Sir bradley wiggins biography of barack

Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins born 28 April is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between and He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to road cycling. He won world titles in four disciplines Madison, individual pursuit, team pursuit and road time trialand Olympic gold in three individual pursuit, team pursuit and road time trial.

Read more on Wikipedia. In MarchWiggins returned to the track for the track world championships in Palma, Majorca, his first appearance at the championships since In the qualifying round for the individual pursuit, he set his second fastest time since his personal best at the Olympics in Athens, with a time of four minutes and He then went on to win gold in the team pursuit, beating Ukraine in the final.

He finished in 13th place in the Madison, with Rob Hayles. On stage six Wiggins launched a solo breakaway after 2 km 1. It was seen as a tribute to British rider Tom Simpsonon the 40th anniversary of his death in the Tour de France, but was a gift to his wife on her birthday, with Wiggins only finding out about the date's significance after the race.

He received the stage's combativity award, for the most aggressive rider. Cofidis withdrew from the race before stage 16 after Cristian Moreni failed a doping test. Wiggins and his teammates were interviewed by police and had their hotel rooms searched. Despite this Wiggins continued racing for Cofidis, and in August he won the time trial on stage four of the Tour du Poitou-Charentes.

In September, sir bradley wiggins biography of barack teammate Michiel Elijzen, he won the Duo Normand, a two-man team time trial over a course of His season on the road ended riding for Great Britain at the road world championships in Stuttgart, coming tenth in the time trial, two minutes and ten seconds behind winner Cancellara of Switzerland; a result he was disappointed with, after hoping to finish on the podium.

Wiggins then made his only appearance for the T-Mobile Track Team — which is separate from the road team — at the Beijing round of the —08 Track World Cup Classics in December, winning gold in the individual pursuit and silver in the Madison with Cavendish. For the season, Wiggins's focus was on the track and on the Summer Olympics in Beijing, deciding not to compete in the Tour de France.

In March Wiggins competed in the track world championships in Manchester, defending his individual pursuit title by beating Dutchman Jenning Huizenga in the final, his third world title in the discipline. He then won the team pursuit, setting a new world record of three minutes and Wiggins was due to partner with Hayles in the Madison, but Hayles failed a routine blood test, and was subsequently banned for two weeks.

Cavendish was then brought in as his replacement. At around halfway through the race they appeared to be out of contention, with their closest rivals all gaining a lap; but with 35 laps left to race, Wiggins launched an attack which helped them reach the field ten laps later, taking the lead, due to their superior points they had collected in the sprints.

They held on to win the gold medal, finishing with 19 points, ahead of Germany on At the Giro he was part of the lead-out train that helped Cavendish win two stages. Wiggins came fourth in the final stage's At the Olympics he began the defence of his title in the individual pursuit, qualifying with a time of four minutes and In the semi-final he beat Russia's Alexander Serov, before taking gold in the final against Hayden Roulston of New Zealand, becoming the first rider to defend an Olympic pursuit title successfully.

He was a member of the team pursuit that broke the world record in the heats with a time of three minutes and The following day, the team won the gold medal, beating Denmark by 6. He paired with Cavendish in the Madison, and as the reigning world champions, they were favourites for the gold medal, but they only finished ninth. Cavendish felt that Wiggins had not performed to the best of his ability in the Madison.

Wiggins switched his focus to road and moved with his family to the city of Girona in north-east Spain, where Garmin—Slipstream were based.

Sir bradley wiggins biography of barack: He was Britain's most decorated

He started the season in February by helping the team win the opening team time trial of the Tour of Qatar, crossing the line first to take the leaders jersey. After finishing in 71st position in the Giro d'Italia and taking second place in the Wiggins arrived at the Tour de France having lost 6 kg He came third in the time trial on stage one in Monaco, 19 seconds behind Team Saxo Bank's Cancellara and one behind Contador.

He then helped Garmin—Slipstream to second in stage four's team time trial, despite losing four riders. On stage seven he finished 12th in the first mountain finish and was in fifth place overall at the beginning of the second week. On stage fifteen in Verbier — the second mountain finish, Wiggins finished fifth, rising to third place overall.

Wiggins moved back up to fourth, after finishing in second place in the time trial on stage 19, finishing in sixth place 42 seconds down on winner Contador. On stage 20 to Mont VentouxWiggins was dropped by the yellow jersey group 1.

Sir bradley wiggins biography of barack: Sir Bradley Wiggins and Mark

In Octoberfollowing the disqualification of Armstrong, who had originally placed third in the general classification, Wiggins was promoted to third place overall. This decision retroactively gave him the first podium finish by a British rider in Tour de France history. In September Wiggins won the national time trial championship in Buckinghamshire, and in September at the road world championships in Mendrisio, Switzerland, was on course for a bronze medal in the time trial, until a mechanical problem and a delay getting a replacement bike ended with him finishing in 21st place.

In October he ended the season by winning the Herald Sun Tour in Victoria, Australia, after helping teammates for most of the race. He led the race after winning the time trial on stage five in Geelong, beating second-placed teammate Svein Tuft by fourteen seconds. Wiggins had been contracted to ride for Garmin Slipstream again inbut it was announced on 10 December that he was to leave to join Team Sky, having signed a four-year contract with the new British team.

Wiggins began as a team leader for the first time and his main target was to win the Tour de France. In May Wiggins took his first Grand Tour victory on the wet streets of Amsterdam in the opening time trial of the Giro d'Italia, becoming the second Briton to wear the pink jersey after Cavendish in A series of crashes on the second stage put him 32 seconds behind in the general classification to the new leader Cadel Evans BMC Racing Team.

Another crash on stage three cost him a further three minutes and 58 seconds. He recovered time on stage 11, finishing fourth, from a group of 56 riders, and lay tenth overall. He faded quickly towards the end of the race, however, losing time in the final stages. He came seventh in the He finished the race 40th overall, one hour, 47 minutes and 58 seconds behind overall winner Ivan Basso of Liquigas—Doimo.

Throughout the race he told the press he was saving himself for the Tour de France, when asked about his form, but in fact felt physically unfit. Wiggins then went to a training camp in the Alpstesting the mountain stages used for the Tour; he struggled to find his fitness. He made a poor start in the Tour, taking 77th place in the prologue after an early starting position left him exposed to poor conditions.

He finished eighth on stage three, as cobblestones troubled a number of favourites, but on stage eight at Morzine-Avoriaz, the first mountain summit finish of the Tour, he could only manage 19th place, losing one minute and second to stage winner Andy Schleck Team Saxo Bank. The following day he lost more time, coming 13th and losing four minutes and 55 seconds to the main contenders.

He finished in 36th place on stage fourteen, falling to 18th overall, 11 minutes and 30 seconds behind race leader Andy Schleck; to the press he described his form as "consistently mediocre". On stage 19's time trial from Bordeaux to Pauillac, he finished in ninth place, three minutes and 33 seconds behind winner Cancellara.

Sir bradley wiggins biography of barack: Another sportsman in the

In FebruaryContador was found guilty of doping and Wiggins's overall position was upgraded to 23rd. In September he retained his title at the national time trial championships, around the His season ended at the Giro di Lombardia, where he was forced to abandon following a crash. Over the winter he trained with the Great Britain squad at Manchester Velodrome.

Wiggins was team leader of Team Sky again at the start of He opted not to enter the Giro d'Italia, concentrating instead on shorter events and the classics before undertaking altitude training to improve his climbing for the Tour de France. His season began at the Tour of Qatar in February, before winning the team pursuit at the Manchester round of the —10 Track World Cup Classics, with a time of three minutes He then came second in the 27 km In April he rode Paris—Roubaix, and then the Tour de Romandie, finishing third in time trial on stage and helped lead-out teammate Ben Swift to victory on the final stage.

In May he won the 26 km He then went for altitude training in the Alps, in preparation for the Tour. On the final three mountain stages, Wiggins maintained his lead over second-placed Evans to win the race, at that time his biggest victory on the road. In June Wiggins won the national road race championship in Northumberland. On the seventh stage of the Tour, a crash around 40 km Wiggins also confirmed that he would take part the Tour ineven though the Olympics would follow soon after.

The Vuelta and the world championships were seen as a dress rehearsal for We need you! Help us build the largest biographies collection on the web! Add a New Bio. Powered by CITE. Notify me of new comments via email. Cancel Report. His Olympics win on the streets of London cemented his position not just within his sport but as a household name in Britain.

His easy charm in front of the press was legendary, and he won the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, voted for by the public, this proved that cycling was smashing its way into the mainstream. Off the track, Bradley has made numerous radio and TV appearances including a special recording put together for BBC Radio 6 Music in which he discussed his love of music and mod culture alongside Paul Weller.

Wiggins has written a number of books about his career. Commercially, Wiggins has previously collaborated with Fred Perry and Le Col clothing labels to develop cycle wear ranges using his expertise. Wiggins has also collaborated with Halford on a range of Wiggins bikes, designed to encourage children to cycle. Interviewed by Matt Barbet, Brad showed audiences his extensive collection of cycling jerseys that he has collected over the years; each representing a different memory and influence from his career.