Ben Wiggins, the 19-year-old son of former Tour de France winner Bradley Wiggins, has set the long-term purpose of following in his father’s footsteps and competing for Grand Tour wins later in his profession.
In a candid interview with The Telegraph, Wiggins spoke intimately about rising up within the highlight because the son of a five-time Olympic champion and Tour winner, dwelling via the highs and lows of his father’s difficult profession and the place he’s on his personal skilled biking journey.
He presently races for Hagens Berman Jayco, a growth crew well-known for overseeing the commencement of prime professional riders, and goes into his second season on the under-23 degree on the crew run by Axel Merckx, who’s equally the son of a biking nice, Eddy Merckx.
While his important focus is on persevering with to develop as a powerful time trial rider and trying to advance to the WorldTour-level subsequent season, Ben Wiggins is assured like his father, answering “positively” to the massive query of whether or not the Tour de France would possibly someday be a race he targets.
“I do not need to put any limits on myself. I’m actually formidable. That’s the place I need to be. But that’ll be, like, most likely 10 years down the road from now,” Wiggins informed The Telegraph.
“There’s positively a blueprint for me making it to Grand Tours in the long run, whether or not it is my dad or guys like G [Geraint Thomas], robust observe and TT specialists who went on to contend for normal classifications in Grand Tours. But that is not likely my focus on the minute. We’re speaking a lot additional down the road.”
He’s already had success in his younger profession, notably as a junior Madison world champion on the observe and runner-up on the Road World Championships junior time trial in 2023.
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In 2025, {the teenager} will probably be driving a schedule together with among the greatest Classics of their U23 variations, Paris-Roubaix, Liège–Bastogne–Liège and Gent-Wevelgem. With the blueprint of his father and Thomas in thoughts, Wiggins is aware of there will probably be room to go from an elite pursuiter and time trial racer right into a Tour contender ought to he attain these ranges.
Content beneath the steerage of Merckx, Wiggins trusts that his growth on the US-registered crew ought to see him enter biking’s prime division in 2026, with their official WorldTour companion Jayco AlUla trying the most definitely candidate to land his signature.
“I believe I’m growing in a method to transfer to WorldTour subsequent 12 months. But if it does not occur right away that is advantageous,” he mentioned. “I stagiaired for Jayco-AlUla final 12 months and that was actually good. So going there could be my first selection, I’d say at this level. But we’ll see how I progress this 12 months.
“I may win 10 races and have my selection of wherever. But actually, the help they’ve proven me early in my profession, I’ll positively be giving them first dibs.”
Wiggins did not communicate a lot about his father’s ongoing state of affairs in the meanwhile after he confronted chapter and spoke out about overcoming his deep-rooted psychological struggles however did say that “when every little thing got here out within the autumn, that was form of the start of his resurgence I suppose.”
“We communicate on a regular basis. And he is doing tremendous good. I’m very pleased with him,” he mentioned, earlier than crediting his upbringing for getting ready him for the life of a professional and the pressures that include that as an expert athlete.
“I believe, if something, it’s taught me what to do in a different way, and methods to handle it. I imply, nobody prepares you for that degree of success. But I’m extremely fortunate that I form of really feel like I might be ready.
“But I’m not chasing fame, I’m not chasing cash, I’m chasing success. They’re issues that include it, aren’t they? I’ll cope with them if and once I make it.”