Wiggins Is on Track to Be Remembered as Britain’s Greatest Ever Cyclist

Road racing used to look like something Bradley Wiggins did to kill time between Olympic Games. For years, he won gold medals on the track with metronomic efciency, yet he looked like a sh out of water in the road peloton. But something clicked in 2008, and he started focusing properly on the road. Six years on, he has a Tour yellow jersey, two more Grand Tour podium places, a top 10 in Paris-Roubaix and a World TT Championship rainbow jersey to his name, plus a hatful of smaller stage race wins. He also has an Hour Record, set on a track but historically the preserve of the greatest road riders. Few cyclists can boast such breadth of talent. Wiggins now prepares to go full circle and spend the nal year of his cycling career on the track in an attempt to win one last Olympic gold medal in the team pursuit in Rio de Janeiro. In this edition of Procycling , we celebrate the greatest hits of the peloton’s most prominent mod, with eyewitnesses and experts recalling the impact of his most important wins. And with the Tour de France now in full swing, we’ve interviewed France’s most popular cyclist, Thomas Voeckler, and revealed what it takes to survive the gruelling three weeks of the Tour. Road racing is predominantly about the characters: this magazine is full of them.

Nobody wants any more Lance Armstrong. Everyone has had enough. We’re replete. Stuffed. Couldn’t possibly take any more. But like last night’s soggy pizza, as long as he’s there, we can’t say no. His latest platform is a charity ride with Geoff Thomas, the ex-England footballer. Armstrong is set to ride stages 13 and 14 ahead of the race, with a small group. It’s for Cure Leukaemia but it strokes Armstrong’s ego, too. If the French don’t nobble it – Thomas says rolling road closures have been planned to prevent disruption – it will create an annoying disharmony. Armstrong’s presence is lamentable for everyone: for the race and the riders, for media