Bradley Wiggins has suggested that he may never ride another Tour de France. Wiggins was forced to retire from the Giro d'Italia earlier this year with a knee injury and had already declared his intention to skip this year's Tour in order to focus on his rehabilitation. In an interview with The Guardian today however, he raised the possibility of not competing again.
"For me it was always about winning the Tour," the Team Sky man said. "I've done that. If I'm honest I don't think I'm prepared to make those sacrifices again that I made last year, with my family and so on. I've achieved what I've achieved. I'm incredibly happy with that.
"If I do anything else after this it will be stuff I want to do, stuff that I'm willing to train hard and sacrifice for really. For me it was always about winning the Tour, that was a huge thing for me, a huge journey; I've been doing that four years. I don't know if I'd want to go through all that again to be honest. I've always had other goals and there are other things I'd like to try and do."
He also seems to have come to terms with the fact that Chris Froome is now the Sky team leader and looks set to hold onto that position. Froome has been in impressive form so far this year with victories in the Tour du Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné and currently lies fourth in the UCI World Tour rankings. He is also favourite alongside Alberto Contador to take the yellow jersey on this year's Tour de France.
"There has been a natural selection this year through Chris's performances and my performances that he warrants being the team leader; and if he wins the Tour, that continues through to next year. I can live with that." said Wiggins. "I didn't go to the altitude camp before the Giro because I wanted to be with my family; the kids are getting older and I like watching [my son] Ben play rugby and other things."
Wiggins did say that he hopes to continue competing in cycling, but would not be drawn on what his new targets were. It would seem he has run his last tour.
