I can win Tour de France and London 2012 - Bradley Wiggins
- Published
Briton Bradley Wiggins is confident he can win both the Tour de France and Olympic gold in 2012.
Wiggins, 31, was in contention at this year's Tour but was forced to retire with a broken collarbone after a crash.
He told BBC Sport: "The Tour won't be there for me for ever and the opportunity I have to win is so great that I can't afford to miss another year.
"I believe I can win the Tour and Olympic gold. I want it all next year."
Wiggins pointed to his results this season - including victory in the Criterium du Dauphine in June and third place at the Tour of Spain, external - to support his argument, while insisting the best was yet to come.
"At this stage I seem to be getting better all the time and I'm not conscious of time running out. I want to keep progressing on the gains I've made," said Wiggins, who was speaking at the official opening of the TeamGB and ParalympicsGB shop in Westfield Stratford City.
"I'm very close at the moment and I'm coming into my prime as an athlete.
"In two years' time I might have had enough of it and walk away. If I win the Tour next year I certainly will not want to go back and win it again."
Given that Wiggins has won three Olympic track gold medals and came close to a podium place in the 2009 Tour, the Team Sky rider revealed he has "never really been put the work in before".
"It's taken a long time to get the maturity as an athlete to realise what it takes to compete at this level," said Wiggins, who won a World silver in the time trial, external in Copenhagen last week.
"In the past I've done a lot on pure talent and short periods of hard work
"In the last few years the Tour has opened things up for me as to what the human body is capable of and how good you can be."
Wiggins, who finished fourth in the 2009 tour, external, added that he had "a massive wake-up call 12 months ago" - a reference to the 2010 Tour when he finished 24th.
He said: "This time last year I would never have imagined having the season I've had by constantly evolving and constantly making gains.
"It's not an age thing, these are the prime years. It's more the mental thing - how long can you sustain that high level of concentration and intensity of training that goes with it?"
Wiggins insisted his new-found intensity would enable him successfully challenge for the Tour, which finishes on 22 July, before he turns his attention to the Olympics, with the time trial race scheduled for 1 August and the team pursuit beginning the following day.
And Wiggins, who helped Team GB win the team pursuit at the Beijing Olympics, external and played a key part in Mark Cavendish's world road race win in Copenhagen, hopes that demanding schedule might work in his favour as he would not have to train for "two peaks".
He said: "It's not that one takes more importance over the other. I want everything in my life and I wouldn't compromise one over the other by trying to do both."
- Published26 September 2011
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