Bradley Wiggins announced his retirement from cycling yesterday, ending a career that saw him win a British record eight Olympic medals as well as the country’s first Tour de France title.

The 36-year-old posted a statement on his Instagram page, accompanying a picture of his collected race jerseys, medals and trophies.

In it, he said: “2016 is the end of the road for this chapter, onwards and upwards, ‘feet on the ground, head in the clouds’ kids from Kilburn don’t win Olympic Golds and Tour de Frances! They do now.”

Wiggins, who conquered his sport on the road as well as in the velodrome, won his fifth Olympic gold in Rio this year as part of the team pursuit, adding to a tally that also includes a silver and two bronzes.

He competed in five successive Games from Sydney 2000 and reached a career high in 2012 when he completed an unprecedented double of a maiden Tour de France victory with Team Sky and a home Olympic triumph in the time-trial in London.

His retirement message also read: “I have been lucky enough to live a dream and fulfil my childhood aspiration of making a living and a career out of the sport I fell in love with at the age of 12. I’ve met my idols and ridden with and alongside the best for 20 years.

“I have worked with the world’s best coaches and managers who I will always be grateful to for their support. What will stick with me forever is the support and love from the public though thick and thin, all as a result of riding a pushbike for a living. 2012 blew my mind and was a gas.

“Cycling has given me everything and I couldn’t have done it without the support of my wonderful wife Cath and our amazing kids.”

Retirement in 2016 had long been anticipated for Wiggins but last month he won the Ghent Six Day alongside Mark Cavendish and suggested he was unsure about his future, saying: “I don’t know, I still have really good legs.”

That race, alongside his long-time partner and in the city of his birth, will now go down as the last triumph in a long list of achievements.

As well as his Olympic and Tour de France successes, Wiggins boasts eight World Championship wins, four Commonwealth Games silvers and, in 2015, the world Hour record.

In recent months, he has found himself under scrutiny for his use of therapeutic use exemptions (TUEs) earlier in his career, after hackers leaked that he got intramuscular injections of a strong corticosteroid days before three big races, including the 2012 Tour.

Wiggins’s treatment was approved by cycling authorities and there has been no suggestion any rules have been broken over the TUEs.