Eight Olympic medals

While British domination on the track has been a regular feature of recent Olympic Games, that was not the case as Wiggins headed to Sydney in 2000 to ride the team pursuit.

In Atlanta four years earlier, Britain’s only cycling medals were achieved on the road – a time trial bronze for Chris Boardman and a road race bronze for Max Sciandri.

But Wiggins, Jonny Clay and Rob Hayles had won Commonwealth Games silver two years earlier, and joined with Bryan Steel, Chris Newton and Paul Manning to claim bronze in the team pursuit.

Added to sprinter Jason Queally’s gold medal in the kilo time trial, a team sprint silver, and an individual pursuit bronze for Yvonne McGregor, it helped set the tone for the medal rush to come.

While the individual pursuit was removed from the Games, however, Wiggins was still not done – his switch to the road seeing him start the London 2012 time trial among the favourites.

• Great Britain’s greatest Olympians
• Sir Chris Hoy – six gold medals, one silver medal (7 in total)
  Sir Bradley Wiggins – five gold medals, one silver medal, two bronze medals (8)
  Jason Kenny – five gold medals, one silver medal (6)
  Sir Steve Redgrave (rowing) – five gold medals, one bronze medal (6)

The Olympics came just one week after his Tour de France victory and, roared on by the British crowd, Wiggins claimed his fourth Olympic gold medal.

Which led to Rio 2016, Wiggins’ fifth Olympic Games, and his dream to sign off a remarkable career with a British record-breaking eighth Olympic medal.

Wiggins, Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull set the tone by qualifying fastest and then smashed their own world record twice – the latter enough to edge out Australia in a thrilling gold medal final.

No other British athlete has won more Olympic medals than Wiggins, and his five golds, one silver and two bronze medals puts him second in the all-time British list behind Sir Chris Hoy (though Jason Kenny could overtake him at Rio 2016).

Eight-time world champion

In China, eight is a lucky number and it is certainly lucky for Wiggins too – alongside his eight Olympic medals he has also been crowned world champion eight times.

Seven of those world titles have come on the track, across the individual pursuit, team pursuit and Madison, and one at the UCI Road World Championships.

The first of those arrived in Stuttgart in 2003 – the only British gold medal of the Championships, to add to a team pursuit silver. Wiggins had previously been part of the team pursuit squad that won silver in 2000 and 2001, and bronze in 2002.

He did the double in Palma de Mallorca in 2007, and then went even better on home soil a year later.

• British UCI Road World Championships – gold medal winners
• Tom Simpson (men’s road race) 1967
  Mark Cavendish (men’s road race) 2011
  Chris Boardman (men’s time trial) 1994
  Sir Bradley Wiggins (men’s time trial) 2014
  Beryl Burton (women’s road race) 1960, 1967
  Mandy Jones (women’s road race) 1982
  Nicole Cooke (women’s road race) 2008
  Lizzie Armitstead (women’s road race) 2015
  Emma Pooley (women’s time trial) 2010

Wiggins did not defend his title the following year and instead, back on the track, was back in the medals in London earlier this year.

Needing to set the tone for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games, and atone for a lean couple of years at the Track Worlds, the onus was on the host nation to deliver.

A team pursuit silver convinced Wiggins, correctly as it turned out, the Brits would be winning gold at the Olympics, before he once again paired up with Cavendish in the Madison.

Eight years on from their world title and Olympic disappointment, three consecutive sprint wins set the tone and the two held on to claim their second gold medal together – and Great Britain’s 100^th ever at the Track Worlds.

The victory also went some way to atoning for Wiggins’ performance in Beijing, as the gold medal arguably helped seal Cavendish’s place at the 2016 Olympics too – albeit with the Madison also no longer on the Olympic programme.

There were no such issues in 2012, however, where Wiggins went into the race on the back of a string of victories.

Second after the prologue, the Gent-born Brit moved into the overall lead on stage seven atop La Planche des Belles Filles, extended his lead in the time trial to Besancon on stage nine and never looked back.

• Brits on Tour: British Tour de France jersey winners
• Robert Millar – King of the Mountains (1984)
  Mark Cavendish – Points classification (2011)
  Sir Bradley Wiggins – Overall winner (2012)
  Chris Froome – Overall winner (2013, 2015, 2016), King of the Mountains (2015)
  Adam Yates – Best young rider (2016)

A public falling out with leading domestique Chris Froome, after the latter attacked on La Toussuire, could not put him off his stride – despite DS Sean Yates later admitting Wiggins threatened to quit the race after the stage.

Wiggins and second-placed Froome extended their advantage over the rest of the riders after the summit finish on Peyragudes on stage 17 and victory was all-but assured when Wiggins stormed to victory in Chartres, in the penultimate stage time trial.

All that was left was for the Team Sky man to lead team-mate Cavendish to victory on the Champs-Elysees the following day before stepping onto the top step of the podium.

Wiggins never raced the Tour de France again, meaning his last action in the race was to receive the yellow jersey on the podium.

36 pro wins

While Tour de France victory in 2012 and the world time trial in 2014 are Wiggins’ most notable victories on the road, the 36-year-old bagged 36 wins in all since turning pro in 2001.

A three-time national time trial champion (2009, 2010, 2014), and national road race champion in 2011, Wiggins’ major stage race wins include back-to-back Criterium du Dauphine triumphs in 2011 and 2012.

The latter was part of his annus mirabilis on the road, culminating in Tour de France success and an Olympic time trial gold medal and also including wins at Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie.

Which British cyclists have the most pro wins?

Wiggins went on to become the first Brit ever to win the modern Tour of Britain in 2013, and then emerged victorious stateside in 2014 at the Amgen Tour of California.

Three Grand Tour stage wins – two on his way to Tour de France victory in 2012, after winning the Giro d’Italia prologue in 2010 to briefly wear the pink jersey – also bulk up his palmares.

UCI Hour Record holder

Wiggins’ achievements on the track and against the clock do not just amount to a host of medals – he announced his switch to the boards in some style in 2015 by beating, or rather smashing the UCI Hour Record.

• Successful UCI Hour Record attempts in 2015
• Rohan Dennis (AUS) – 52.491km (February)
  Alex Dowsett (GBR) – 52.937km (May)
  Sir Bradley Wiggins (GBR) – 54.526km (June)

After the UCI changed the rules of the Hour Record, to allow any eligible track bike to be used, a host of efforts had pushed the mark out – Britain’s Alex Dowsett taking it to 52.937km in Manchester in May 2015.

One month later it was Wiggins’ turn, in the kit of his new eponymous team, with London his choice of velodrome for the attempt.

And he took the record and put it on the shelf – a new mark of 54.526 ensuring he is unlikely to be dethroned for some time.