Bradley Wiggins interview: Cycling hero talks football and Froome ahead of Liverpool show

Ahead of his live show at the M&S Bank Arena, British cycling legend Bradley Wiggins speaks to YM Liverpool about his proudest moment in the saddle, the musical heroes who inspired him, and where is football allegiances really lie.

Interview by Lawrence Saunders

How did you first get into cycling?

My father, who left home when I was one year old, was a professional cyclist, so that was my introduction to the sport. But when I was 12, I watched Chris Boardman win gold at the 1992 Barcelona Olympics on the Lotus bike. That was the real inspiration for me to start cycling properly.

It was the first time I remember cycling hitting the front pages – more so because of the bike which looked cool and space age. There’s a track in Brixton, South London, called Herne Hill which is only is five or six miles from where I grew up. I used to ride down there on a Saturday morning and a Monday night.

There was also a closed circuit at Crystal Palace. We were quite lucky in London because of an evening there were quite a lot of closed parks we used to ride round. That was were I took it up competitively.

Are there enough quality facilities available for young people today who want to get into the sport?

There is, I just think that it’s gone so far the other way. As elite as it is, and as much success as [the country] has had, it’s become more expensive now.

We used to beg, steal and borrow back when I was a kid, but now you go to a kids race in Victoria Park, Southport, and kids have got bloody £10,000 bikes. My first bike was about £200 from Halfords.

It’s still about money and funding it. At those ages you are limited. You can fall in love with [cycling] but straight away you need finance which I think is a shame really.

Did reporting live from this year’s Tour de France make you miss race riding?

No, not at all. I just love what I’m doing now. I love talking about [cycling]. I’m so detached from the athlete I was, that I don’t care about my career anymore.

[Cycling] is the only thing I know really, so I can talk about it and not criticise but say what I see and translate that to the viewer.

I absolutely love doing it and I just feel very fortunate and privileged that I can make a career out of something which I always thought was useless information when I was a kid.

How does it you feel that Chris Froome was awarded a Grand Tour win predating your Tour de France title? Does it bother you that the history books won’t name you as the first Brit to win one?

No, I could not give a s**t! He’s a better bike rider than me anyway. I’m pleased and proud that I was able to do what I did. I’m not about being the best, or the first, or the last, it’s so unimportant in the grand scheme of things.

I have no qualms about saying that I couldn’t do what [Chris Froome] does. I did it once and that was enough for me. He managed to go from tour to tour and I just didn’t have the mental capacity to do that.

Out of all your achievements as a cyclist, which one do you rate the highest?

The time trial at the 2012 Olympic Games. To be able to [win a gold medal] on your home roads, in the prime of your career, 10 days after the Tour de France, in London – it’s still my proudest moment.

London 2012 will always be the biggest point in British sport. It was amazing to be a part of it.

Away from cycling, you’re famously a big music fan. Who are your heroes in that field?

[Paul] Weller, Noel and Liam [Gallagher], Ian Brown and John Squire. You tend to stick with the people who inspired you and gave you confidence as a kid.

When you think of Noel and Liam from Burnage, Weller from Woking, or The Stone Roses from Manchester, they make you feel like anything is possible.

I taught myself how to play the guitar growing up. That was the beauty of Oasis at that time, they made you think anybody could do it. In sport, the likes of Paul Gascoigne and Freddie Flintoff, people like that, who achieve great things – they are the guys next door.

The likes of Lewis Hamilton don’t tend to inspire anybody because he’s someone who lives in Switzerland and nobody has access to a Formula One car to try and do what he does.

According to your Wikipedia page, you were an Arsenal fan growing up who went to watch Tottenham Hotspur, but you’re now a Liverpool fan. What’s the true story?

I’m definitely a Liverpool fan – I’ve got a [LFC] tattoo on my arm!

I grew up in central London and I was only the only Liverpool fan amongst all these other kids who either supported Tottenham, West Ham or QPR. John Barnes was my hero when I was a kid.

My son is a mad Liverpool fan, and now we live closer to Liverpool, we’ve got season tickets in the Kop. We like going to the away games as well. We went to Porto last year, Manchester United and Manchester City. We like standing in the end and having a good singsong.

We didn’t go to Madrid [for the Champions League final] because I was working on the Giro d’Italia.

So that’s cleared that one up!

‘Bradley Wiggins: An Evening With’ comes to The Auditorium at M&S Bank Arena on 3 October. What should people expect?

A bit of me really! I don’t plan these things. Once I start talking I don’t stop.

I like the thought of people going away having learnt something new, or being very surprised, maybe about me as an individual. There’s obviously a public perception of me – I’m quite different now to that person who people were used to seeing at London 2012.

Time and life experience does that to you. I don’t have an ego anymore.