Wiggins was "a right handful" in his younger days – Brailsford

You may be forgiven for thinking that Sir Bradley Wiggins can be somewhat high maintenance even today, but according to Sir Dave Brailsford, he was ‘a right handful’ in his younger days. The pair have looked back on their long relationship in an interview in the Telegraph, in which Wiggins also elaborates on the aftermath of his 2012 Tour de France win and why Paris-Roubaix makes a fitting final goal for his road racing career.

Drinking tales abound, indicating that there may have been some rather less marginal gains to have been had at the outset of their working partnership. The atmosphere appears to have been one far removed from the methodical, professional reputation of Team Sky. It’s hard to imagine Brailsford being deposited into a pond by rogue riders nowadays, for example.

Wiggins also expands a little on the period when he fell out of love with cycling in the wake of his 2012 Tour de France win, something he also referred to in a press conference before the Tour of Flanders last week.

“Normally you get back down to it by October/November. But three months on I was here, there, everywhere. I didn't know if I was coming or going. I remember ringing Dave four weeks before SPOTY and saying 'Right, I'm going to pull out of this Sports Personality of the Year. I don't want to keep amplifying this fame any more'. [laughing]. And he said 'I don't think that's a wise thing to do.' I had no stability in my life. It was just crazy.”

Wiggins says that from there, he went to his first training camp, which was when Lance Armstrong chose to do his interview with Oprah Winfrey. “The next couple of months were just 'Lance Armstrong'. As the winner of the Tour de France that was hard. I struggled with that.”

Wiggins says that the experience affected his riding such that he was relieved to crash out of the Giro because it meant he wasn’t doing the Tour. That would appear to be hindsight talking, however, as Brailsford says that during the race, Wiggins was repeatedly texting him saying “Plan C…” in reference to Plans A and B (Froome and Porte) going awry.

It was also at this time that his kids changed schools. “It wasn't so much bullying as people sort of commenting because of the Armstrong thing at the time. I didn't feel proud to be the winner of the Tour.”

This Sunday’s Paris-Roubaix will be Wiggins’ final race with Team Sky and he reiterates that he would enjoy a win there more than his Tour victory, seeing it as a fitting way to end.

“I think three years on it would feel better if I could do it just because of where I've been these last three years. I mean, the Tour will always be huge. But I think for where I am now, and just the contrast between the Tour and Paris-Roubaix, the heritage of the race and the fact that I fell in love with these races as a kid, with Johan Museeuw and them lot.

“It would be nice to go out with a win, like I did wearing the rainbow stripes [in the time trial] at De Panne last week. I don't want to get lost over the next few years. I don't want to go on as a punch drunk former Tour winner.”