Chris Froome (born 20 May 1985) is a professional road racing cyclist who rides for UCI ProTour team Team Sky. Born in Kenya, Froome moved with his family to South Africa as a teenager, and although he began his career registered with the Kenyan cycling federation, since spring 2008 has ridden under a British licence on the basis of his passport and father's and grandparents' country of birth,^[1]. He made his major breakthrough as a Grand Tour contender during the 2011 Vuelta a España where he finished second overall, equalling Robert Millar's second place in the 1987 Giro d'Italia as the highest placed British rider in a Grand Tour.

Career[link]

Having started in mountain biking, he started road racing in South Africa, specialising as a climber. In 2006, whilst representing Kenya at the Time Trial World Championships, Froome hit a UCI official just after the start, causing both men to go down, although neither were injured.^[2] He turned professional in 2007 with the South African Team Konica Minolta, and was introduced to Team Barloworld by Robbie Hunter, joining them for the 2008 season, and was named in their team^[3] for the 2008 Tour de France, in which he finished 84th overall and 12th among the young riders' category. He also completed the 2009 Giro d'Italia, in which he came 36th overall, and 7th among the young riders.

Team Sky[link]

In September 2009, it was announced that he was to join British cycling team, Team Sky, in 2010.^[4] During his first season with Sky, his best result was at the Tour du Haut Var, where he finished 9th in the overall standings. He also finished 2nd at the 2010 British National Time Trial Championships, showing his ability in the time-trial.

The early highlights of Froome's 2011 season were top 15 finishes in the Vuelta a Castilla y León and the Tour de Romandie. Froome had a mixed Tour de Suisse, riding with the lead group on some mountain stages, whilst losing time on others, and finishing ninth in the final time trial.^[5]

Froome entered the 2011 Vuelta a España as the main domestique for Bradley Wiggins in the mountains. After being inseparable from Wiggins throughout the first week, he gained credit for his ride in stage 9, helping close down an attack on the final climb and finishing in fifth place, three seconds behind Bradley Wiggins, leaving both in the top 20 overall.^[6]

Froome alongside Cobo at the 2011 Vuelta a Espana

The following day in stage 10, however, Froome out-rode Wiggins to finish second in the time-trial behind Tony Martin and to take an unexpected lead in the race.^[7] During stage 11 he helped his team to neutralise some attacks, but soon found himself unable to follow the main group. However, he managed to hang on second overall in the General Classification. After losing the jersey to Wiggins on stage 11, Froome continued to ride in support of his leader, and on stage 14 helped to drop rivals including Vincenzo Nibali and Joaquim Rodríguez on the final climb. Wiggins credited his lead to Froome, in a stage which also saw Froome rise back up to second in the standings.^[8] The tough stage 15 which ended on the Alto de L'Angliru saw Froome lead the chase to stage winner Juan José Cobo, who took the overall lead at the end of the day. Froome proved stronger than Wiggins, finishing ahead of him in fourth place but 48 seconds behind Cobo, to retain second place in the overall classification. On stage 17, Froome attacked Cobo 1 km from the summit finish, but Cobo fought back, catching Froome in the final 300 metres, only for Froome to attack again to win the stage and arrive 1 second in front of Cobo.^[9] As a result of time bonuses, Froome reduced Cobo's lead to 13 seconds. Froome was unable to reduce Cobo's lead any further and finished second overall in the Vuelta, equalling Robert Millar's 2nd place in the 1987 Giro d'Italia as the highest finish by a British rider in a Grand Tour.^[10] After the Vuelta it was revealed Froome had suffered throughout the year from the tropical bug Bilharzia, having been diagnosed in 2010.^[11]

On 16 September 2011 Froome signed a new three year contract with Sky.^[12] He was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the 2011 UCI World Road Race Championship. In October, Froome finished third overall in the first edition of the Tour of Beijing.

Main achievements[link]

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline[link]

Grand Tour	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro	-	36	WD	-
Tour	84	-	-	-
Vuelta	-	-	-	2

WD = withdrew

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Christopher Froome

• Chris Froome profile at Team Sky
• Chris Froome's personal website
• Chris Froome profile at Cycling Archives

Bradley Wiggins

Bradley Wiggins in 2011
Personal information
Full name	Bradley Marc Wiggins
Nickname	Wiggo
Born	(1980-04-28) 28 April 1980 (age 32) Ghent, Belgium
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Weight	69 kg (150 lb; 10.9 st)
Team information
Current team	Team Sky
Discipline	Road & Track
Role	Rider
Rider type	GC Contender (Road) and Pursuitist (Track)
Professional team(s)
2001 2002–2003 2004–2005 2006–2007 2008 2009 2010–	Linda McCartney Racing Team Française des Jeux Crédit Agricole Cofidis Team High Road Garmin-Slipstream Team Sky
Major wins
Grand Tours Giro d'Italia 1 Individual Stage Stage Races Critérium du Dauphiné (2011) Paris–Nice (2012) Tour de Romandie (2012) Single-Day Races and Classics National Road Race Champion (2011) National Time Trial Champion (2009, 2010)
Medal record Competitor for  Great Britain Road bicycle racing World Championships Silver 2011 Copenhagen Time trial Track cycling Olympic Games Gold 2008 Beijing Team pursuit Gold 2008 Beijing Individual pursuit Gold 2004 Athens Individual pursuit Silver 2004 Athens Team pursuit Bronze 2004 Athens Madison Bronze 2000 Sydney Team pursuit World Championships Gold 2003 Stuttgart Individual pursuit Gold 2007 Palma de Mallorca Individual pursuit Gold 2007 Palma de Mallorca Team pursuit Gold 2008 Manchester Individual pursuit Gold 2008 Manchester Team pursuit Gold 2008 Manchester Madison Silver 2000 Manchester Team pursuit Silver 2001 Antwerp Team pursuit Silver 2003 Stuttgart Team pursuit Bronze 2002 Ballerup Team pursuit Competitor for  England Commonwealth Games Silver 2002 Manchester 4km Individual pursuit Silver 2002 Manchester Team pursuit Silver 1998 Kuala Lumpur Team pursuit
Infobox last updated on 29 April 2012

Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British professional track and road bicycle racer, currently riding for Team Sky. Wiggins' career began on the track, where he specialised in the pursuit and madison disciplines.

He won a bronze medal at the 2000 Summer Olympics, three further medals at the Athens 2004 Summer Olympics, and two golds at the Beijing 2008 Summer Olympics. In road cycling he turned professional in 2002, but his involvement was limited by his track cycling until 2007.

After the 2008 Olympics Wiggins took a break from the track to focus on the road. Initially viewed as a time-trial specialist and a rouleur, Wiggins showed his ability in stage races when he came in fourth at the 2009 Tour de France, the joint highest placed finish by a British rider in Tour history. In 2010 he was hired as the leader for the new Team Sky, and later that year was inducted in to the London Youth Games Hall of Fame. To date his biggest wins have been the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné – the first British rider to win the race since 1990 – and the 2012 Paris–Nice, the first British winner of the race in 45 years. Wiggins finished 3rd in the 2011 Vuelta a España, becoming one of three British riders to make the podium in a Grand Tour. Ten days later, Wiggins won the silver medal in the Time Trial at the World Road Cycling Championships in Copenhagen, Denmark. Wiggins was part of the Great Britain team that helped Mark Cavendish win the 2011 UCI World Road Race Championship.

Early years and family life[link]

The son of a professional cyclist, Gary Wiggins, Bradley Wiggins was born in Ghent, Belgium and spent his childhood in London with his mother Linda, stepfather Brendon and younger brother, Ryan. He started racing at south London's Herne Hill Velodrome aged 12, and represented Camden in the London Youth Games as a youngster. In 2010 he was inducted in to the London Youth Games Hall of Fame.^{[2] [3]} He lives in Eccleston, Lancashire. He married his wife Catherine in Manchester in November 2004 and has two children, Ben and Isabella.^[4] Wiggins is a well-known mod,^[5][6] and owns a collection of classic scooters and guitars from the 1960s and 1970s.^[7] In April 2012 it was announced Wiggins would collaborate with Fred Perry "to develop an authentic, non technical range of off cycle wear".^[8]

Career[link]

Wiggins at the 2008 Tour of Britain

At 20, Wiggins won a bronze medal for Britain in the team pursuit at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

In 2001 he signed for the British professional road Linda McCartney Racing Team before it disbanded in early 2001.^[9] He joined Française des Jeux in 2002, before moving to Crédit Agricole in 2004.

At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Wiggins became the first British athlete in 40 years to win three medals at one Games, the last being Mary Rand at the 1964 Olympic Games in Tokyo. He won the gold in the pursuit, silver in the team pursuit, and bronze in the madison with his race partner Rob Hayles. Wiggins was appointed OBE in the 2005 New Year Honours for services to sport.^[9]

In 2005, Wiggins rode Giro d'Italia for Crédit Agricole. He moved to Cofidis in 2006, and rode that year's Tour de France. He returned to the track for the Manchester round of the UCI World Cup and the world championships in 2007, winning the individual and team pursuit. He followed on the road by winning the prologue of the Critérium du Dauphiné Libéré.

He raced for Cofidis in the 2007 Tour de France and finished fourth in the prologue in London. He won the combativity award on stage six for a long solo breakaway. Cofidis withdrew after Cristian Moreni failed a doping test.^[10]

2008[link]

In 2008 he signed with Team High Road, a team later known as HTC-Highroad. At the 2008 UCI Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester, he won three gold medals: pursuit, team pursuit and madison.

At the 2008 Beijing Olympics he again won the pursuit, the first rider to successfully defend a pursuit title at the Olympics. On 17 August, he was a member of the Olympic pursuit team which broke the world record in the heats with 3:55:202, beating Russia to the ride-off for silver and gold.^[11] The following day, the team won the gold with a world record of 3:53:314, beating Denmark by 6.7s.^[12] Wiggins paired up with Mark Cavendish in the madison and finished ninth.^[13]

In October 2008 he published his autobiography, In Pursuit of Glory^[14] and joined the Garmin-Slipstream team for the 2009 season.^[15]

On 14 December 2008 Wiggins came ninth in the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award with 5,633 votes.^[16] On 31 December Wiggins was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2009 New Year Honours.^[17]

2009[link]

Bradley Wiggins at the 2009 Tour de France

After finishing the 2009 Giro d'Italia 71st, which included second place in the final stage, Wiggins arrived at the 2009 Tour de France having lost six kilos.^[18][19] He came third in the opening time-trial in Monaco and helped Garmin to second place in the team time-trial despite losing four riders. In the first mountain finish, Wiggins finished 12th, and at 5th place overall entering the second week, had the highest second-week place by a British rider since Robert Millar. On the second mountain finish, in Verbier, Wiggins finished fifth to climb to third overall. He was attacked by the Schleck brothers on stage 17 and dropped to sixth, but moved to fourth in the stage 18 time-trial. On stage 20 to Mont Ventoux, Wiggins finished tenth and held fourth by three seconds ahead of Frank Schleck. He held that position in the final stage, equalling Robert Millar's highest ever finish by a British rider in the Tour.^[20]

Wiggins won the British National Time Trial Championships in September 2009.^[21]

In October 2009, he won the Herald Sun Tour after helping team-mates most of the race. He led after winning the stage five time-trial in Geelong by 14 seconds over team-mate Svein Tuft.

Wiggins had been contracted to ride for Garmin Slipstream in 2010, but following much speculation it was announced in December 2009 that he was to leave to join Team Sky, having signed a four year contract with the new British based team.^[22]

2010[link]

Wiggins in the opening time trial of the 2010 Giro d'Italia

Wiggins began 2010 as a team leader for the first time. He was part of the team who won the team time trial on stage one of the 2010 Tour of Qatar. On May 10, he took his first major win of the year, in the opening time trial^[23] of the Giro d'Italia and took the maglia rosa leader's jersey. It was his first win at a Grand Tour. He lost the jersey on stage 2 to Cadel Evans following a crash-marred stage.^[24] He lost further time early on in the Giro, but recovered much of it on stage 11, in which he finished fourth. He faded quickly towards the end of the race, however, losing a lot of time over the final stages to finish 40th.

Wiggins entered the 2010 Tour de France with high expectations following his 4th place the year before. His Tour got off to a disappointing start however, when he could only manage 77th place in the opening prologue, after an early starting position left him exposed to poor conditions.^[25] Wiggins finished 8th on Stage 3, as cobblestones caught out a number of favourites.^[26] However, in Stage 8 (the first mountain summit finish of the Tour), Wiggins could only manage 19th place, losing 1 minute 45 seconds to stage winner Andy Schleck.^[27] Wiggins lost even more time the next day, on Stage 9, where he came 30th (losing 4 minutes 55 to the main contenders),^[28] which effectively ended hopes of a top 10 finish. He finished the Tour in 24th place, 39 minutes 24 seconds behind winner Alberto Contador, and 7 places behind team-mate Thomas Löfkvist. Contador was later found guilty of doping and the title of 2010 Tour De France winner was passed to second placed Andy Schleck. ^[29]

Wiggins retained the British national time trial title at the National Championships.^[30]

2011[link]

Wiggins was again team leader of Sky entering 2011. He opted against entering the 2011 Giro d'Italia, concentrating instead on shorter events and the classics, before undertaking altitude training to improve his climbing for the Tour de France.^[31] Wiggins finished 3rd overall in Paris-Nice after finishing 2nd in Stage 6.^[32] In March, he finished 2nd on the TT Stage 3 of the Critérium International. Wiggins won the ITT Stage 4 of Bayern-Rundfahrt, and finished the event in 14th place overall (and helping team-mate Geraint Thomas to win the event),^[33] before heading off for altitude training in preparation for the Tour de France. He took the overall lead of the Critérium du Dauphiné after finishing 2nd on the ITT Stage 3.^[34] On the final three mountain stages Wiggins was able to maintain his lead over second placed Cadel Evans (who would go on to win the Tour de France) to win Dauphiné, his biggest victory in road racing.^[35] On 26 June, Wiggins won the British National Road Race Championships,^[36] his final race before the Tour de France. On 8 July, he crashed out of the 2011 Tour de France on stage 7 with a broken collarbone.^[37]

Wiggins took his biggest road racing victory to date at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné

Following recovery from his injuries, it was confirmed by Team Sky that Wiggins would ride Vuelta a España for the first time,^[38] as well as the World Time Trial Championships. Wiggins also confirmed he would ride the 2012 Tour de France, despite the London Olympics coming soon after, and the Vuelta/ Time Trial Championships was seen as a dress-rehearsal for 2012.^[39]

Wiggins had a difficult start to the Vuelta as Sky finished 42 seconds back on the opening Team Time Trial in Benidorm.^[40] However, a strong first week brought Wiggins back into contention, leaving him 19th overall after Stage 8.^[41] On Stage 9, Wiggins and teammate Chris Froome attacked on the final climb to finish 4th and 5th respectively, and taking time out of Joaquim Rodríguez, Michele Scarponi and other contenders.^[42] The stage moved both riders up in the standings, and Wiggins was expected to take the overall lead on the time trial the following day. However, Froome sprung a major surprise, finishing second on the stage, taking the red jersey for himself, whilst Wiggins rose to third overall.^[43] Wiggins took the leaders jersey, after the rest day. After losing a few seconds to Vincenzo Nibali on the following days, Stage 14 saw Wiggins and Froome taking time out of most of their rivals, with Nibali losing over a minute.^[44] Wiggins lost the lead of the Vuelta to Juan José Cobo on Stage 15, where he finished 5th on the climb up the Angliru.^[45] The Stage saw Wiggins drop to 3rd in the standings, with Froome ahead in second. Wiggins finished the Vuelta in 3rd overall, his first grand tour podium.^[46]

In September, Wiggins finished second behind Tony Martin in the UCI Road World Championship Time Trial to take the silver medal.^[47] Four days later, Wiggins was part of the Great Britain team that set up Mark Cavendish's victory in the Road Race.^[48]

2012[link]

Although 2012 is an Olympic year, Wiggins' focus remains on road racing. The individual pursuit is no longer an Olympic event, and in December 2011 coach Rod Ellingworth told The Guardian, "The chances of him doing the team pursuit are really slim now". ^[49] Wiggins is more likely to compete in the Olympic Road Race and Time Trial. Wiggins began his 2012 season with third place in the Volta ao Algarve, including victory in the race-concluding individual time trial, edging out world champion Tony Martin by less than a second.^[50] Wiggins also helped with team-mate Richie Porte's successful bid to win the race overall. In March, Wiggins finished second to Vacansoleil-DCM's Gustav Larsson in the opening time trial of Paris–Nice, despite setting his time in wet conditions. The following day he took the lead of the race after being part of a 30-man breakaway as the peloton split into echelons. He held the lead for the rest of the race, winning the final stage, a time-trial on the Col d'Èze,^[51] despite a strong challenge from Dutch rider Lieuwe Westra, of the Vacansoleil-DCM team. Starting the final 9.6 km (6.0 mi) stage with a 6-second lead, Wiggins beat Westra's time by two seconds, to win the race by eight seconds overall, becoming the first British rider to win the race since Tom Simpson in 1967.^[52] His final stage victory was also good enough to give him the points classification ahead of Alejandro Valverde.^[53]

On Stage 1 of the Tour de Romandie in April, Wiggins took a rare sprint victory from a group of 59 riders to take the race lead.^[54] He lost the jersey to Luis León Sánchez after the Spaniard won two consecutive stages.^[55] However, Wiggins won the final time trial, despite suffering a dropped chain, to take overall victory.^[56] He is the first British rider to win the event.

Palmarès[link]

Olympic Games[link]

World Championships[link]

Commonwealth Games[link]

2002 Commonwealth Games

Silver, 4km individual pursuit

Silver, team pursuit

1998 Commonwealth Games

Silver, team pursuit

Professional cycling – major achievements[link]

Grand Tour General Classification results timeline[link]

Grand Tour	2005	2006	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011
Giro	123	-	-	134	71	40	-
Tour	-	124	WD	-	4	24	WD
Vuelta	-	-	-	-	-	-	3

WD = withdrew

World records[link]

• 4000m Team Pursuit, 3:55:202, (as part of Great British team), Beijing China, 2008
• 4000m Team Pursuit, 3:53:314, (as part of Great British team), Beijing China, 2008

Other achievements[link]

• London Youth Games

• Hall of Fame member (Class of 2010)^[57]

Quotes[link]

• "Most people were too drunk to notice me." On his experiences of late-night practice runs for the London leg of the Tour de France.^[58]

• "It is nice to be recognised for actually achieving something in life as opposed to spending seven weeks in a house on TV with a load of other muppets." A reference to the television programme, Big Brother, after finishing fourth in the Tour de France prologue.^[59]

• "I think that when you sit back and look at the season and see what has happened, I think you reflect on it with a bit of happiness, but when you finish third, you haven't won and we live for winning unfortunately." On finishing third in the 2011 Vuelta a España.^[60]

References[link]