Bradley Wiggins
First British Tour de France winner; eight Olympic medals.
Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins (born 28 April 1980) is an English cyclist who raced professionally on both road and track from 2001 until 2016. He holds the record as Great Britain’s most successful Olympian, collecting eight medals over five different Games. He is also the only cyclist ever to have claimed world and Olympic championships on both the track and the road. In 2012, he made history as the first British rider to win the Tour de France.
Wiggins was born in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father, Gary Wiggins, who was a professional cyclist, and a British mother, Linda. When he was two, his father left the family, and Wiggins moved with his mother to her parents’ home in Willesden Green, northwest London, and later to a flat in Maida Vale. He attended St Augustine’s schools in Kilburn, where his mother worked as a secretary. He has a younger half-brother, Ryan, from his mother’s later partner, Brendan, who separated from Linda when Wiggins was in his late teens. Football was his first love—he supported Arsenal but sometimes watched Tottenham Hotspur with friends. His mother introduced him to cycling by making him watch the 1992 Olympic individual pursuit final on TV, where Chris Boardman won; she explained that his father had excelled in that event. He watched the rest of the Olympics and became captivated by cycling and the Games themselves.
At age 12, in 1992, he entered his first race on an unopened dual carriageway in Hayes, west London. Later that year, a road accident broke his collarbone. He received £1,700 in compensation, gave his mother £700, and used the rest to buy his first racing bike. He told his art teacher he would become Olympic champion and wear the Tour de France yellow jersey. He joined the Archer Road Club, where his father had once been a member, and raced at Herne Hill Velodrome and around Crystal Palace. He earned domestic sponsorship from Condor Cycles’ Olympia Sport and then Team Brite. He represented Westminster in the London Youth Games and was inducted into their Hall of Fame in 2010. At 16, he won the time trial at the junior national track championships in Leicester, and selectors invited him to train at Manchester Velodrome. He left a business studies BTEC course due to cycling commitments. At the 1997 junior national track championships, he won four events: the one-kilometre time trial, individual pursuit, points race, and scratch race. He was Britain’s sole competitor at the 1997 junior track world championships in Cape Town, finishing 16th in the individual pursuit and fourth in the points race. His breakthrough came in June 1998, when he won the three-kilometre individual pursuit at the junior track world championships.
Between 2000 and 2008, Wiggins earned ten medals at the track world championships, six of them gold: three in the individual pursuit, two in the team pursuit, and one in the madison. His first Olympic medal was a bronze in the team pursuit at Sydney 2000. At Athens 2004, he won three medals, including gold in the individual pursuit. At Beijing 2008, he took two golds, in the individual and team pursuit. On the road, he turned professional in 2001 but made it his main focus from 2008. Initially seen as a time trial specialist and rouleur, he proved his stage-race ability by finishing fourth in the 2009 Tour de France; he was later promoted to third after Lance Armstrong’s results were annulled in 2012. He joined the newly formed Team Sky in 2010. In 2011, he won his first major stage race, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and finished third (later promoted to second) in the Vuelta a España. In 2012, he won Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France. That same year, he also won the time trial at the London Olympics. He received the Vélo d’Or for best rider in 2012, the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, and a knighthood in the 2013 New Year Honours. In 2014, he won gold in the time trial at the road world championships and founded the Team Wiggins cycling team. He returned to the track for the 2014 Commonwealth Games, set a new hour record in 2015, and in 2016 won another world championship in the madison and gold in the team pursuit at the Olympics—his fifth consecutive Games with a medal. He retired from all professional cycling in 2016.
During and after his career, Wiggins faced allegations that he exploited a loophole in anti-doping rules to use triamcinolone, a powerful corticosteroid. He never received any bans or suspensions for doping. In 2018, a British House of Commons committee concluded that Team Sky had used triamcinolone in 2012 under a Therapeutic Use Exemption to prepare Wiggins—and possibly other riders—for the Tour de France, not for medical need but to improve his power-to-weight ratio before the race.
- known_for
- First British winner of the Tour de France; most decorated British Olympian (by total medals); one of few riders with World and Olympic titles on track and road
Verified Timeline
Lore & Background
Wiggins was born in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father, Gary Wiggins, and a British mother. His father left when he was two, and he was raised in London. He discovered cycling after watching Chris Boardman win the individual pursuit at the 1992 Olympics. At 12, he told his art teacher he would become Olympic champion and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour. He won his first race that year and used compensation from a broken collarbone to buy his first racing bicycle. On the track, between 2000 and 2008 he won ten world championship medals, six gold. His Olympic medals include bronze in the team pursuit in 2000, gold in the individual pursuit in 2004, and two golds in 2008. On the road, he turned professional in 2001 but focused on road racing from 2008. He finished fourth in the 2009 Tour de France, later promoted to third. In 2012 he won Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Critérium du Dauphiné, and the Tour de France, becoming the first British winner. He also won the time trial at the 2012 Olympics. Wiggins received a knighthood in the 2013 New Year Honours. In 2014 he won gold in the time trial at the road world championships. He returned to the track in 2014, set a new hour record in 2015, and won a world championship in the madison and Olympic gold in the team pursuit in 2016. He retired from all professional cycling in 2016.
Reader's Guide
Bradley Wiggins is a pivotal figure in British cycling, known for his versatility across track and road disciplines. His eight Olympic medals make him Great Britain's most decorated Olympian, and his 2012 Tour de France victory broke a long-standing British drought. He is the only rider to have won World and Olympic titles on both track and road. However, his career is shadowed by allegations that he exploited a Therapeutic Use Exemption for triamcinolone to improve his power-to-weight ratio before the 2012 Tour de France. A 2018 British House of Commons committee concluded that Team Sky used the drug not for medical need but to prepare Wiggins and possibly other riders for the race. Wiggins never received a doping ban or suspension. His legacy thus combines historic sporting achievement with ongoing controversy over the boundaries of permissible performance enhancement.
Did You Know?
- Wiggins was born in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father and a British mother, and moved to London at age two.
- At age 12, he told his art teacher he would become Olympic champion and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France.
- He used £1,000 from a £1,700 compensation payout for a broken collarbone to buy his first racing bicycle.
- Wiggins set a new hour record in 2015 with a distance of 54.526 km.
- He is one of only a few riders to have won World and Olympic titles on both track and road.
Track Dominance and the Road to the Peloton
Wiggins built his early reputation on the velodrome, where between 2000 and 2008 he collected ten medals at the track world championships, six of them gold across the individual pursuit, team pursuit, and madison. His Olympic track record was equally extraordinary: a bronze in the team pursuit at Sydney 2000, a gold in the individual pursuit at Athens 2004, and two golds in Beijing 2008. Yet it was on the road that his career reached its apex. After turning professional in 2001 and initially being seen as a time trial specialist and rouleur, he shifted his focus to stage racing from 2008. A fourth-place finish in the 2009 Tour de France—later upgraded to third following Lance Armstrong's disqualification—signalled his arrival. Signing with the newly created Team Sky in 2010, he captured the Critérium du Dauphiné and a podium in the Vuelta a España in 2011, before a 2012 season that saw him take Paris–Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Dauphiné, and ultimately the Tour de France itself. He retired in 2016, having become the only rider in history to claim both World and Olympic titles on the track and on the road.
Olympic Glory and the Hour Record
Wiggins' relationship with the Olympic Games spanned five consecutive medal-winning appearances, a feat that made him Great Britain's most decorated Olympian with eight medals. His first came in Sydney 2000 with a bronze in the team pursuit, but it was Athens 2004 where he first tasted gold, taking the individual pursuit. Beijing 2008 brought a double: gold in both the individual and team pursuit. The 2012 London Games delivered perhaps his most iconic moment, as he claimed the road time trial gold on home soil. He returned to the track at the 2014 Commonwealth Games and then, in 2015, set a new world hour record covering 54.526 kilometres. His final Olympic appearance at the 2016 Games saw him win gold in the team pursuit, completing his fifth successive Games in which he stood on the podium. In 2014 he also added a road world championship title in the time trial, and in 2016 he claimed a world championship in the madison, cementing his status as the sole rider to hold both World and Olympic titles across both disciplines.
Recognition and Life Beyond the Saddle
The 2012 season that produced his Tour de France victory also brought a cascade of honours. Wiggins was named the world's best rider with the Vélo d'Or, received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award, and was elevated to knighthood in the 2013 New Year Honours. His early promise had already earned him a place in the London Youth Games Hall of Fame in 2010, a recognition of his teenage years racing around Crystal Palace and Herne Hill. Born in Ghent, Belgium, to an Australian father who was himself a professional cyclist and a British mother, Wiggins was raised in northwest London from the age of two. His father had left the family when he was young, and he grew up in Willesden Green before moving to Maida Vale. He founded the WIGGINS cycling team in 2014, extending his influence into the development of new talent, before finally retiring from all forms of professional cycling in 2016. His story—of a boy who watched Chris Boardman win the 1992 Olympic pursuit on television and declared to his art teacher that he would wear the yellow jersey—remains one of British sport's most compelling narratives.
The Triamcinolone Controversy
Despite a career free of formal bans or suspensions, Wiggins and his team faced persistent allegations regarding the use of triamcinolone, a powerful corticosteroid administered by injection. Critics argued that he exploited a loophole in cycling's anti-doping regulations to use the substance for performance enhancement rather than genuine medical treatment. The matter came to a head in 2018, when the British House of Commons Committee for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport published findings that Team Sky had used triamcinolone to prepare Wiggins in 2012 under a Therapeutic Use Exemption. The committee determined the intent was not therapeutic but rather to boost his power-to-weight ratio before the Tour de France, and that the treatment may also have extended to other riders supporting him in the race. Wiggins did not receive any bans or suspensions in relation to doping during his professional career, which spanned from 2001 to 2016. The controversy nonetheless cast a long shadow over his achievements, particularly the 2012 Tour de France victory that made him the first British rider to win the race.
More in Cycling 1-23
Spotted an error? Know more?
This is a living reference — every entry is fact-audited, and reader corrections feed straight into our audit queue. Suggest an edit · See this site's audit record