Bradley Wiggins has announced his retirement from professional cycling aged 36.
The 2012 Tour de France champion and winner of eight Olympic medals made the announcement via a short statement on Facebook.
I have been lucky enough to live a dream and fulfil my childhood aspiration of making a living and a career out of the sport I fell in love with at the age of 12. I've met my idols and ridden with and alongside the best for 20 years. I have worked with the world’s best coaches and managers who I will always be grateful to for their support.
What will stick with me forever is the support and love from the public though thick and thin, all as a result of riding a pushbike for a living. 2012 blew my mind and was a gas. Cycling has given me everything and I couldn't have done it without the support of my wonderful wife Cath and our amazing kids.
2016 is the end of the road for this chapter, onwards and upwards, "feet on the ground, head in the clouds" kids from Kilburn don't win Olympic Golds and Tour de Frances'! They do now.
Wiggins's announcement comes shortly after Team Sky General Manager Dave Brailsford appeared before a parliamentary select committee to answer questions about a package which the British cyclist received while competing in a race in 2011.
Wiggins rode for Team Sky when he won the Tour de France in 2012.
Brailsford claimed that the package contained Fluimucil, a substance used to treat asthma. Questions have since been raised regarding the validity of Brailsford's claims.
It also emerged in September, following a release of information by Russian hackers Fancy Bears, that Wiggins had received Therapeutic Use Exemptions for a number of banned substances. Though he had received permission for the TUEs, questions were raised, not least due to a claim in Wiggins's 2012 autobiography that he had only ever received injections for immunisations and some drips.
