2012
THE TIME LORD
Wiggins strikes gold
After race contender and reigning world champion Mark Cavendish struck a bum note in the 2012 Road Race on the opening day of competition in London, it was Bradley Wiggins, on the following Wednesday in the men’s time trial, who helped set the ball rolling on a historic haul of gold medals for Great Britain; 29 remains the most the country has won since 1908 (home turf always helps – that was also in London). More than stacking up gold, at the time it seemed to elevate pro cycling in the public consciousness to a level in the country that devout fans had long since believed it deserved. Crowds lined the route, scores deep, to witness their charismatic new hero Wiggins, fresh off Britain’s first-ever win in the men’s Tour de France, surge to gold. Much water has passed under the bridge since to knock cycling off this pedestal – of course, it was never possible to maintain, regardless of the self-inflicted wounds inflicted over the years, such as the Jiffy Bag affair. Just relish the fact that for a moment at a sunny Hampton Court Palace back in 2012, cycling was the biggest deal in the land.
2008
GOLD FOR NICOLE
Nicole Cooke makes history in Beijing
day beneath the Great Wall of China in 2008, Nicole Cooke made British Olympic history, becoming the first British female cyclist to take gold – and marking the tipping point for an incoming landslide. It was the apotheosis of a stunning career for the Welsh rider, who’d already won, reveals the extent to which she believed her career flourished despite the British system, rather than because of it.
