30/07/2009 11:22 AM
Bradley Wiggins will concentrate exclusively on the Tour de France for the next two years in an effort to conquer cycling's greatest race.
And he admits to holding discussions with the British-funded Team Sky being put together by British Cycling performance director Dave Brailsford with the intention of winning the Tour, although he will not leave his current team until his contract expires at the end of next year.
Exhausted yet elated after equalling the best Tour finish by a Briton with fourth place, Wiggins is now determined to top the podium.
The 29-year-old surpassed all expectations - including his own - during the gruelling three-week event, convincing him it is time to eschew the track which has produced three Olympic gold medals.
But his absence will last only as long as London 2012 when the Olympic Games comes to his home town and he ambitiously pursues success on two fronts.
"A lot has changed now and the obvious path for me is to try and win the Tour de France within the next three years," he said.
"It's the biggest bike race in the world and finishing fourth has opened up a whole new set of doors for me. What a challenge winning it is and I want a go at it."
"There will be no track racing for the next two years, it will just be full on for the tour."
"In 2012 I'll try and do both, which would be an even greater achievement."
"I'd like to win Olympic gold and then win the Tour in the same year. I believe it's possible and can be done."
Wiggins was encouraged by his mental toughness throughout the Tour, an area he feared could undermine his pre-race ambition of finishing inside the top 20.
Enthused by the unexpected resilience he displayed until the end, his confidence is now soaring.
"Usually I find the mental side of it consuming, it really takes it out of you," he said.
"I always thought that I might collapse mentally after two weeks because I wouldn't be able to concentrate or would suffer lapses in concentration through fatigue, losing contact on a climb."
"But mentally I held it together very well and I feel like I've taken it to another level now."
"It's made me think about what I can achieve and has shown what I'm capable of. My success this year has fed my hunger."
Wiggins' breakthrough Tour has significantly increased his market value with his team Garmin-Slipstream facing competition for its prized asset.
Talks have been held with the newly-formed British outfit Team Sky but Wiggins is contracted with Garmin until the end of next year, preventing any move.
Asked if he had spoken to Brailsford about a move, he said: "Yes, I have actually. I would be interested in it but I am still contracted to Garmin for another year so it wouldn't be something to explore until 2010 at this stage."
And, in an effort to crush any doping-related suspicion over his fourth place, Wiggins has asked the UCI to make public the blood values taken for the 'biological passport' introduced by cycling's world governing body in their fight against performance enhancing drugs.
"I came from nowhere and everyone knows where the sport's been with doping," said Wiggins, who was inspired throughout the Tour by Ian Brown's album 'Solarized'.
"I have nothing to hide and I want this transparency."
Wiggins' immediate concern is restoring a body battered by the demands of the Tour to full health.
"I'm very disorientated and really run down, physically and mentally," he said.
"I'm starting to get quite ill because I've been running at four percent body fat for the last three and a half weeks."
"My glands are up and I'm bunged up. My body's starting to give out. I'm just very relieved it's all over."
"I was in the top five since Monaco so I wasn't able to relax for one minute. It's over but my body hasn't realised that."
"It's like getting out of prison because for three weeks you get so institutionalised in everything you do."