Ben Wiggins - the 17-year-old son of Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins - has already won his first European junior title on the track and has now set out his very big goals for the future, starting next year. The British rider is currently competing in the junior Gent Six Day, where his father and grandfather excelled, and in an interview has spoken of the pressures that come with the family name.
He said there was "a lot of pressure" being the son of a Tour winner and British Olympic legend, not to mention the grandson of Australian track rider Gary Wiggins, who was a top operator on the boards in his day. But Wiggins junior has said he has a series of goals he wants to achieve, saying they start very soon.
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"My goal next year is to be junior world champ on the road and track," he told Belgian broadcaster Sporza. "It's big, but you have to have big ambitions otherwise there's no point really. I have a lot of confidence in myself and my ability.
"I'm quite similar to my dad, maybe, but there are a lot of similarities with my grandad, Gary, as well. My dad was quite skinny and I'm a bit bigger. I don't want to put a label on what I am yet because I'm still young.
"People said my dad would never be able to climb when he was younger. I want to win everything, so we'll have a go. In an ideal world I'd be the best ever, but it's not always an ideal world.
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"My dream is to win Flanders and Roubaix, become world champion, and wear the yellow jersey in the Tour de France. Hopefully, go higher than that as well, even bigger. I feel like I've got the work ethic and ambition to do that. So yeah, keep watching me."
Currently racing the junior event at the Gent Six Day, he said his father and grandfather both loved racing at the iconic track meeting and it was not wasted on him that he was now the third generation of the family to do so.
"It's a special place. It's the Mecca of cycling for hardcore cycling fans. I came here when he won with Cav in 2016," he said of his father's win with Mark Cavendish six years ago at Gent. "I hear stories all the time, my dad loves this place. It's hard to put into words. I got goosebumps just walking in. There's an atmosphere about the place you don't get anywhere else. It's special."
Wiggins Jnr, who has been part of British Cycling’s high performance set-up in recent seasons, won gold in the junior points race at the European Track Championships in Portugal in July. He was also part of the Great Britain junior team pursuit line-up that won bronze at the Europeans.
His best international result before his European title win was 6th in the TT at the junior Nations Cup race in France this year, Trophée Centre Morbihan. Wiggins also took silver in the junior TT at the British National Road Championships earlier this year, behind Josh Tarling.
As well as being part of the British Cycling high performance junior squad – representing Britain on both road and track this year – Wiggins rode for British development team Fensham Howes-MAS Design. It is managed by Giles Pidcock, father of Tour de France Alpe d’Huez stage winner Tom Pidcock (Ineos Grenadiers) and travels to races across Britain and in Europe.
