Bradley Wiggins (30 page)
Authors: John Deering
He’s going to do it.
On the TV, Hugh Porter is watching Tony Martin close in on Taylor Phinney as they hammer down the long drive that leads through Bushy Park to the palace. But his colleague Chris Boardman, bronze
medallist in this event in Atlanta in 1996, has noticed a more pertinent fact: Wiggins has entered the park and has both of them in his sights. Only a disaster can stop him now.
The 2012 Bradley Wiggins doesn’t do disasters.
As he hits the line, the roar in the Prince of Wales is matched in the street, across the bridge at Hampton Court, across the host city of London, across the nation. Great Britain is singing.
Walking along, singing a song, walking in a Wiggo wonderland. We all need heroes, and this summer has given Britain a new favourite.
:
Palmarès
1998
1st, Individual Pursuit, Junior World Track Championships, Havana
2nd, Team Pursuit, Commonwealth Games, Kuala Lumpur
2000
2nd, Team Pursuit, World Track Championships, Manchester
3rd, Team Pursuit, Olympic Games, Sydney
2002
2nd, Individual Pursuit, Commonwealth Games, Manchester
2nd, Team Pursuit, Commonwealth Games, Manchester
2nd, Ghent Six Day
2003
1st, Individual Pursuit, World Track Championships, Stuttgart
2nd, Team Pursuit, World Track Championships, Stuttgart
2004
1st, Individual Pursuit, Olympic Games, Athens
2nd, Team Pursuit, Olympic Games, Athens
3rd, Madison, Olympic Games, Athens
2005
1st, Stage 8, Tour de l’Avenir
2007
1st, Individual Pursuit, World Track Championships, Mallorca
1st, Team Pursuit, World Track Championships, Mallorca
1st, Stage 1, Four Days of Dunkirk
1st, Stage 4, Tour du Poitou-Charentes et de la Vienne
1st, Prologue, Critérium du Dauphiné
1st, Duo Normand
Combativity Award, Stage 6, Tour de France
2008
1st, Individual Pursuit, World Track Championships, Manchester
1st, Team Pursuit, World Track Championships, Manchester
1st, Madison, World Track Championships, Manchester
1st, Individual Pursuit, Olympic Games, Beijing
1st, Team Pursuit, Olympic Games, Beijing
2009
1st, Stage 1, Tour of Qatar
1st, Stage 3b, Three Days of De Panne
1st, National Time Trial Championships
1st, Stage 5, Herald Sun Tour
1st, Overall, Herald Sun Tour
4th, Overall, Tour de France
2010
1st, Stage 1, Tour of Qatar
1st, Stage 1, Giro d’Italia
1st, National Time Trial Championships
2011
1st, Stage 4, Bayern Rundfahrt
1st, Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné
1st, National Road Race Championships
2nd, Time Trial, World Road Championships
3rd, Overall, Paris–Nice
3rd, Overall, Vuelta a España
2012
1st, Stage 5, Volta ao Algarve
3rd, Overall, Volta ao Algarve
1st, Stage 8, Paris–Nice
1st, Overall, Paris–Nice
1st, Stage 1, Tour de Romandie
1st, Stage 5, Tour de Romandie
1st, Overall, Tour de Romandie
1st, Stage 4, Critérium du Dauphiné
1st, Overall, Critérium du Dauphiné
1st, Stage 9, Tour de France
1st, Stage 19, Tour de France
1st, Overall, Tour de France
1st, Time Trial, Olympic Games, London
Paul McCartney had to wait until he was 54. Mick Jagger was 60. Winston Churchill was an MP at 25, but he had to get to the ripe old age of 78 to get his.
In December 2012 Great Britain recognised the impact of Bradley Wiggins’s incredible sporting feats by handing him a knighthood at the remarkably young age of 32. Already a CBE thanks to
his earlier Herculean Olympic efforts, the powers that be clearly felt there was nowhere else he should go but right up to the top of the honours tree. The New Year’s honours list proclaimed
our hero a Knight Bachelor. Arise, Sir Bradley. And while we’re at it, arise Sir Dave Brailsford, 30 years younger than Churchill when Her Madge laid the sword on their respective shoulders.
Mystifyingly to his legions of fans, the directeur sportif who guided Brad to his achievements in 2012 still remains Mr S. Yates with no letters after his name despite his many personal triumphs,
but now is not the time to quibble. Now is the time to bask in the reflective glory of a golden year.
And never mind the powers that be, what about the man in the street? The man on the Clapham omnibus? Well, he seems to agree with that lot upstairs, as he voted Brad BBC Sports Personality of
the Year 2012. Now, there has been a groundswell of interest in cycling in recent years, with both Sir Chris Hoy (also knighted at 32, good effort) and Mark Cavendish MBE scooping the title, but
2012 was a golden year for British sporting achievement. Lest we forget, this was the year that Andy Murray won the US Open, Rory McIlroy became world number one and won the US PGA by eight shots,
Ian Poulter inspired Europe to the greatest turnaround in Ryder Cup history, Alastair Cook became the scorer of more England centuries than anybody else ever, and Chelsea won the European Cup . . .
And we haven’t even mentioned the Olympics.
Poor Mo Farah must curse the moment that Bradley crashed out of the 2011 Tour. ‘Why couldn’t he have won it last year?’ he must have whispered to his wife at the star-studded
ceremony at ExCel. In how many other years would the British winner of a 5,000 and 10,000 metres Olympic double miss out on the SPOTY award?
In sport, career retrospectives are usually reserved until retirement. In team sport, it often doesn’t even happen then: a player retires, but the team rolls on from one generation to
another, always looking forward. It is against this uniquely challenging backdrop of acclaim and applause that Brad has to attempt to remain at the pinnacle of his sport. Preparation for 2013 must
have been exceedingly difficult in the circumstances, despite having the experience of his post-Athens 2004 bender under his belt.
And who would begrudge Bradley his fun? Turning up on stage with a cherry red Gibson 335 to play alongside Paul Weller at Hammersmith Odeon at Christmas, knocking out the Modfather’s
classic ‘That’s Entertainment’. This was still his moment, and the 2013 season seemed a long way off.
Brad revealed in an interview with Alasdair Fotheringham about his taste in music for
Cycle Sport –
expect race reports from the Giro d’Italia in the
NME
this year
– that his true musical hero is actually John Entwistle, The Who’s late bass player. The tall, skinny, reserved cool-guy look is certainly much more Entwistle than Weller, and so are
the sideburns. Weller’s never really been one for the big boards; he grows his hair long and combs it in front of his ears, another Bradley style favourite, but John Entwistle wore luxuriant
face furniture to inspire a generation.
The fascinating Sky dichotomy between Brad and Chris Froome is yet to play out. With the 2013 Tour de France set to be more mountainous than the defending champion would like, Brad threw his
weight behind the notion that he would concentrate his personal efforts on gaining a Giro d’Italia pink winner’s jersey to go with his French yellow, before going to the Tour as
Froome’s helper. Within weeks of that Sky-sponsored point of view, Sir Bradley was mischievously suggesting to the
Guardian
that he would ‘love to win a second Tour de
France’.
Chris Froome opened 2013 in surprisingly strong form for one who is not expected to be at his peak until July. His storming performance to take February’s Tour of Oman was, astonishingly,
his first stage race victory, and came at the expense of renowned mountain experts like Joaquim Rodríguez and Alberto Contador. Bradley, in contrast, finished last on the first stage of
Oman, having been caught up in a crash, but recovered to end the week in the middle of the pack.
Froome went on to Italy and took the lead in a superbly hard-fought Tirreno–Adriatico, but was forced out of the winner’s jersey by his Tour de France rival Vincenzo Nibali. Their
Sky teammates were preparing for spring at the now tried-and-trusted training camp, hoping once again to get the jump on their rivals once the real racing began. Nibali versus Wiggins is the
sub-text for the 2013 Giro d’Italia. Bradley’s defence of – or decision not to defend – the Tour de France that follows on the heels of that Giro will be shaped by events in
Italy.
In 1985, the last truly great French cyclist Bernard Hinault won his fifth Tour de France, benefiting in no small way from the assistance of a dazzlingly talented young American teammate, Greg
LeMond. ‘The Badger’ paid tribute to LeMond by saying that he would be at his side to help him take his own victory the next year. When 1986 came round, the temptation of becoming a
record-breaking six-time Tour winner proved too much for Hinault, and he attacked his bewildered lieutenant-cum-leader through the Pyrénées, shaping one of the greatest ever Tours.
The duo eventually finished first and second, begging the question: was that really so bad for the team?
An unprecedented successive one-two in Paris in 2013 may well be a Sky dream scenario, and one not beyond the realms of possibility. The identity of the man on the top step, however, can only
remain a matter for speculation.
One thing is certain; the giddy car-top Champs-Élysées celebrations of July 2012 will never be repeated in quite the same manner. Only once can a man say: today I became the first
ever British winner of the Tour de France.
My sincere thanks to all those who accommodated my key-tapping: Dr Weiss, The Blue Groove, The Rock, The Manor, Crumbs Too, Marine Girl, and, of course, Mum and Dad. Thank you
Buddy and Daisy for constant inspiration. Thank you Kt, Knobby, Gary and Mungo for wisely standing by me. And thank you Bob, E, Geddy, Alex and Neil for keeping me awake.
John Deering
Bradley Wiggins aged two-and-a-half – with stabilisers.
John Taylor
With his father, Garry.
John Taylor
Brad’s inspiration, Chris Boardman.
Getty Images
Racing, aged thirteen.
John Taylor
Brad in action in the Individual Pursuit at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens.
Getty Images
With his OBE in 2005.
Getty Images
Brad celebrates winning the 2011 National Elite Road Race Championships.
Getty Images
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