Sir Bradley Wiggins to miss Olympic and Paralympic parade in Manchester & London

Wiggins won his fifth Olympic gold, and eighth Olympic medal in all, at the Rio Games

Five-time Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins will not attend next week's Olympic and Paralympic celebrations of Britain's success at Rio 2016.

A parade through the streets of Manchester will be held on 17 October, and there will be another event in London the following day.

Wiggins' representatives said his absence was not unusual as he has not attended such an event since 2004.

The 36-year-old has also pulled out of a race in Abu Dhabi later this month.

Organisers of the Abu Dhabi Tour expressed their "surprise and disappointment" that the 2012 Tour de France winner would not be competing in the four-day race, which starts on 20 October.

Wiggins, Britain's most decorated Olympian, is at the centre of controversy surrounding the use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs).

The issue of TUEs, which allow athletes to use banned substances if they have genuine medical need, has been in the news since a number of Olympic athletes had their private data stolen from a World Anti-Doping Agency (Wada) database by a group of hackers calling themselves The Fancy Bears.

Wiggins has denied any wrongdoing, insisting he was not trying to gain an "unfair advantage" from being allowed to used a banned steroid before major races.

The Briton was granted a TUE to take anti-inflammatory drug triamcinolone before the 2011 Tour de France, his 2012 Tour win and the 2013 Giro d'Italia.

UK Anti-Doping officials have visited British Cycling headquarters as part of an investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in the sport.

Wiggins plans to race next on the track, in the London Six Day, between 25 and 30 October, and the Ghent Six Day later next month.

Britain exceeded their Olympic medal target in Rio, finishing second in the medal table with 67 medals, including 27 golds.

In the Paralympics, Britain also finished second in the medal table with 147 medals, 64 of them gold.