Triumphant Bradley Wiggins back-pedals over leaving stage

Sir Bradley Wiggins insists he is still to make a decision about his future after winning what was expected to be his final event.
By The Newsroom
Published 20th Nov 2016, 20:16 BST
Updated 21st Nov 2016, 13:27 BST
Bradley Wiggins, left, and Mark Cavendish pose with their trophies after winning the six-day race at 't Kuipke velodrome in Ghent, Belgium (Picture: Peter Dejong/AP).Bradley Wiggins, left, and Mark Cavendish pose with their trophies after winning the six-day race at 't Kuipke velodrome in Ghent, Belgium (Picture: Peter Dejong/AP).
Bradley Wiggins, left, and Mark Cavendish pose with their trophies after winning the six-day race at 't Kuipke velodrome in Ghent, Belgium (Picture: Peter Dejong/AP).

The 36-year-old and fellow Briton Mark Cavendish won the Ghent Six-Day, in the Belgian city of Wiggins’s birth, after a thrilling Madison.

Wiggins had previously suggested that team pursuit triumph was the ‘’fairytale’’ conclusion to his career, and that Ghent would be the ideal place for his final appearance.

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However, while Wiggins confirmed it was his last race with Cavendish, the 2012 Tour de France winner hinted he could yet carry on.

“I was born here and I’ve always felt this is a second home to me,” he said.

“It’s always special to win here. And I always said that this would be my final send-off, to come here and race Ghent for one last time.

“To win it with Mark as well, after everything we have been through the last 10 years together. This will be the last time we race together for sure.

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“Maybe not my last individually, but together as a pairing. When you think what we have achieved together it is incredible.

“I am not sure about my future yet, but at this moment I’ve still got really good legs so I don’t want to say that is 100 per cent it then make an announcement next week, but at the moment I am just going to enjoy (Sunday).”

In a nip-and-tuck finale to the hour-long Madison, the British duo won a three-way duel with rival pairs Kenny De Ketele and Moreno De Pauw, and Elia Viviani and Iljo Keisse.

With just five laps of the race to go Wiggins made his move and he and Cavendish were declared lap leaders.

“Me and Cav are like brothers you know,” added Wiggins.

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“We have a good time together and would do anything for each other, and we fight and bicker but we know each other’s strengths.

“We have raced together a lot, for 12 to 13 years now. It has been a great partnership.”

On Saturday Wiggins and Cavendish had restored their one-lap lead late in the day to retain their advantage heading into the final day.

A lap ahead of their main rivals overnight after a dominant display on day four, Wiggins and Cavendish saw de Ketele and de Pauw – the pair that beat them in last month’s London Six Day – wipe out their advantage in the first madison and take the lead courtesy of their superior points total. But Wiggins and Cavendish took a lap in the final event of the day, the second madison, to set up their ultimately successful push for victory on Sunday.