If we’re all sat in front of you having won silver, you can expect us to be pretty pissed off. Cycling had never been fashionable and Wiggins found the intensity of the fame uncomfortable.
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Meanwhile for Ed Clancy, his hopes of an Olympic place seemed to be fading following a back injury in the previous year – his third Olympic gold meant the world to him.
The win was Clancy’s third successive team pursuit Olympic gold and Burke’s second, while it’s a first for Olympic debutant Doull.
The win also continued GBs stunning start to the track cycling events in Rio 2016, following Gold in the Men’s Team Sprint on Thursday night and a world record from the Women’s Team Pursuit foursome just hours earlier. “I’ll be hungover tomorrow”, said Sir Bradley.
Now he wants to go for another gold at the Tokyo Games in four years’ time.
The road in between was certainly one for the history books.
China broke its own world record in the semifinals, beating Spain with a time of 31.928 seconds, before knocking off the Russians to improve on the silver won at the London Games.
The effort took its toll though, with Australia losing a rider before the 3km mark – as Great Britain rode to their schedule, eating into the green and gold team’s lead. Then he made a decision to switch to road racing: within a year, he had finished fourth in the Tour de France, a result that was subsequently elevated to third after Lance Armstrong’s results were annulled. So powerful was his surge that Wiggins distanced Doull.
Yet over the span of several years, he virtually re-designed his body.
He accomplished his goal in the unforgettable summer of 2012.
The 2012 champions fell just short of defending their crown with Germany scooping gold with a winning score of 81.936 points ahead of Britain’s 78.602.
It took 3500 meters for Great Britain to draw level with the Australian men’s team pursuit team, another 250 to pass them, and then 250 more to seal the deal.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Preparing for his final race before retirement in the Olympic velodrome, Bradley Wiggins’ phone flashed with a message. Not some crappy little race in northern France – Paris-Tours – climbing off in the feed zone. Bradley Wiggins (GBR) of Britain holds his gold medal and poses with his wife Catherine.
It was his fifth gold medal to go with a silver and two bronze medals.
He did it in memorable fashion, too.
Wiggins, along with Owain Doull, Ed Clancy and Steven Burke, edged Australia in a gold medal showdown, breaking the world record for the second time in the day in the process.
“And I think the tone of how some things are said can be skewed quite a bit as well”.
He is a staunch opponent of doping in cycling, an altruistic stance but one that sometimes upset the establishment in a sport where performance-enhancing drugs had become endemic.
For the most part, though, everything Wiggins set out to do he’s accomplished. It’s done now and it’s more relief than anything. I can wake up now (on) Monday and not have to have this.
Here’s what you might have missed on a hectic day for Great Britain.
His British teammates speak of an aura, but also of him being one of the guys, mucking around and joking at least as much as the rest.
I’m a better athlete than I was 16 years ago or even eight years ago. Probably since the year I spent at Garmin when I came fourth in the Tour out of the blue.
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Colne’s Steven Burke helped Team GB win the team pursuit last night, as Sir Bradley Wiggins confirmed himself as the most decorated British Olympian of all time.
