Wiggins takes time trial gold to become Britain's most decorated Olympian
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Bradley Wiggins became the first man to win the Tour de France and Olympic gold in the same year with an imperious victory in the London 2012 time-trial.
The 32-year-old claimed his fourth Olympic gold and seventh medal in all, surpassing Sir Steve Redgrave with a British record haul of Games medals.
Wiggins was the penultimate of 37 riders to take to the course and completed the 44-kilometre route in 50 minutes 39 seconds to triumph by 42 seconds, with fellow Briton Chris Froome third in 51mins 47secs.
And he's off: Bradley Wiggins starts his bid for time trial glory at Hampton Court Palace
World champion Tony Martin of Germany clocked 51:21 to claim silver.
Wiggins won the Tour's two long time-trials last month and was optimistic of success after three Olympic gold medals on the track and six in all in his previous three Games.
The Londoner showed no signs of fatigue following Saturday's road race and reached the first time check after 7.3km, in 8:27, five seconds behind Martin, but thereafter forged forward and took the lead at the second time check, after 18.4km.
Home support: British fans lined the streets to cheer on Bradley Wiggins in the time trial
Wiggins was 11 seconds faster than the German, going through in 23:14 and enhanced his advantage at the third on course time check, after 29.9km and with 14.1km remaining.
The Briton was 22 seconds quicker than Martin, going through in 34:43, compared to the German's 35:06.
Froome was third fastest in 35:25, with Cancellara fifth fastest.
Froome finished second to Wiggins in each of the Tour's two long time-trials in claiming second spot in Paris overall and replicated those performances, finishing strongly to set the provisional best before Martin and then Wiggins beat him.
Wiggins accepted the acclaim of the crowd and a warm embrace from Martin after achieving the second of his two main goals for 2012.
It is the first time Britain's men have won gold on the road during the Olympics and the first medals since Atlanta in 1996 when Chris Boardman won time-trial bronze and Max Sciandri was third in the road race.
More to follow...
Team spirit: Bradley Wiggins' fellow British rider Chris Froome
Mechanical failure: Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez Gil needed a new bike just yards from the start
BRADLEY WIGGINS FACTFILE
1980: Born March 28 in Ghent, Belgium before growing up in London. Son of Australian former racing cyclist Gary Wiggins.
1992: Begins track cycling at Herne Hill Velodrome, London.
1997: Wins individual pursuit gold at Junior World Track Championships in Cuba.
2000: March - Silver in team pursuit at Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester.
October - Bronze in team pursuit at Olympic Games in Sydney.
2001: September - Silver in team pursuit at Track Cycling World Championships in Antwerp, Belgium.
2002: July - Silver for England in team pursuit and individual pursuit at Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Gold in individual pursuit at Track Cycling World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
2003: August - Silver in team pursuit at Track Cycling World Championships in Stuttgart, Germany.
September - Wins opening stage of Tour de l'Avenir.
2004: August - Olympic gold in individual pursuit at Athens Olympics. Also wins silver in team pursuit alongside Steve Cummings, Paul Manning and Rob Hayles and bronze in Madison alongside Rob Hayles to become first Briton since 1964 to win three medals at one Games.
2005: May - Wins stage eight of Tour de l'Avenir.
2006: July - Makes Tour de France debut, riding for French team Cofidis.
2007: March - Wins gold in the individual pursuit and team pursuit at Track Cycling World Championships in Palma, Majorca.
June - Prologue victory in Dauphine Libere.
July - Finishes fourth in Tour de France prologue in London behind Swiss winner Fabian Cancellara but his team, Cofidis, later withdraw after team-mate Cristian Moreni fails a drugs test.
September - Individual pursuit gold at Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester.
2008: January - Wiggins' estranged father, Gary Wiggins, is discovered unconscious in New South Wales and later dies.
March - Wins individual pursuit, team pursuit and Madison gold at Track Cycling World Championships in Manchester.
August 16 - Successfully defends Olympic individual pursuit title with gold at the Laoshan Velodrome.
August 18 - Olympic team pursuit gold alongside Ed Clancy, Geraint Thomas and Paul Manning in a world record of three minutes 53.314 seconds.
August 19 - Favourite for Olympic Madison alongside Mark Cavendish but ninth-placed finish results in Manxman suffering the ignominy of being the only member of GB's track team to leave the Laoshan Velodrome without a medal and has a public falling-out with Wiggins.
October - Releases autobiography titled 'In Pursuit of Glory' detailing his struggle with alcohol after Athens Games.
2009: July - Secures fourth place in Tour de France, matching highest-ever placing by a British rider.
September - Wins British Time-Trial Championship.
October - Wins stage five time-trial and overall title at Jayco Herald Sun Tour in Australia.
December 10 - Signs four-year deal with Team Sky, the BSkyB-backed road team which is being led by British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford.
2010: February 7 - Makes Team Sky debut at Tour of Qatar, helping squad to victory in the race's opening team time-trial.
March - Finishes third overall in the Tour of Murcia.
May - Wins Giro d'Italia prologue to become second Briton to wear race leader's pink jersey, the maglia rosa. The victory gives Team Sky a Grand Tour stage win at the first attempt.
July - Finishes 24th on Team Sky's Tour de France debut.
2011: March - Finishes third overall in Paris-Nice stage race.
May - Wins fourth stage of Bayern-Rundfahrt as team-mate Geraint Thomas wins overall.
June - Wins traditional Tour de France warm-up Criterium du Dauphine. Wins British Championships road race.
July 8 - Abandons Tour de France after fracturing collarbone in crash on seventh stage. Wiggins was sixth overall, 10 seconds behind race leader Thor Hushovd, entering the stage.
September - Finishes third overall at the Vuelta a Espana, with Team Sky colleague Chris Froome second. Finishes second in World Championships time-trial before helping Cavendish win the road race.
2012: February: Wins stage five of Volta ao Algarve.
March - Wins Paris-Nice overall, completing victory with win on stage eight.
April - Triumphs in Tour de Romandie, winning stages one and five.
June - Successfully defends his Criterium du Dauphine title and wins stage four time-trial for an unprecedented series of results.
July 7 - Takes the Tour de France yellow jersey after stage seven.
July 21 - Wins the time-trial on the Tour's penultimate day to all but secure victory.
July 22 - Confirmed as Britain's first-ever winner of the Tour de France.
August 1 - Claims gold medal for Team GB in Olympic road time-trial.
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