Berliner Tageszeitung - Ben Wiggins emerging from Bradley's shadow in track cycling

Many a competitor has followed a well-known parent into the same sport but without achieving anything like the same success.

But 18-year-old Ben Wiggins, who will compete in the junior men's time trial of the UCI Cycling World Championships in Scotland on Friday, believes being the son of 2012 Tour de France winner and former Olympic champion Bradley could be both a blessing and a curse.

"I think it's more difficult to manage when it's not going so well," Ben Wiggins told reporters on Wednesday.

"Say you've had a few bad races or whatever, I don't know if it's just in my own head, but you start to think about what people are thinking or saying.

"People are always going to compare me to him but actually if you look at my junior results compared to when he was a junior I'm actually a lot better than he was."

The younger Wiggins won a European track title last year with victory in the junior men's points race in Portugal and also gained a bronze medal in the team pursuit at the same event.

He has enjoyed success on the road as well, most recently with a general classification win at the Trophee Centre Morbihan in France.

- 'Make your own name' -

"It was difficult at the start of last season as in my first year I hadn't really done anything," Wiggins said.

"But now I've won a European title and a Nations Cup race on the road so it's all right when you're doing it yourself, you can make your own name."

Wiggins struggled during last Saturday's junior men's road race in Glasgow after being held up behind an early crash and unable to bridge the gap back to the front group.

Bradley Wiggins was in Glasgow to watch that race but Ben said he did not lean too heavily on his famous father for guidance.

"There's not much advice he can really give you," he explained. "If you think about it, it's 25 years since he rode a junior race himself and the sport has changed so much. It's more just the presence there than any advice."

Now he is hoping for a clearer run in Friday's time trial in Stirling, central Scotland, before concentrating on the junior track world championships in Colombia starting on August 23.

At this stage his career, Wiggins -- who rides on the road for the Fensham Howes-MAS Design team, run by Giles Pidcock, father of Ineos Grenadiers star Tom -- was happy to split his competition time with track races.

"It's both, certainly in the short term, for the next few years," Wiggins said. "I'd like to go to the LA Olympics, and I imagine as with most riders eventually I'll focus on the road, but I'll try to do both for the next few years."

O. Larsen--BTZ