Wiggins named Sportsman of the Year by journalists' association

Bradley Wiggins has been named British Sportsman of the Year by the Sports Journalists’ Association. The Tour de France winner and Olympic time trial champion topped a poll of over 750 sports journalists, beating athlete Mo Farah into second place while US Open winner Andy Murray finished third.

Wiggins is the fifth cyclist to win the award in its 64-year history, after Reg Harris (1950), Tommy Simpson (1965), Chris Hoy (2008) and Mark Cavendish (2011). The Sky rider will be hoping to match Simpson, Hoy and Cavendish by adding the BBC’s prestigious Sports Personality of the Year award to the SJA honour later this month.

As well as winning the Tour and Olympic gold, Wiggins captured Paris-Nice, the Tour of Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné, a haul that was enough to beat off the stiff competition of Farrah and Murray in a year that saw Britain enjoy an enormously successful Olympic Games on home soil.

“It’s been probably the greatest year in the history of British sport, and certainly one of the busiest for our members,” SJA committee chairman Barry Newcombe said.

Wiggins was not present at the SJA awards ceremony on Thursday but had recorded an acceptance message beforehand that was played at the event in London.

There was further cycling success in the Paralympic Sport Woman of the Year category, with Sarah Storey claiming the top prize. The 35-year-old came away with four gold medals from the London 2012 Paralympic Games, winning the C4-5 road race, C5 time trial, C5 individual pursuit and C4-5 500m time trial.

In the video below, Wiggins talks about the 2013 Tour de France route.