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British Cycling’s President today welcomed the historic Tour de France win by Team Sky’s Bradley Wiggins, calling his success ‘a monumental day for sport in the UK.’
British Cycling’s President, Brian Cookson OBE, said: “To see a British rider, and a fellow member of British Cycling, win the Tour de France is a dream come true for me and all at British Cycling. This is a monumental day for sport in the UK – Great Britain has produced in Bradley Wiggins a rider who has won one of the world’s biggest sporting challenges and everyone involved in cycling in this country must be immensely proud of that.
"This is a monumental day for sport in the UK – Great Britain has produced in Bradley Wiggins a rider who has won one of the world’s biggest sporting challenges."
Brian Cookson
“From an early age Brad developed his amazing talent on British Cycling’s coaching and development pathway. So his personal triumph is also a triumph for the sport in Great Britain and the many coaches and volunteers working within it – without whom we could not function.
“Team Sky’s success today highlights how cycling is now a mainstream sport, and Great Britain is the world leading nation. We’ve got four different British stage winners in Mark Cavendish, Chris Froome, David Millar and Bradley Wiggins. The fact that these riders will make up four of the five-man team for the first medal event of the Olympics, the men’s road race on 28 July, means British Cycling carries the highest standard into London.”
The win comes at a time when British Cycling’s membership is at a record high. The sports governing body has signed up its 50,000th member, more than doubling its membership since 2008. The milestone also coincided with new participation figures that show 160,000 more people are cycling than were six months ago.
Brian Cookson was cheering Wiggins on when he crossed the line on the Champs-Elysees earlier today.
Sports and Olympics Minister, Hugh Robertson, was also in attendance at the final stage in Paris.
Remarking on Wiggin’s success, he said: “Bradley Wiggins triumph goes down as one of the great achievements in British sporting history. It is a superb feat of endurance, skill and sporting excellence and he has been backed by an outstanding team. I congratulate him, his fellow riders, Dave Brailsford and everyone at Team Sky who have worked so hard to bring about this first ever British win.”
From developing the sport in BMX, Cyclo-Cross, Cycle Speedway, Mountain Biking, Road, and Track to creating entry level cycling opportunities for people of all ages and abilities, through programmes such as Sky Ride, Breeze and Go-Ride, British Cycling is helping drive a cycling boom worth nearly £3 billion to the UK economy.
