A great year not only for Bradley Wiggins but for British cycling as a whole, as the Tour de France winner (and Olympic Time Trial champion) took the prestigious BBC Sports Personality of the Year award, whilst British Cycling’s mastermind Dave Brailsford won the Coach of the Year award for his part in steering Team GB to eight Olympic Golds. Wiggins, the odds-on favourite from the start, took almost 500,000 of the 1.6m votes cast, 50% more than second place Jessica Ennis. In typically jocular fashion, though promising not to swear, Wiggins thanked Brailsford, his coaches, Team Sky (for paying him) and the Olympians in general. He also invited everyone backstage to enjoy the free BBC bar…
Wiggins win marked the second year running that a cyclist has taken the award home after Mark Cavendish took the laurels in 2011; further proof of the rise of popularity of the sport in the UK was demonstrated by the fact that this year’s shortlist of 12 included two other cyclists: Sir Chris Hoy (the 2008 winner) and Sarah Storey, although they poled only 2.64% and 0.64% respectively.
