Sir Bradley Wiggins back on track for glorious swansong

British cycling’s iconic figurehead is back on the boards in preparation for what would be a fifth and final Olympics in Rio this summer.

As an Olympic champion in the four-man pursuit in Beijing in 2008, a silver medallist four years earlier in Athens and a bronze medal-winner in Sydney way back in 2000, Wiggins has a deep-rooted history with the event.

Yet since successfully switching his attention to the road – a period which saw him win the Tour de France, a world and Olympic time-trial title – Wiggins has understandably neglected his heritage.

But now he is back, seeking a glorious swansong in Rio, knowing the intense competition he has left behind in the team pursuit means the curtain could fall on his ground-breaking career at any time.

That is because Wiggins is one of six men vying for the four spots on the team pursuit squad, along with much younger riders in Steven Burke, Andy Tennant, Jon Dibben and Owain Doull.

The other name on that list is Yorkshire’s Ed Clancy, a gold medallist at each of the last two Olympics in the team pursuit who now faces a fight to prove his fitness as much as anything after undergoing career-saving back surgery 12 weeks ago.

Just as Clancy knows he has no divine right to make the team, so 35-year-old Wiggins appreciates he still has to prove he can maintain Britain’s gold standard, starting this week at the world track championships in London.

“There are six of us going for four spots and I might not even make the plane,” admitted Wiggins ahead of today’s qualifying round.

“It’s just making sure you do everything they ask of you in the run-up.

“It’s not a given. You’re not pre-selected just because you won the Tour and all that. It’s the same with Mark Cavendish coming back to do the omnium. He has to prove he has what it takes.”

What is providing extra incentive for Wiggins is the fact that any signs that age has caught up with him between now and Rio could hasten his retirement from a sport he has at times carried on his shoulders over the last decade.

“I don’t think about the end because I haven’t made the end yet and I haven’t made the team for the Olympics yet. So you are day in, day out trying to hit the numbers they put on the board,” said Wiggins, who described as ‘brutal’ the step up in speed teams are producing in the pursuit eight years on from his last participation.

“I’m not really thinking past the worlds this week; try to win a world title and do your job in each round and then go on to the next phase, which is the run-up to the Olympics.”

What could provide a little light relief for Wiggins and some entertainment for the crowd towards the end of the five-day world championships at the Lee Valley VeloPark, is the possibility of teaming up again with Mark Cavendish in the madison.

The duo were world champions in the madison eight years ago in Manchester and it could be a fitting send-off for two of this country’s greatest cyclists.

“The madison is a bit of a fun thing at the worlds. It’s not an Olympic event any more so there is nothing riding on it other than you get to be world champion for a year,” said Wiggins.

“The first time it came up was riding the Revolution in Derby last year. ‘Shall we do Derby?’ And I thought, ‘Come on, it might be a bit embarrassing’, and Cav was like, ‘It doesn’t matter if we finish 10th, people just want to see us race’, and I think that’s the same with the worlds.

“In some ways, being able to ride back here, 2016, Olympic year, London World Championships, it will be my last track worlds, it will be a nice way to end my track career, getting to do a home worlds again.”

Leeds’ Katy Marchant, meanwhile, faces a do-or-die scenario in her bid to make Olympic selection in the team sprint. Just five European nations can take part in the event in Rio and Britain currently sit sixth in the rankings.

This week’s world championships are the final qualifier and Britain must climb into the top five – while also staying in the top nine globally – if they are to grab Europe’s last berth.

A former training partner of Jessica Ennis-Hill, 23-year-old Marchant, who switched from being a heptathlete to a track cyclist three years ago, said: “We have just had the mindset that if we train every day as hard as we can and we go out there and give the best performance that we can, then, hopefully, that will be enough.

“We have had a lot of pressure over the season to get the rides out, so I just think we don’t need added pressure (of worrying about qualification).”