Tour de France winner and four-time Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins has insisted that he has never and will never consider cheating to gain an advantage over his rivals.
Cycling has been in the headlines over the past month following revelations that its most famous competitor, Lance Armstrong, ran the most sophisticated doping programme that the sport has ever seen during his run of seven Tour de France victories between 1999 and 2005.
Wiggins himself was pressed by an undercover journalist during his recent Tour victory if he had ever committed an offence in order to boost his performance.
However, speaking at the launch of Sky TV's A Year in Yellow - a film about the past 12 months of his life - Wiggins was adamant that threat of being placed in a negative spotlight means that he would never contemplate cheating.
"To wear the yellow jersey you have to merit it and I believe that I've merited it. It's taken hard work, dedication and sacrifice and that is sacrificing everything in my life - my own family at times," he said. "I would never have had a film made about me if ten years from now it's going to bite me on the arse. I'm very, very, very proud of that.
"I'm receiving a Pride of Britain award from Prince Charles and all that sort of stuff. As a shy hermit - self-proclaimed - I wouldn't go through with it if it was going to bite me. I've done this off my own back and it will always live with me. I have a tattoo on my forearm that says 'The Tour' and the date I won it because I'm so proud of it. I will die with that.
"Cycling has been tipped upside down over the past couple of weeks but this one hasn't been built on sand and I'm extremely proud of that."
A Year in Yellow will be shown on Sky Atlantic HD on Wednesday, November 21 at 10pm.
