Bradley Wiggins plans women’s Team Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins is aiming to launch a women’s team to run alongside his eponymous Wiggins team as the five-time Olympic champion begins to think about his career after racing.

Speaking after he won gold in the team pursuit at the Rio Olympics, Wiggins said that he would aim to have a women’s under 23 squad by 2018.

“I see myself as a team owner,” Wiggins said. “That team [Wiggins] I want to become the world’s best under 23 team, the best feeder team in the world to the pro ranks. And to find the next Bradley Wiggins, British Tour de France winner, from Team Wiggins.

“The next step by 2018 will be to have a women’s under 23 team running alongside that.”

Wiggins helped set up the team that bears his name at the start of the 2015 season in order to develop riders on the road, including those he would be riding with in his efforts to win team pursuit gold in Rio.

Current riders include his fellow Rio gold medalists Owain Doull and Steven Burke along with track endurance riders and Olympic long list squad members Jon Dibben and Andy Tennant.

Prior to that, Wiggins had backed a women’s team through his short-lived Bradley Wiggins Foundation, which financially supported the Wiggle-Honda team but began winding down in 2015.

Wiggins added that he planned to spend more time with his team next year by supporting them at races.

“We're doing all the under-23 races, U23 Liege-Bastogne-Liege, U23 Paris Roubaix, so maybe I'll be a bit more hands on with the team,” he said.

“Half joking, half serious, there was talk with Ed [Clancy] saying I should take over the pursuit team. I might do my coaching badges at the end of the year but I don't think I ever want to run this programme. Plus, Heiko [Salzwedel, GB men's endurance coach] has still got the job.

“Maybe I could do something in the same sort of capacity as Chris [Hoy] did, he was a bit more mentor to the sprinters a few years ago, rather than actually being the coach. There might be a role there somewhere within all that.”