Wiggins could ride on in 2017 but new Hour bid unlikely

LONDON (Reuters) – Former Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins wants to keep riding after next year’s Rio Olympics but said he was unlikely to try and extend his Hour record.

Wiggins, who became the first Briton to win the Tour in 2012, when he also claimed Olympic time trial gold, initially planned to make Rio the swansong of his career.

But now the 35-yer-old former Team Sky rider is not so sure.

“I will see how I feel this time next year,” Wiggins was quoted as saying in the Guardian on Wednesday.

“There might be other opportunities. If I haven’t got a job by this time next year I will keep racing.”

Four-times Olympic gold medallist Wiggins smashed the UCI world Hour record in June at the London Olympic velodrome, covering 54.526 km. He said he still regretted not reaching the 55 km milestone, but was unlikely to try again.

“Now, it’s all about the focus for Rio, so it’s looking like never again,” he said. “The time to do it would be now but my body shape is changing for the team pursuit and it’s gone further away from what it should be for the Hour.

“I have to accept the Hour record was what it was, a record of its time. There is a tinge of disappointment as I wanted to go past 55km. The record is beatable and will be beaten but another 700m would have made people think twice.”

Wiggins launched his own cycling team this year comprising young home-grown riders.

(Reporting by Martyn Herman; editing by Ken Ferris)