In a recent interview with Marketing Week, Bradley Wiggins stated his belief that cycling is now a ‘cool’ sport in Great Britain. Recent successes from the likes of Wiggins, Chris Froome and Mark Cavendish have seen the sports market now worth £1.39bn in the UK.

“The transformation [in cycling] is quite phenomenal,” Wiggins said.

“The growth was already huge but [the Tour and Olympics] helped bring a whole new audience to the sport and it really captured people’s imagination.”

Interest has grown in cycling by 38% since 2011, when Mark Cavendish won the World Championship Road Race according to Recupon. Wiggins is a brand himself, with 81% of people aware of what he has done and 88% of those people claiming to like him, making him on the of the most popular celebrities in the UK.

Wiggins insists that this is a huge step for cycling, and something that no one could have predicted a decade ago.

“Cycling is not a minority sport any more, it has come a long way to be accepted… and be deemed cool.”

“Everyone has a bike, has access to a bike or knows someone with a bike, so I think it is just one of those things that has been lying dormant for many people, but as it has caught on people have given it another go.”