Sir Bradley Wiggins: I don’t like being defined as a cyclist

Sir Bradley Wiggins has said he doesn’t like to be defined as a cyclist, as he hopes to retrain as a doctor.

Wiggins, the first British Tour de France winner, has revealed he wants to become medical doctor to “redefine himself.” 

The 41-year-old is part of the punditry and commentary team at GCN and Eurosport for the Grand Tours, but says he has realised “there’s more to life than cycling.”

In a slightly unusual interview with The Times (opens in new tab) newspaper, Wiggins said: “I don’t like being defined as a cyclist any more.

‘I’d like to become a doctor and redefine myself. I haven’t ridden a bike for five years so I’m not a cyclist.” 

Wiggins’s claim that he hasn’t ridden a bike in five years is slightly contradicted by a recent Instagram post of him riding in the new Oakley Kato glasses. 

On his punditry role, which he will continue with Eurosport at the Tokyo Olympics this summer, Wiggins said he is still a fan of cycling but that he has realised there is more to life than the sport. 

Wiggins previously said he wanted to train to be a social worker, but says he is now enrolled in a distance learning course to become a doctor. 

The former Team Sky rider was also asked his opinion on Dr Richard Freeman’s medical tribunal, after Freeman was struck off the medical register for ordering banned testosterone to British Cycling headquarters in 2011. 

Freeman, a former Team Sky and British Cycling doctor, is appealing the decision to remove him from the medical register. 

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Wiggins said: “It’s the same old thing, we’re no further forward than we were two years ago. We don’t know anything more. The whole thing is very bizarre. 

“I’m just a rider, I don’t know [who to go to for answers]. If you go to your GP like Harold Shipman and he kills your mum, who do you go to after that? The whole thing is baffling and complete incompetence at the highest f***ing level. I can’t get my head round it.”