2012 yearender: Lance Armstrong leaves cycling picking up the pieces
Credited with one of the greatest comebacks in sport, the Tour de France icon that was Lance Armstrong finished 2012 with a reputation as arguably its greatest fraud.
By the end of yet another turbulent year, Bradley Wiggins joined Australian track star Anna Meares, Sir Chris Hoy and Dutchwoman Marianne Vos in offering some cheer to a sport left in disarray by the sport's biggest PR disaster.
Wiggins, the down-to-earth Londoner with a keen eye for music and the 'Mod' culture of the Sixties, followed his historic Tour de France triumph by winning Olympic time trial gold at his home Olympics.
"I cannot put it into words. I wouldn't do it justice," Wiggins said after adding that Olympic gold to the three had had previously won on the track for Britain.
As a federal investigation into Armstrong and his former team US Postal appeared to stall, other, more deserving champions emerged with Slovakian Peter Sagan winning three stages at the Tour de France, where he beat British sprint king Mark Cavendish to the coveted green jersey.
Cavendish, who in October was succeeded as world champion by Belgium's Philippe Gilbert, failed in his bid for Olympic road race gold, won in stylish fashion by controversial Kazakhstan rider Alexandre Vinokourov.
Britain, however, went on to make amends by winning seven of the 10 events at the London velodrome.
Sir Chris Hoy won two from the team sprint and keirin while Victoria Pendleton ended her career by losing her sprint title to Meares. The 36-year-old Scot cried tears of
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