Sir Bradley Wiggins has admitted that he lost motivation following his success in 2012.
The 32-year-old became the first British cyclist to win the yellow jersey in the Tour de France, before winning his fourth Olympic gold medal just days later, resulting in him being named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
The Team Sky rider told the Sunday Express: "It took a lot of time for the motivation to come back. After the Olympics, there was a long time where I was thinking 'what the hell am I going to do here next year?'.
"In the previous 18 months, I had put so much into that Tour project I knew I wanted to go out and compete at a high level again. But I didn't want to retire or go through a season and fail, and have to deal with that.
"There was no way I was going through all that again. I didn't want to have that direct comparison with last year all the time. Unless I won all those races again, there was only one alternative and that was to fail."
Wiggins will be looking to win another Grand Tour in 2013, when he races at the Giro d'Italia later this year, while Chris Froome is expected to lead the team at the Tour de France.
Sian Cowper
