Bradley Wiggins admits that he had to put on a facade in front of public: "I don’t ride a bike anymore because I don’t like the person I became"

Bradley Wiggins has admitted that he no longer rides a bike and that his only memory of standing on the Champs-Élysées after winning the 2012 Tour de France stems from watching the moment back on television.

"I don’t ride a bike anymore because I don’t like the person I became when I was on it," the 43-year-old tells Rob Adcock during the revealing interview, the Sun reports. "I can’t imagine achieving anything like that now in a sports perspective because I’m not the same person I was. I’ve grown now. I have all the answers."

"I was the most confident bike rider when I was on it. But step off the bike and I had to step back as Bradley Wiggins, because the bike was where I was most comfortable and gave me all my confidence in my life."

"I have no memory of standing on the Champs-Élysées or on any Olympic podium. The only memory I have of it is watching it back on TV. When we were at my last Olympics in Rio, the TV camera came on me during the national anthem and I could see myself on the big screen, so I pulled my tongue out. I would do that quite a lot in those important moments, really. I was so self-conscious of being looked at."