Cycling Profile: Bradley Wiggins
Bradley Wiggins is the son of the former cyclist Gary Wiggins and was born in Belgium though he spent most of the early stages of his life in Lancashire, London. He chose to represent England in the professional cycling and started his career as a track
cyclist.
His first win came in the 2000 Summer Olympics as he won a bronze medal in the event followed by three further medals in the Summer Olympics in 2004 and two gold medals in the 2008 Summer Olympics. Wiggins currently rides for Team Sky and is categorised
as an all rounder in the sport.
Wiggins was given the role to lead team Sky in 2010 because of his outstanding performance and passion towards the sport and he has taken the team to new heights under his leadership. His best performance so far was in the Criterium de Dauphine 2011 as he
claimed the yellow and the blue jersey after a brilliant time trial performance towards the end of the race. Wiggins managed to defeat the Australian cyclist and the Tour de France 2011 winner Cadel Evans with 1 minute and 23 seconds during the Criterium de
Dauphine 2011.
Wiggins is currently leading team Sky at the Vuelta a Espana 2011 and is a serious contender for the general classifications as he is 1 minute and 41 seconds behind the race leader Juan Jose Cobo. His team-mate and countryman Christopher Froome is at second
while Bradley himself is at third position after the stage 18 general classifications.
Bradley started his professional career in 2002 as a track cyclist but it was in 2008 when he decided to turn towards road cycling to test his skills and soon recognised himself as a time trial specialist in the cycling world. Wiggins’ decision to switch
on to the road racing soon proved to be a career building decision as his dominance at the Tour de France 2009 earned him a solid reputation across the globe.
The 31-year-old joined Linda McCartney Racing Team in 2001 and soon changed his team next year as he moved to francaise des Jeux. In 2004 he joined team Credit Agricole and stayed with them for two years as he moved to Cofidis for the 2006-07 season. In
2008 Wiggins moved to Team HTC High road and won three gold medals for the team during the UCI Track Cycling World Championships followed by the time trials win in 2008 Beijing Olympics.
After a year spent with High Road, Wiggins moved to team Garmin-Slipstream in 2009 and represented the team in the 2009 Giro d’ Italia as he finished the race at the 71st position. He participated in the Tour de France 2009 and won the first stage
of the grand tour and rode aggressively throughout the event finished three seconds ahead of Frank Schleck and finished fourth as Alberto Contador, Andy Schleck and Lance Armstrong secured the first three positions respectively at the Tour de France 2009.
Wiggins also holds the honour of breaking the world record in the Olympics as he was part of the team who set a new record with a total time of 3:55:202 beating the previous record holders Russia. He was chosen by the BBC Sports Personality awards as he
received 5,633 votes and was positioned at ninth place.
Bradley Wiggins is a favourite contender for the Vuelta a Espana 2011 and it is more likely that he will dominate the coming stages of the Grand Tour and the race leader Juan has also mentioned his concerns as he admitted that Team Sky rider is a serious
threat to his dominance at the tour. With only three more stages to go in the Vuelta a Espana 2011 Wiggins is amongst the top contenders who can win the event along with the race leader Cobo, his team-mate Christopher Froome, Vincenzo Nibali and Bauke Mollema.
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