Having won his fifth Olympic gold medal in Rio, in the team pursuit, and taken his career tally of Olympic medals to eight Bradley Wiggins has confirmed he is in the last couple of months of his competitive career.
The 36-year-old father of two had previously said he would call it quits after the Rio Olympics but late last year said he regretted making that commitment and left the door open to continue.
And having established the Team Wiggins Continental level road team – of which Irish rider Michael O’Loughlin is a member – there was always the chance Wiggins would continue racing either or the road or track or possibly both.
However, he has now confirmed the Gent Six Day track meeting in Belgium from November 15th to 20th will be his last competitive outing.
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Before Gent he will ride the London Six Day, from October 25th to 30th in what will be an emotional swansong in front of home crowds.
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And he said he was happy to have the team pursuit over with, having narrowly beaten Australia alongside team mates Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull with a new world record time of 3:50.265
"It's just more relief really, than anything," Wiggins said. "That was different for everyone. Doull was punching the air; I was just saying to myself, 'Thank f*** that's over'.”
"I wanted it to end like this, not some crappy little race in the north of France, Paris-Tour in the rain, climbing off in the feed [zone] or whatever. Brilliant."
He said his first memories were being with his father – Australian track rider Gary Wiggins – at the Gent Six Day, adding because he was born in Belgium he felt it was a fitting end.
"I'm going to do a couple of six days because we won the world Madison title. I have to go back to my next historical base and the Ghent Six Day, which is where I want to end it.
"My first memory as a child is being there with my dad when he was racing it and the place hasn't changed. It'll be a nice end to my career, back where I was born, back where it started."
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