That was Wiggins’ last tilt at the Tour as a result, with Sky instead opting to build around Chris Froome; a man who would go on to win the flagship event four times.
In an interview with the Geraint Thomas Cycling Club podcast, Wiggins shed light on what transpired in the aftermath of his victory, as well as the rivalry that developed with his compatriot.
“I ended up playing a character, I had this veil of playing a rock star,” Wiggins said.
“I think it was a good disguise to walk through life like that, and the fame and adulation, I couldn’t handle that as me.
“I wasn’t good at taking praise. I handled it a certain way and (would) be quite shocking and contentious and sweary.
“I’d get drunk at things in order to perform and play the fool.
“That didn’t serve me well long term as it built up a perception of me – the impact it had on the kids and keeping up this image of Bradley Wiggins: really strong, Tour de France winner.”
As Froome continued his own rise to stardom, Wiggins would eventually part ways with Sky following the 2015 Spring Classics, before calling time on his career after the 2016 Olympics.
The pair rarely saw eye to eye during their time together at Sky, and the 2012 Tour played a key role in the fragility of their relationship, though Wiggins admitted he was finally able to make amends this past July.
“Particularly towards the end of Sky, I was quite lonely,” Wiggins said. I used to just room on my own, wasn’t enjoying it, just ticking boxes.
“It was more for everyone else at that point, everything after 2012, I never really enjoyed anything after that again.
“It’s quite childish and petulant how I handled situations but that just stemmed from not knowing how to cope with things.
“It impacted on the relationships around me. I sort of left Sky on bad terms really, which I regretted because I was the maker of that myself.”
“The whole fallout with Chris Froome was really regrettable,” Wiggins added.
“I impacted on that a lot, the way I behaved. It’s just been really nice to make peace with all those people since then.
“Me and Froome met up for the first time actually at the Tour this year, at a night club towards the end.
“We hugged it out. I speak to him a lot now, and it’s really liberating to go back and behave like you should have been behaving, really.”
