Sir Bradley Wiggins says there was no rift with Mark Cavendish
By Mike Patterson
Last Updated: 18/08/16 3:41pm
Sir Bradley Wiggins has insisted there was no rift between himself and Mark Cavendish ahead of the Olympic Games in Rio.
Cavendish expressed frustration at being overlooked for a team pursuit spot, appearing to accuse "hero" Wiggins of freezing him out, although British Cycling programmes director Andy Harrison was quick to deny any suggestion of friction between the pair.
Wiggins went on to win a fifth Olympic gold in the team pursuit alongside Ed Clancy, Steven Burke and Owain Doull, while Cavendish claimed his first Olympic medal with a silver in the omnium.
"I am not aware there is a problem," Wiggins told Sky Sports News HQ. "So as far as we are concerned, it was all all right. He's great. There is really nothing else for him to achieve now he has got that medal."
Cavendish's bid for omnium gold took a major blow when he was the seventh-to-last man eliminated in the elimination race - one of the six events of the omnium - after illegally running off the track.
"It's a shame it couldn't be gold, but someone had to let the side down!" joked Wiggins.
"I am made up for him really. I know how much effort he put into that. I have seen him work all through the year for it and it was just reward.
"The sad thing is he could have actually won it, with the whole elimination saga so disappointing for him. But at the same time, he has to be happy with that."
Wiggins is now winding down his career, with just the Tour of Britain and the Ghent six-day event to come before he quits the saddle to concentrate on overseeing his team, WIGGINS.
"I would love to carry on, but I always said it would be nice to go out on top, a fairytale," he said.
"So to be able to end here as Olympic champion again; it's not about beating anyone else, it's just about being content with what I have achieved.
"Alongside the Tour de France, Olympic time trial, the track events, I can leave it with no regrets, no kind of what-ifs. I am just happy that it ended that way and what a way to go out."
Reflecting on his career, Wiggins added: "I like the diversity of it all. I like the fact that I've won the Tour de France and I have got the longest track record in cycling in the hour record, one of the shortest in the team pursuit and I have got Team WIGGINS."
Wiggins will now devote his energy to Team WIGGINS and is looking forward to the future, with a women's team also on the horizon.
He said: "[I am] just taking more of an invested interest in it now, in searching out guys and really trying to build for next year. It will be much more specifically U23, which is the future, and bringing on those stars. We have had an incredible response in people wanting to come to the team.
"One hundred per cent a women's team is something for 2018. I have started working on that already to run alongside Team WIGGINS, potentially U23 as well, so again grassroots - women and feeding them on to the bigger teams, as it were."
