On the eve of the 2026 Tour de France we look back at a Tour that happened 14 years ago and a simple Q&A interview Chris Sidwells did with Sir Bradley Wiggins days before the start of the 2012 Tour de France.
Q. What do you like about the Tour?
BW. The same thing I like about cycling. It sounds corny but cycling is my love and hobby, it’s what I grew up following and watching, so to be able to do all I wanted to, to ride the Tour de France and the Olympics is special.
Q. Is there anything you dislike about the Tour?
BW. It’s not particularly about the Tour but cycling in general, because I have to leave my home, wife and kids for long periods. That the big downside of what I do.
Looking relaxed early in the race
Q. Do you take a luxury with you to the Tour, like they do on Desert Island Discs?
BW. Not really, because one day turns into another, the Tour is all-consuming and there’s no time to focus on anything other than what you are doing.
Q. What music do you listen to on the Tour.
BW. A bit of everything really. I’ve been listening to a lot of Ronnie Wood’s show on Sky Arts Radio recently and downloading things I hear on that.
Q. Will you be taking a guitar to the 2012 Tour?
BW. No, I’ve got a job to do this year.
Q. What gets tired first as the Tour progresses, your body or mind?
BW. Physically I’ve never found three-week stage races too much of a problem. Mentally though they are hard. Doing the same thing; get up, eat, race, eat again and sleep, it can crack some people up if they look too far ahead. You’ve got to get your head down, focus on one day at a time and not look up. Certainly, I don’t look ahead and say, ‘I’ve got two weeks more of this.’ That will crack you.
Q. How much does it hurt to ride in the front group of the Tour de France in the mountains?
BW. It hurts as much at the back as it does at the front. At the front, though, you have the cameras in your face, the crowd shouting for you and waving flags. You have the feeling of knowing you are at the top of your sport. It’s a fantastic feeling. Riding up the Ventoux in the front group in 2009, knowing that at that moment nothing is higher in your sport than where you are, it’s incredible. The fans are so close, the helicopter’s above, the TV is getting every picture, it all helps you.
Wiggins time trail ability was there from the start of his career
Q. What are you looking for when you recce the course of a Tour de France time trial?
BW. It depends if it’s a prologue or a long TT, it’s different for each type of time trial because of the length and intensity involved. With a prologue you are looking at every corner for the best lines, and you are going over every acceleration, because if you get one wrong it can be the difference between winning and losing. You might ride a prologue circuit ten times before the start. With a longer time trial, you take a longer overview. You look at hills, the wind direction and just try to get familiar with it.
Q. What do you think about when you are riding a time trial?
BW. Again, it depends on the distance. A prologue is sheer concentration; you take each 1.5 or two-kilometre section and focus on it. You tick them off then move on to the next. For a longer time trial, it depends on how you feel. If you are feeling good, it’s just a fantastic buzz. When you are catching people, putting time into your rivals it helps you concentrate. It only hurts if you drift, which sometimes happens towards the end of a longer time trial. Then you feel how hard you are trying, and that hurts. You quickly get back in the zone if that happens. Concentrating takes your mind off the pain.
Q. Do you get time checks on your rivals during a time trial?
BW. Normally no, and I never have a radio. But in the Dauphine last year (which Wiggins won) I had checks on all my general classification rivals and it spurred me on. Towards the end I could even see Cadel (Evans) so I was catching him. It was a fabulous moment in a fabulous time trial. I felt like I could do no wrong.
Q. Is there anything you wish you were better at going into the 2012 Tour de France?
BW. Everything is a work in progress, although I’ve improved in all areas I needed to. I think we’ve covered all the bases. I wish I was better with the press, but I just can’t get my head around what they are about. I’ve never understood the whole process, all the questions like “Is the Tour over?” No, the race is three weeks long. Or “Will the race be decided on such and such a climb tomorrow?” I don’t know, it’s tomorrow, let’s see then. I don’t get it and I end up making daft replies. I can hear them as I make them.
The press calls Brad had difficulties with
Q. Final question, now you have a much higher profile in Europe because of winning races like the Dauphine and Paris-Nice, are you famous in the UK now, do you get recognised in Tesco’s, for example?
BW. Not really, no. For a start we all wear helmets and sunglasses so it’s difficult to recognise us when we’re not. The other thing I think is people aren’t expecting to see Brad Wiggins in Tesco’s in Chorley. I think they think we all live in Monaco. You see it on Twitter when people say they’ve seen a guy riding around the Trough of Bowland in my Sky kit. They ask, was it you? They don’t expect to see me there.
The final yellow jersey, the first British victory in the men's Tour
Photos: Cycling Legends Collection.
