As the son of professional cyclist Gary Wiggins, 29 year-old Bradley Wiggins CBE grew up with cycling in his blood.
ITV.com/tour brings you an in-depth look at ‘Wiggo’ and all his achievements...
While currently part of the Garmin-Slipstream team, Wiggins actually started racing at the age of 12 at the Herne Hill velodrome in south London.
At just 19 years old, Wiggins won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney as a member of the British team pursuit squad.
In 2004, Wiggins became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Olympic Games, the last being Mary Rand in 1964.
He successfully defended his 4km Individual Pursuit title at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, once again winning the gold medal.
You probably won’t find Wiggins watching reality TV any time soon. "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,” he said after finishing fourth in the 2007 Tour de France Prologue.
Sadly this success didn’t stretch into the main event, as Wiggins was forced to pull out of the race after a Cofidis team-mate, Cristian Moreni, was found to have tested positive for testosterone.
Yet this setback hasn’t dampened his ambition for the Tour. “I'd love to get the yellow [jersey] for one day at least. I don't want to be just another number in the peloton,” Wiggins said recently.
Like former track partner Mark Cavendish, 29 year-old Wiggins too has recently released an autobiography, In Pursuit of Glory, where he documents his battle with alcohol addiction after the Athens Olympics in 2004.
Wiggins was appointed OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours for services to sport, and most recently appointed CBE in the 2009 New Year Honours.
