Bradley Wiggins retires: From Olympic glory to the Tour de France, his finest moments on two wheels

Wiggins announced his retirement from professional cycling aged 36

Sir Bradley Wiggins announced his retirement from cycling on Wednesday as Britain’s most decorated Olympian, with five gold medals, one silver and two bronzes.

The Independent take a look back at some of his finest moments on the bike from the track and the road…

Gold, silver and bronze

A year after winning gold in the Individual Pursuit at the Track Cycling World Championships, Wiggins became an Olympian in Athens in 2004, and an Olympic champion at that. He replicated his gold in the Individual Pursuit – cementing his status as the best in the world – before picking up silver in the Team Pursuit and bronze in the Madison. Wiggins became the first Briton since 1964 to win three medals at one Olympic games.

Beijing double

Four years later Wiggins successfully defended his Olympic Individual Pursuit title in Beijing before breaking the world record in the Team Pursuit two days later to win his second gold on the games. He had already established himself as one of Britain’s greatest ever Olympians.

Tour de France winner

Wiggins made history in 2012 by becoming the first ever British rider to win the Tour de France, cycling’s most gruelling, and prestigious, event. He held the lead for 13 days across the three weeks – winning two stages along the way – before riding up the Champs-Elysees to end Britain’s 99-year hoodoo in the race.

London homecoming

Just 10 days after his triumph on the Tour, Wiggins won his first Olympic road gold medal, and his fourth overall. He was expected to face a tough battle with world time-trial champion Tony Martin, especially after just finishing the Tour de France, but he blew the German away in front of his home crowd to win by an astonishing 42 seconds. He was knighted for his achievements and was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year.

2014 World time trial

Not satisfied in just being one of Britain’s greatest Olympians, Wiggins became one of the cycling’s greatest-ever time trialists when he became world champion in 2014, ending Martin’s run of three consecutive titles. He won by 26 seconds, meaning he became the reigning British, Olympic and world time-trial champion.

Wiggins smashed the previous record in London

Breaking the Hour Record

Wiggins won one of cycling’s oldest events when he became the UCI Hour winner and he did so by smashing the world record by a mammoth margin of 1.589km to take the previous 52.937km record set by Alex Dowsett. It was the second biggest record-breaking margin in the hour’s official history.

Golden goodbye in Rio

After breaking the hour record, Wiggins returned fully to track cycling and set his sights on a final Olympic gold in the Team Pursuit in Rio. Australia went in as favourites after beating Britain in March’s World Championships final but Wiggins led Team GB to gold, twice breaking the world record along the way. It was Wiggins’ fifth gold –meaning only Jason Kenny and Sir Chris Hoy have more than him.