A return to road racing for the Tour of Britain saw Wiggins take third overall, with a victorious time trial performance in his first outing since regaining his national time trial crown being the stand-out performance.

And while it was not enough on the short Whitehall circuit to retain the Tour of Britain title he won 12 months earlier, Wiggins at least proved he had good form heading to the World Championships in Ponferrada.

There Wiggins delivered a stellar performance to produce a phenomenal ride – with an average speed topping 50km/h – to take the gold medal and end Tony Martin’s three-year dominance of the event.

That result granted him the right to pull on the rainbow skinsuit in his remaining Team Sky time trials and confirm his position as one of the most complete cyclists in the sport’s history.

His final Team Sky victory, fittingly, was a win against the clock – in the rainbow skinsuit – at the Three Days of De Panne.