Bradley Wiggins explains how he helps son Ben through the bad days ahead of his WorldTour debut
Cycling
After a bad race, Ben Wiggins can talk it through with his dad, going over what he might have done differently. Bradley Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner, spoke about those conversations when they shared a stage at Rouleur Live in London on 12 November, less than a month after Team Jayco AlUla confirmed the 21-year-old’s promotion to its WorldTour squad for 2027.
“One thing that will never change is having someone to speak to when you’re trying to deal with failure and disappointment,” Bradley Wiggins said. “Every step he was going through this year was about trying to achieve success.”
Ben raced for Fensham Howes-MAS under Giles Pidcock as a junior. In a 2024 interview at the National Cycling Show, the former Olympic gold medallist said he felt a formal coaching relationship would have been unhealthy for them. At Rouleur Live, he described their conversations after races as “where I can be the most help to him”.
Ben’s road to the WorldTour
After two successive silvers in the British under-23 time trial, Ben won the title in Lampeter in June. At the Tour of Britain in September, he made the early break on the final stage in Earlston and was still with the leaders when Nils Politt went clear to win. Riding for Great Britain, Ben finished sixth on the stage and 10th overall.
Ben Wiggins is set for a World Tour step up in 2027, following in his father's footsteps
“You are going to have more disappointments and more failures than you are victories in this sport,” Bradley said. Ben had set his sights on winning the under-23 world time trial in Montreal a year earlier and finished 11th. Four weeks later, Jayco AlUla announced Ben’s promotion after three seasons with its Hagens Berman Jayco development team.
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The pair also looked back on the summer of 2012. Ben was seven when he rode alongside his father on the Champs-Elysees after Bradley became the first British rider to win the Tour de France. Ten days later, Bradley won the Olympic road time trial in London, the only one of his five Olympic golds to come on the road.
Ben was already talking about Los Angeles 2028 in 2023, when he took silver in the junior world time trial and won the junior world Madison title with Matthew Brennan. At Rouleur Live, he said he still hopes to fit track racing around his road programme as he steps up to the WorldTour with less than two years to go until the Games.
Kieran WoodDeputy Editor-in-Chief
Kieran Wood is a sports journalist based in Wales and has been active in journalism since 2022. He regularly contributes to DartsNews.com and CyclingUpToDate.com, where he covers professional cycling and darts. In cycling, his work includes liveblogs from major races, including the Tour de France, the Giro d’Italia, and La Vuelta a España, alongside race reports and analysis. He has also conducted interviews with professional riders.
His reporting spans the full racing calendar, from one-day classics to stage races, with a focus on accurate, real-time coverage and clear contextual analysis. For statistics, results, and historical context, he regularly uses resources such as ProCyclingStats. To support reporting on rider activity and training context where relevant, he also references Strava.
In his work, Kieran places strong emphasis on careful sourcing, editorial accuracy, and updating articles as new, verified information becomes available.
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- Right on. The more the merrier.Occam13-11-2026
- Remember, Del Toro struggled in this Tour. He is great, no doubt about that, but comparing him to a four time gt winner is absurd at this point. He has the potential. We'll have to see how he develops.awp13-11-2026
- what did Jonas gift and to whom? just curious, haven’t heard about this.mij13-11-2026
- You don't gift grand tours as it has come to light that Jonas has come to regret doing such.
Front24213-11-2026 - Exactly you said it urslf - he outclimbed del toro by 19 sec. 19SEC and you say hes alot better than del toro still lol? And can also do the same where del toro did that to jonas even and del toro dauphine numbers better than jonas all year so why this hard whats the issue its super easy stuff - del toro wasnt that before. Then factor in both their trajectory the last years and the answer is self explonatory like i said. Nothing against jonas like many do but the typing is no the wall and so stupidly easy as its so self explanatory now. Have a good daymiguel13-11-2026
- Dirty ex doperFront24213-11-2026
- As far as points go they need to take a page or ten out of the Astana playbook!Lozza13-11-2026
- Ah, seems he’s been busy elsewhere! 😆Lozza13-11-2026
- Where is he when you need him!? Wake up man! You’re missing an opportunity!Lozza13-11-2026
- A very true statement made by Johan Bruyneel: "We don’t know for sure about Jonas, because he dropped out of the Tour de France, but he would never have come close to Pogacar. Maybe he would have finished second. He won the Giro in dominant fashion and the Vuelta the year before, but Visma wants to win the Tour." That's exactly what I've been saying the last six months. If Pogi races with Jonas, the most he can be is second... UNLESS... Pogi crashes out or makes a BIG mistake, which is not likely to happen. Either Bruyneel thinks the way I do or he reads my posts. Ad acta!!!PogiSloFans13-11-2026
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