This week we mark the end of Sir Bradley Wiggins’s WorldTour road racing career with a special issue of Cycling Weekly magazine (April 23) looking back over the highs and lows of the past 14 years.
He’ll never ride another Tour de France, any of the Classics or defend his world time trial title. But he will spend the May Bank Holiday leading Team Wiggins in the Tour de Yorkshire before his attempt on the Hour Record a month later.
It’s set to be the world’s longest retirement celebration that could be extended until next summer if he makes selection for the Rio Olympics.
Wiggo is retiring in stages and there seems to be no shortage of bike fans wanting to cheer their hero one last time. Ticket sales for his Hour Record attempt prove that, with all 6,000 seats at the Lee Valley VeloPark having been sold in around 30 minutes.
That’s unprecedented support for any bike rider but then there’s never been a cyclist like him. The summer of 2012 changed things forever, for him and for us. Cycling hasn’t been the same since.
I feel sorry for Chris Froome. He will probably win a second Tour de France and become the best ever British roadie, but he’ll never match the magnetism of Bradley Wiggins.
Wiggo is a one-off. Catch him while you still can.
Robert Garbutt is editor of Cycling Weekly
