold at his home Olympics at London 2012 in the Team Pursuit.

Born in Ghent, Belgium, Bradley moved to Maida Vale when he was two and considers himself a Londoner through and through. He showed promise from an early age and, following in the footsteps of his professional cyclist father, he quickly developed a passion for the sport. He burst onto the international cycling scene with a Silver medal in the Team Pursuit at the Commonwealth Games in 1998; a massive achievement at the age of just 18 and a clear sign of much more to come from an exciting young athlete.

Two years on, Bradley had cemented his place in Team GB and travelled to both the World Championships in Manchester and the Olympic Games in Sydney. Again competing in the Team Pursuit Bradley helped bring home a Silver medal at the World Championships and, after a great performance in Sydney, an Olympic Bronze medal. 

Building on the success he enjoyed in 2000 he claimed Silver in the Team Pursuit at the World Championships in 2001 followed by his first major individual success: a Gold medal at the European Championships, two performances which cemented him as a force in British and International Cycling.

Over the next three years Bradley's assault on cycling's top prizes continued apace with an Individual Pursuit World Championship title, retention of the European Championship in 2003, and two Silver medals when competing in the Team Pursuit competition.

At the Athens Oylmpics, he was a key figure in Team GB putting in stunning performances which resulted in medals with the Team Pursuit and the Madison competition, and his crowning achievement, bringing back the Olympic Gold in the Individual Pursuit race. After returning from the games as a medal winning hero Wiggins' year was completed with an OBE for services to sport in the New Year's Honours List.

After these phenomenal successes Wiggins decided to turn his attention to road racing and in 2005 he competed for the French professional road cycling team Credit Agricole. In 2006 he switched to Team Cofidis and cycled in the most famous of all races, the Tour de France. For the 2008 season he made the switch to Team High Road.

At the Beijing Olympics later that year Bradley followed up his successes of Athens in 2004 by retaining his gold medal in the Individual Pursuit and adding the Team Pursuit title to his tally. This on the back of his success at the 2008 World Track Cycling Championships further cemented his positon as arguably the world's best cyclist.

Eloquent and passionate, Bradley has firmly established himself as an outspoken opponent to the use of drugs within his sport and has spoken out on the subject to ensure that cycling is clean for generations to come.

He has featured as a columnist for The Observer newspaper and is an ambassador for Adidas. He initially launched his bestselling autobiography, ‘In Pursuit of Glory' in October 2008 and rereleased it the following year with additional chapters to include his Tour de France exploits. In 2010 Brad's ‘On Tour' was published to critical acclaim - a stark and honest portrayal of the 2010 Tour de France.

Bradley is married with two children.

 

 

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