Wiggins on winning the Tour and marshalling time trials

Bradley Wiggins and flag, Tour de France 2012, stage 20

Bradley Wiggins may have just become a sporting megastar but he'll always remain one of us.

On sealing the deal of his Tour de France win, he received congratulations from the prime minister and a whole array of celebrities.

Nonetheless, talking to a small press gathering in an unglamorous industrial estate hotel on the edge of Chartres this morning, Wiggins asserted: "I love cycling. I'll always be riding my bike.

"I come from a cycling family. I'll probably be there in 20 years time marshalling on the corner somewhere for a local '10'.

"I'll still be in a cycling club," he added. "It's pretty embedded [in me]."

Despite his ever-rising profile thanks to World Championship track titles, Olympics golds and now the Tour de France, Wiggins has always been keen to keep himself grounded.

Even when he was invited to speak on the podium of the Champs Élysées today, he cracked a joke that he had only taken the mic to "draw the raffle numbers".

Wiggins revealed that he'd received messages of congratulations from the likes of Paul Weller and a number of other musicians.

Yesterday he even expressed bemusement at receiving a direct message from notorious footballing troublemaker Joey Barton. "He seemed to like the swearing," noted Wiggins.

Asked this morning about what winning the Tour meant to him, he said:

"The thing that's struck me most in the last 12 hours or so is just what it means to other people around me - my personal photographer breaking down in tears in my room!

"My mechanic was in tears, and things like that, and you just think f**king hell, it's not just me who's gone through this, everyone else around me has lived it too."

Wiggins explained that he had come to see the Tour finish on the Champs Elysees in 1993.

"Eurostar had just opened and we had a family weekend. I remember Indurain and Bugno in the world champ's jersey coming up there. I never imagined that 19 years later I'd be coming down there in the same position.

"It sounds clichéd and pathetic... but it's the childhood stuff of dreams really, and it's what I've dreamed of for 20 years, and never dreamed it could become reality."

Dream fulfilled, Wiggins was due to return to the UK by private jet this evening as his focus switches entirely to chasing gold in the Olympic time trial next week.

"It's got to be gold now," he noted. "I can't sit and say I'll be happy with a silver, or happy with a bronze."

However, just like the cyclist in all of us, he was also simply looking forward to his next bike ride.

"I'll just go on my usual loops," he said. "It will be nice to ride along with a bit of peace and quiet, enjoying riding the bike, without all these bloody idiots on motorbikes taking photos of you!"

Tour de France 2012: Latest news

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Cavendish recognises advantage in missed Tour chances ahead of Olympics

Orica-GreenEdge still learning in debut Tour

Hoy says a Wiggins win would be greatest ever British sporting achievement

Cavendish adds to impressive Tour de France for Sky

Schleck's Tour B sample also positive for banned substance

Sky's quick exit strategy from the Tour

Wiggins and Froome explain Tour stage 17 final climb debate

Liquigas hopes Tour success could help find sponsor

Froome: Nibali's attacks weren't going anywhere

Wiggins' Tour de France training

Voigt tries to carry on as RadioShack's future seems in doubt

Tour de France 2012: Teams, riders, start list

Tour 2012: Who will win?

Tour de France 2012 start list and withdrawals

Tour de France 2012 team list

Tour de France 2012: Stage reports

Stage 20: Wiggins wins 2012 Tour as Cavendish takes final stage

Stage 19: Wiggins wins time trial to claim Tour de France

Stage 18: Cavendish wins Tour stage 18 with irresistible sprint

Stage 17: Wiggins step closer to Paris as Valverde wins stage

Stage 16: Voeckler the Pyrenean king as he wins in Bagneres de Luchon

Stage 15: Fedrigo wins, day off for peloton

Stage 14: Sanchez solos to Foix victory to save Rabobank's Tour

Stage 13: Greipel survives climb and crosswinds to win third Tour stage

Stage 12: Millar wins Tour stage nine years from his last

Stage 11: Wiggins strengthens Tour lead as Evans slips back

Stage 10: Voeckler wins and saves his Tour

Stage nine: Wiggins destroys opposition in Besancon TT

Stage eight: Pinot solos to Tour win as Wiggins fights off attacks

Stage seven: Wiggins takes yellow as Froome wins stage

Stage six: Sagan wins third Tour stage

Stage five: Greipel wins again as Cavendish fades

Stage four: Greipel wins stage after Cavendish crashes

Stage three: Sagan runs away with it in Boulogne

Stage two: Cavendish takes 21st Tour stage victory

Stage one: Sagan wins at first attempt

Prologue: Cancellara wins, Wiggins second

Tour de France 2012: Comment, analysis, blogs

Analysis: What we learned at La Planche des Belles Filles

Analysis: How much time could Wiggins gain in Tour's time trials

CW's Tour de France podcasts

Blog: Tour presentation - chasing dreams and autographs

Comment: Cavendish the climber

Tour de France 2012: Photo galleries

Stage 20 by Graham Watson

Stage 19 by Graham Watson

Stage 18 by Graham Watson

Stage 17 by Graham Watson

Stage 16 by Graham Watson

Stage 15 by Graham Watson

Stage 14 by Graham Watson

Stage 13 by Graham Watson

Stage 12 by Graham Watson

Stage 11 by Graham Watson

Stage 10 by Graham Watson

Stage nine by Graham Watson

Stage eight by Graham Watson

Stage seven by Graham Watson

Stage six by Graham Watson

Stage five by Graham Watson

Stage four by Graham Watson

Stage three by Graham Watson

Stage two by Andy Jones

Stage two by Graham Watson

Stage one by Graham Watson

Prologue photo gallery by Andy Jones

Prologue photo gallery by Roo Rowler

Prologue photo gallery by Graham Watson

Tour de France 2012: Team presentation

Sky and Rabobank Tour de France recce

Tour de France 2012: Live text coverage

Stage 18 live coverage

Stage 17 live coverage

Stage 16 live coverage

Stage 12 live coverage

Stage 11 live coverage

Stage 10 live coverage

Stage nine live coverage

Stage six live coverage

Stage five live coverage

Stage four live coverage

Stage three live coverage

Cycling Weekly's live text coverage schedule

Tour de France 2012: TV schedule

ITV4 live schedule

British Eurosport live schedule

Tour de France 2012: Related links

Brits in the Tours: From Robinson to Cavendish

Brief history of the Tour de France

Tour de France 2011: Cycling Weekly's coverage index

1989: The Greatest Tour de France ever

 

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