Bradley Wiggins: Cyclist wins gold to become Britain’s most-decorated Olympian

So arise Sir Bradley, you are now the greatest British cyclist ever.

It’s why he returned to his first love, track cycling, after conquering the Tour de France.

Teammate Doull later posted a photograph of his gold medal on Instagram, with the caption: “Olympic champ, job done”.

The cycling star will take part in a handful of races over the summer, and officially retire later this year.

Or is it Sir Bradley Wiggins who, last night, claimed a fifth gold medal in the men’s team pursuit and an eighth Olympic medal in total, thanks to a previous silver and two bronzes as well?

“It’s my first memory as a child, being there with my dad when he was racing”.

The road in between was certainly one for the history books.

But Wiggins drags those around him up by the force of his personality – he doesn’t settle for second best and he didn’t want to end his career with anything other than a fifth Olympic gold, to add to his silver and two bronzes from five Games appearances.

He was the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at a single Olympics.

The 31-year-old Manxman claimed Wiggins was “super stressed” in the lead-up and had frozen him out of the team pursuit squad. So powerful was his surge that Wiggins distanced Doull.

Wiggins expressed relief at the golden conclusion to his top-level career, although he intends to ride the Tour of Britain next month and November’s Six Day in Ghent, Belgium, where he was born.

He really came to the pinnacle of track cycling between 2003 and 2008 where he dominated the individual pursuit, taking gold at the 2004 and 2008 Olympics, leading the GB team to gold in team pursuit in 2008 and holding multiple world championship jerseys in the team and individual pursuit as well as the Kieren.

This time a source said: “Bradley had to go back to the Olympic village after the race to change out of his tracksuit and stay with his team”.

In the far corner of the velodrome, another cycling knight, Sir Chris Hoy, posed for selfies with British fans, while Wiggins – at his spiky yet endearing best – held court with the media until they turned out the lights. One of Wiggins’ golds was in the London 2012 road time trial, weeks after winning the Tour de France.

He did it in memorable fashion, too.

Behind for much of the race and still trailing with 500 of the 4,000 meters remaining, the 36-year-old Wiggins led Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull in a storming comeback that culminated in victory by just 0.743 seconds.

“He’s just a phenomenal athlete”.

James also paid tribute to the support she received during a “tough” two years, and added: “I think it’s going to be a medal that we’ve all won together”. “He deserves a drink if he wants one now because he’s deprived himself for so long to get this medal”.