Belgian-born Sir Bradley Wiggins was knighted for services to cycling in the 2013 New Years Honours but, shortly beforehand, was voted 2012 BBC Sports Personality of the Year. Wiggins, then 32, beat 11 other nominees – headed by heptathlete Jessica Ennis and tennis player Andy Murray – to the much sought-after title, having become the first Briton to win the Tour de France.
Indeed, in a stellar 2012, Wiggins not only won the Tour de France – by 3′ 21″ from his Team Sky colleague Chris Froome – but also Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Criterium du Dauphine, making him the only cyclist ever to win all four events in the same season. Not only that, but just over a week after his victory on the Champs-Élysées in Paris, Wiggins demonstrated hia ability to bounce back from the extreme physical and mental demands of the Tour by winning the men’s road time trial at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.
Wiggins already had three Olympic gold medals to his name, having won the individual pursuit in Athens in 2004 and that event, plus the team pursuit in Beijing in 2008. He had also proved a force majeure at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships, winning gold medals in the individual pursuit in 2003, 2007 and 2008, the team pursuit in 2007 and 2008 and the madison in 2008.
As far as Grand Tours are concerned, Wiggins had previously finished fourth, promoted to third, in the Tour De France in 2009 and third, promoted to second, in the Vuelta a España in 2011. Accepting the award from the Duchess of Cambridge, he said, “I will say thank you to everyone who voted. We have had all that jungle stuff [I’m a Celebrity…] and X Factor in the last few weeks, so for people to pick up the phone and vote in half an hour, thank you very much.” Following in the footsteps the 2011 winner, Mark Cavendish, Wiggins became just the fourth cyclist to win the award after Sir Chris Hoy in 2008 and Tommy Simpson back in 1965.