Wiggins followed Paris-Roubaix with victory at the Tour of California as he and former team-mate Mark Cavendish conquered the states.

Wiggins’ overall win put pressure on Team Sky to include him in their Tour de France squad but he confirmed he would not be part of the line-up – to his bitter disappointment – several weeks later.

Public criticism of the team followed until Wiggins crashed at the Tour de Suisse to confirm he would not be part of the squad anyway, though Wiggins was at least able to use his new-found free time to take team pursuit silver at the Commonwealth Games.

However, that success with Team England did little to hide the fact that the first ever Brit to win the Tour de France has not, and will not, return to the race since.