Olympic gold next on Wiggins’s radar after dream Tour victory

A 13-year-old Wiggins in 1993 caught the Eurostar from London to Paris with his mother and watched by the Champs-Elysees as Miguel Indurain won the third of his five Tour titles.

Now the 32-year-old, after claiming a first yellow jersey, is keen to add to his haul of three Olympic gold medals, help world champion Mark Cavendish win the road race on the opening day of London 2012 and continue to improve – and win.

“I never imagined that 19 years later I’d be coming down there in the same position,” said Wiggins.

“It sounds cliched and pathetic, but it’s the childhood stuff of dreams.

“It’s what I’ve dreamed of for 20 years and never ever thought it could become reality.

“It’s almost a kind of disbelief that this is really happening.

“A lot of it is goose pimple stuff. When you come on there (the Champs-Elysees) and the roar, even when you finish last in the Tour.

“But to come on in the yellow jersey surrounded by the guys who have put me there, with all my family there ...”

It was difficult for Wiggins to articulate his feelings after a momentous 13th day in the maillot jaune, but one thing is certain – he wants to build on his success.

“I’ve got a couple more years and I want to keep this momentum going and think about my goals for next year,” he added.

“But it’s not the time to think about it now. It’s way too early.”

Wiggins intends to ride on to September’s World Championships in Limburg, Holland, but the Olympics is his first priority.

After leading out Cavendish to victory in the French capital, Wiggins intends to do the same in Saturday’s 250km Olympic road race, which finishes on The Mall.

Wiggins’s Olympic priority is the August 1 Hampton Court time-trial, but after demonstrating a full range of talents at the Tour, he sees no reason he cannot do the same in London.

“I’ve just done a world-class time-trial, averaging a ridiculous amount of power, after three weeks’ bike racing and two really tough Pyrenees stages, a 222km stage at 44kph average speed with a leadout in the final (on Friday to Brive-la-Gaillarde, as Cavendish won),” said Wiggins.

“Once you start thinking in those terms, that you’re so fit and you’ve trained for the demands of the three weeks and you’ve actually got three days off in between the road race and the time-trial, it shouldn’t be a problem. If anything, I’m going to be fresher.”

Imperious victories in the Tour’s two long time-trials, stage nine to Besancon and the penultimate day to Chartres, have given Wiggins the belief that a fourth Olympic gold, after three on the track, could be close.

“If I’m 100 per cent honest, it’s gold or nothing in London now,” said Wiggins, who, with six, is equal with Sir Steve Redgrave as the Briton with the most Olympic medals.

“That’s the way I’m treating the next nine days. I’ve set a precedent now for performances.

“I can’t sit and say I’ll be happy with a silver, or happy with a bronze.”

For Wiggins, gold on day five of his fourth Olympics, and one in his home town, would cap a spectacular year.

“Coming off the back of this, it will kind of add the hundreds and thousands on the cake,” said Wiggins, who was set to be given time off to go home to Lancashire early this week before joining the Olympic squad at their Surrey base.

“As it stands, the icing is on it. We’ve just got to put the little cherry on top.”

Wiggins loves to race and to win, having triumphed in the Paris-Nice, Tour de Romandie and Criterium du Dauphine stage races this season, and will continue with the same mind-set.

He added: “I love that whole process of going out, warming up, getting in the zone, out there flying along the road. That’s what I love doing. It’s how I’ve ridden all year.”

Wiggins’ performance has captured the public imagination and he takes pleasure from the thought that someone watching will use him as inspiration, like he did with Indurain.

“It’s nice because you are actually doing something with your life that is inspirational,” he added. “I don’t want to be a role model as a person, because I’m only human at the end of the day.

“I make mistakes like everyone in life. I don’t want to break people’s perception of me if I do something they don’t like. In a sporting sense, fire away. Love me to bits.”