He was born in Belgium, but grew up in Lancashire, but Great Britain's Bradley Wiggins calls London home. And today, he became a hometown hero as he became a gold medal winner for riding 44 kilometers (that's a little over 27 miles) in just 50 minutes, 39 seconds.
Germany's Tony Martin snagged the silver at 51 minutes, 21 seconds, and Wiggins' team mate Chris Froome captured the bronze medal at a time of 51 minutes, 47 seconds. U.S. cyclist Taylor Phinney came in at fourth, just missing out on his second medal attempt. But at only 22 years of age, he still has plenty of opportunities to challenge the world leaders later on.
Three weeks ago, Wiggins won the Tour de France, which is a 21-day brutal competition through some of the most challenging countryside. So, for Wiggins, a 44-kilometer ride alone with no other cyclists to jostle around was like a walk in the park. Prior to the race, he said:
The Tour is such a good boot camp for this...this is going be a piece of piss now compared to that. It's just an hour and not three weeks...an hour time-trial to make history should be a doddle.
In Brit speak, a doddle is something very, very easy, and he proved that it was. He was the obvious favorite, and the cheers among the crowd only solidified his status as a legend today.
Swiss cyclist Fabian Cancellera crashed in the road race on Saturday, hurting his shoulder. He finished about three minutes off Wiggins' time; and after the race, he was clearly in pain, having to lay flat on his back on the ground after he finished the race.
Earlier today, American Kristin Armstrong preceded Bradley Wiggins in winning the gold medal in the time trials, beating out Germany and Russia.
©2012 Reno Berkeley for Gather News. Berkeley can be found on Tumblr, Google+, and Facebook.
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