Bradley Wiggins on the Tour de France, Olympics, doubt, and a winning mentality
Whether it was on the track in an Olympic final or on the inclines of the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, Wiggins tells Pail Eddison he knew only one way to ensure he could outlast his rivals – to ride
Few men have done more to inspire the cycling revolution in the UK than Sir Bradley Wiggins, but for Britain’s first Tour de France champion, it was all about winning.
In 2012 Wiggins enjoyed his crowning moment, wearing the yellow jersey on the Champs Elysées to write his name into the record books before following it up with Olympic gold in London in the time trial.
Along with Chris Froome, he paved the way for a decade of success for Team Sky, now Team Ineos, who have won a remarkable 12 Grand Tours now following Egan Bernal’s recent Giro d’Italia victory.
And while one of the biggest repercussions of that success has been the way cycling has taken off in this country, Wiggins explains that it was merely a happy by-product of a period of sustained success that he always believed would come.
“It’s easy to say that I don’t think we did (know how much success we would have) but when we were there doing it, we always thought we would,” said Wiggins, who will be working for discovery+ and Eurosport on their Tokyo 2020 coverage.
“It’s funny looking back because I don’t think we ever didn’t think we would be successful. Although at the time we would not have said it, or believed it, but when you look back you realise that fundamentally there was a thought process and the talk of success.
“It was always about winning something; it had never about let us just get to the Tour de France and inspire a million people to get on bikes and that’s success. It was always about ‘F**k that’ I know that is what the piece of paper says that we are doing it for, tell everyone that, but it is about winning and if you are not going to win, you are out of the team.
“It was great really. Because it was about winning and that became the norm. You didn’t need reminding of it all the time, that’s why you were there.”
When you are on an Olympic final on the line, you want to know that you have done every session, you haven’t flinched once. That is what kept me going, out on Christmas day on my bike
Wiggins certainly lived up to that mantra, with his Tour success in 2012, along with eight Olympic medals, the most of any Brit in history.
The last of those came in Rio five years ago, as part of the team pursuit when Wiggins won an Olympic title for the fourth successive Games.
And whether it was on the track in an Olympic final or on the inclines of the Tourmalet in the Pyrenees, Wiggins knew only one way to ensure he could outlast his rivals.
“I would go out on my bike (in those moments of doubt),” added Wiggins. “I’d do something that I didn’t think anyone else was going. I would do an hour longer, always try and put in more because that was the only way you could reassure yourself.
“If we were at a training camp and the team had come back from a six-hour training camp, I’d go out and do another hour and make it seven on my own. Some things were silly but anything you could do to feel like you were doing something that someone else was not doing.
“When you are on an Olympic final on the line, you want to know that you have done every session, you haven’t flinched once. That is what kept me going, out on Christmas day on my bike. I remember being there with the kids thinking I do not want to go out but when you are on that Olympic line and doubting yourself, asking ‘have I done enough?’, you think of all those things that you ticked the boxes for, knowing that you have done everything.
“That gave you the reassurance and the confidence going into the Olympic finals, knowing you have worked harder than anyone else. That was how we did it.”
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