Bradley Wiggins

Infobox Cyclist
ridername = Bradley Wiggins

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image_caption = Bradley Wiggins in the Prologue of the 2008 Tour Of California
fullname = Bradley Wiggins
nickname =
dateofbirth = birth date and age|df=yes|1980|4|28
country = GBR
height = height|m=1.90cite web| url=http://results.beijing2008.cn/WRM/ENG/BIO/Athlete/8/225168.shtml| title=Athlete Biography - WIGGINS Bradley | publisher=Beijing Olympics official website]
weight = convert|77|kg|lb st|abbr=on|lk=on
currentteam = Team Columbia
discipline = Road
role = Rider
ridertype =
amateurteams =
amateuryears =
proyears = 2001
2002–2003
2004–2005
2006–2007
2008–
proteams = Linda McCartney
Française des Jeux
Crédit Agricole
Cofidis
Team Columbia
majorwins = Olympic Games, Pursuit (2004, 2008)
flagiconUCI World Championship, Pursuit (2003, 2007, 2008)
flagiconUCI World Championship, Madison (2008)
flagiconUCI World Championship, Team Pursuit (2007, 2008)
Dauphiné Libéré, 1 stage (2007)
updated = 7 July 2008

Bradley Wiggins, OBE (born 28 April 1980) is a Belgian-born British professional track and road bicycle racer currently riding for Team Columbia. He won three medals on the track at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and a further two (both gold) at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics.

Early Years

The son of a professional cyclist, Gary Wiggins, Bradley Wiggins was born in Ghent, Belgium and spent his childhood in London. Following his father, he started cycling early, racing at south London's Herne Hill Velodrome aged 12. [cite web| url=http://blogs.guardian.co.uk/sport/2007/04/08/looking_down_from_herne_hill_i.html| publisher=Guardian Unlimited| title=Sport blog: Looking down from Herne Hill, I can see the future is bright|date=8 April 2007]

International Cycling

Wiggins won a bronze medal as a member of the British team pursuit squad in his first Olympic appearance at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

In 2001 Wiggins signed for the British professional road cycling team, the Linda McCartney Racing Team before it disbanded in early 2001. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/4135289.stm| publisher=BBC SPORT|title=Wiggins wheels his way to history| date=31 December 2004] He joined Française des Jeux in 2002, before moving on to the Crédit Agricole team in 2004.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Wiggins became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Olympic Games, the last being Mary Rand at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He won the gold medal in the individual pursuit, the silver in the team pursuit and a bronze in the Madison along with his race partner Rob Hayles. In the New Year's Honours List published on 31 December 2004, Wiggins was awarded an OBE for services to sport. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/4135289.stm| title=Wiggins wheels his way to history |publisher=BBC Sport| date=31 December 2004]

In 2005, Wiggins rode for the French pro team Crédit Agricole, and rode in the 2005 Giro d'Italia. He then moved to the French professional road cycling team Cofidis in 2006, and participated in the 2006 and 2007 Tours de France.

He returned to the track for the Manchester round of the UCI World Cup and the world championships in 2007, winning the individual and team pursuit. He followed on the road by winning the prologue of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.

He raced in the 2007 Tour de France for Cofidis and took 4th in the Prologue in London. He also won the combativity award on Stage 6 for a long solo breakaway (Incidentally, Stage 6 was the day of the 40th Anniversary of the death of British cyclist Tom Simpson); his team were withdrawn after Cristian Moreni failed a doping test [cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/cycling/6916422.stm| publisher=BBC SPORT| title=Wiggins' Cofidis team out of Tour |date=25 July 2007] .

In 2008 he signed with Team High Road, successor of the T-Mobile Team. That team is now known as Team Columbia due to a mid-year sponsorship change. His main focus of 2008 is the Olympic Gold at the Beijing Olympics. At the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, he won three gold medals: Individual Pursuit, Team Pursuit and Madison.

At the 2008 Summer Olympics he won a gold medal in the 4km Individual Pursuit, defending his title from four years earlier. In doing so he became the first rider ever to successfully defend his pursuit title at the Olympics. On 17 August, he was a member of the Olympic team pursuit squad which broke the world record in the heats with a time of 3:55:202, beating their Russian opponents comfortably to go through to the final ride-off for silver and gold. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/cycling/7566164.stm| title=GB pursuit team set world record| publisher=BBC Sport| date=17 August 2008] The following day, on their way to winning the gold medal, the British Team pursuit broke their own world record in a time of 3:53:314, beating their Danish competitors by 6.7 seconds. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics/cycling/7567845.stm| title=GB storm to gold in team pursuit| publisher=BBC Sport| date=18 August 2008] Wiggins paired up with Mark Cavendish to ride the Madison but failed to come anywhere near the medals.

In October 2008 he published his autobiography "In Pursuit of Glory" [ cite web|url=http://www.orionbooks.co.uk/HB-43193/In-Pursuit-of-Glory.htm|title=In Pursuit of Glory|publisher=Orion Books ] and announced that he had signed for the Garmin-Chipotle team for the 2009 season [ cite web|url=http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/Bradley_Wiggins_set_to_join_GarminChipotle_article_266739.html|title=BRADLEY WIGGINS SET TO JOIN GARMIN-CHIPOTLE|publisher=Cycling Weekly ] .

Accomplishments

Olympic medals

;2000 Summer Olympics: Bronze, Team Pursuit;2004 Summer Olympics: Gold, 4km Individual Pursuit: Silver, Team Pursuit: Bronze, Madison;2008 Summer Olympics: Gold, 4km Individual Pursuit: Gold, Team Pursuit

World Championships

;1998 UCI U19 Track World Championships: Gold, 2km Individual Pursuit;2000 UCI Track World Championships: Silver, Team Pursuit;2001 UCI Track World Championships:Silver, Team Pursuit;2002 UCI Track World Championships: Bronze, Team Pursuit;2003 UCI Track World Championships: Gold, 4km Individual Pursuit: Silver, Team Pursuit;2007 UCI Track World Championships: Gold, 4km Individual Pursuit: Gold, Team Pursuit;2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships: Gold, 4km Individual Pursuit: Gold, Team Pursuit (World Record Time): Gold, Men's Madison

Commonwealth Games

; 2002 Commonwealth Games: Silver, 4km Individual Pursuit: Silver, Team Pursuit

Other races won

;2003
* Stage 1 ITT, Tour de l'Avenir
* Six Days of Ghent;2005
* Stage 2 ITT, Circuit de Lorraine
* Stage 8, Tour de l'Avenir;2007
* Prologue, Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré
* Stage 1 ITT, Four Days of Dunkirk
* Stage 4 ITT, Tour du Poitou-Charentes et de la Vienne
* Stage 6 Combativity award, Tour de France
* Duo Normand (with Michiel Elijzen)

Quotes

*"Most people were too drunk to notice me." On his experiences of late-night practice runs for the London leg of the Tour de France.

*"It is nice to be recognised for actually achieving something in life as opposed to spending seven weeks in a house on TV with a load of other muppets." A reference to the television programme, "Big Brother", after finishing fourth in the Tour de France prologue. [cite web| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/funny_old_game/6900962.stm| publisher=BBC News| title=Fun and Games:Quotes of the Week| date=17 July 2007]

References

Persondata
NAME= Wiggins, Bradley
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=Wiggins OBE, Bradley
SHORT DESCRIPTION=Racing cyclist
DATE OF BIRTH= 1980-04-28
PLACE OF BIRTH=Ghent, Belgium
DATE OF DEATH=
PLACE OF DEATH=