Sir Bradley Wiggins: Olympic cycling champion planning rowing career

Wiggins first raised the idea of switching to rowing in his November 2012 autobiography

Five-time Olympic cycling champion Sir Bradley Wiggins is aiming for the Tokyo 2020 Games - as a rower.

Wiggins, 37, plans to compete at the British Indoor Rowing Championships in London in December, and says his "numbers are quite good".

The 2012 Tour de France winner, who retired from cycling in December 2016, is hoping to compete at a sixth Olympic Games at the age of 40.

"I might be being a bit delusional but the times suggest I'm not," he said.

Wiggins, who is being coached by friend and Olympic rowing gold medallist James Cracknell, was speaking at a corporate event in Manchester.

"I took up rowing when I retired just to keep fit, but my numbers started getting quite good, so I've started taking it up professionally now and getting coached seven days a week," he said in comments reported by the Daily Mail.

"I'm going to see how far I can take it. Maybe a sixth Olympic gold?"

Wiggins is Britain's most decorated Olympian with eight medals, winning at least one at every Olympic Games from Sydney 2000 to Rio 2016.

He won his fifth Olympic gold in the men's team pursuit in Rio last August.

After announcing his retirement from cycling, he had been due to take part in television programme The Jump in January - but injured a foot in training and was forced to pull out.

Wiggins first raised the idea of switching to rowing in his November 2012 autobiography My Time, but is yet to reveal if he has been out on the water in a rowing boat.

In May, British Rowing performance director Sir David Tanner had said it would be difficult for Wiggins to make the transition.

What are the British Indoor Rowing Championships?

The British Indoor Rowing Championships take place at the Lee Valley VeloPark - formerly the Olympic Velodrome - in December.

Competition takes place on static rowing machines - like the ones found in gyms - and is open to anyone over the age of 11.

Races are held over distances ranging from 500m to 2km in different age categories, as well as open events.

The 2017 World Games take place in Wroclaw, Poland, in July. Great Britain will send a team of five, including British champion Graham Benton.