Like father, like son: Ben Wiggins takes his first national time-trial crown

There is a neat symmetry to a Wiggins winning a time trial. When Ben Wiggins (Hagens Berman Jayco) powered to the under-23 title at the British National Championships in Lampeter on Thursday, the surname did much of the talking. But the 21-year-old has spent the past year quietly proving he is far more than a famous son.

The win was emphatic. Wiggins was the only rider in the field to break the 30-minute barrier, clocking 29:02.12 to take the jersey at the fifth attempt. Wiggins has finished runner-up at the nationals four times before — twice as a junior, twice at under-23. "It feels great to wear the national champion jersey," he told British Cycling.

None of this surprised anyone who had been listening. Back in May, Wiggins told U23 Cycling Zone that ending that run was the season's priority: "I want to break that streak, that's a very big goal." He delivered almost to the letter, arriving in Wales off the back of the Giro d'Italia Next Gen, where he had banked a week of hard racing miles rather than headline results.

The comparisons with his father are unavoidable. Sir Bradley Wiggins was the first Briton to win the Tour de France, in 2012, and a five-time Olympic champion who took road time-trial gold at the London Games that same summer. The mould — a track pursuiter who became a devastating tester — is a familiar one.

Ben is a junior world Madison champion and a European team-pursuit medallist who also happens to be one of the best young time-triallists in the country. Even his grandfather, Gary Wiggins, was a noted six-day racer; Ben has ridden the Ghent six-day, too.

Yet Bradley keeps a deliberate distance from his son's racing. "I don't get involved in his cycling. I'm just his dad," he told Cycling Weekly, explaining that a formal coaching relationship would have been unhealthy for them both.

Ben's path into the sport was not preordained. A keen rugby player at school, he only committed fully to cycling in 2021. He began with the Fensham Howes-MAS Design junior team — run by Giles Pidcock, father of Tom — before the results arrived in a hurry. In 2023 he became junior world champion in the Madison and took silver in the junior time trial at the Glasgow World Championships.

A move to the American development squad Hagens Berman, run by Axel Merckx — himself the son of a cycling great in Eddy — followed in 2024. Since then results have come steadily: silver at the under-23 European track championships, a bronze in the team pursuit at this year's elite European championships, and a top-10 overall at the Tour of Rhodes that pointed to improving climbing legs.

For all the inevitable framing, Wiggins is clear-eyed about the weight of the name. He told the BBC he is sometimes "introduced as Bradley Wiggins' son" before his own name is read out. His ambitions, though, are entirely his. He has spoken of wanting Olympic gold at Los Angeles 2028 and, eventually, a tilt at the Tour. "I don't want to put any limits on myself. I'm really ambitious," he told The Telegraph.

With his final under-23 season pointing towards a likely WorldTour move in 2027. Pulling on the national jersey in Lampeter was laying down a marker. The comparisons with his dad will not fade any time soon. Based on his recent results, Ben Wiggins is set on making his own name just as well known.