Wiggins, whose contract at Team Sky ended in April, uploaded a picture of him in his yellow jersey, riding on the Champs-Elysees in Paris – the stage where he famously led out Mark Cavendish for the win.

Team Sky entered the professional peloton in 2010 with ambition to win the Tour with a clean British rider in five years. After a shaky couple of seasons they managed their goal three years early, repeating the feat the following year with Chris Froome.

In 2012, Wiggins took the yellow jersey from Fabian Cancellara on stage seven and never let it go, beating teammate Froome by 3:21 and 2014 champion Vincenzo Nibali by over six minutes.

He won both individual time trials and was second in the prologue in Liege, won by Cancellara. Three other top-10 finishes sealed his win saw him enter the record books as the first ever Brit to win the Tour.

Bradley Wiggins leads out Mark Cavendish on the Champs-Elysees

Bradley Wiggins on the podium after winning the 2012 Tour de France (Watson)

Bradley Wiggins celebrates winning the 2012 Tour de France

In all 2012 was a great year for Wiggins – a dominant performance in the Tour de France resulted in him being asked to ring the bell in the London Olympic Games opening ceremony.

A couple of days later he added his fourth career Olympic gold medal by winning the time trial around Hampton Court Palace, with one of the iconic shots of the Games coming when he sat on the winner’s throne.

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Bradley Wiggins wins the 2012 Olympic Games time trial (Watson)

Bradley Wiggins, Tony Martin and Chris Froome on the podium after the London 2012 time trial

A knighthood was to follow for Wiggins, but he was never to return to the ride the Tour. In 2015 he left Team Sky for his own eponymous Team Wiggins with the ambition to ride on the track at the 2016 Olympic Games.

Watch Bradley Wiggins overtake his minute man at the Hull RC 10-mile time trial