Only winning counted
I went away relatively unknown and came back famous. But I was just doing what I had been doing for 15 years by then. And then all of a sudden, something happened that meant something to people. Cycling had by then become such a big sport. And all those people contributed to it – and then we were successful in the home Olympics.”
The effect was similar to the rowing boom after Steve Redgrave, the rugby boom after Jonny Wilkinson, the cricket boom after the 2005 Ashes.
“I think it was about the individuals and about the characters of those individuals. And the technology was great. Cycling was suddenly cool. Cycling was suddenly like the new golf for middleaged men. Cycling became a bit of a national sport.”
Bradley didn’t feel a pressure to keep the sport up there: “If anything I wanted to disappear! But other people come along. The next generation comes along – and other people continue the success.”
There’s no doubting though that the nation had taken Bradley to its heart: “But I was always the same person. I just carried on being that person.
“I have always been quite rebellious. I couldn’t have lived my life any other way. I just carried on.
“I had two kids that went to a normal school.
“Having children was the biggest difference. I was just the person next door to a lot of people.
“It was the same kind of thing with Freddie Flintoff.”
Bradley won the 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award (voted for by the public), helping cycling smash its way into the mainstream.
2013 brought further success, including the Tour of Britain title, and in 2014 Wiggins added the rainbow jersey to his collection by winning the World Time Trial Championships.
The summer of 2016 saw Wiggins win his fifth gold medal at the Rio Olympics in the team pursuit and his eighth Olympic medal overall, making him Britain’s most decorated Olympian ever.
It rounded off one of the most impressive sporting careers the nation had ever witnessed. Bradley announced his retirement at the end of the year.
And the retirement has gone remarkably well..
Alongside his weekly appearances on Talk Sport Radio, his podcast The Bradley Wiggins Show was such a success in 2018 that it has returned for an extended 20-episode run mirroring the 2019 cycling season. In November last year Bradley released his latest book Icons (published by Harpercollins) taking readers on an intimate journey through his time in sport that made him a legend.
“It was the right time to retire. I had wanted to retire rather sooner than that. I was just going through the motions for the last few years. I just wanted to win that fifth Olympic gold. I had stopped enjoying the sport. I needed a break.”
Tickets are available via Myticket.co.uk