LONDON (AP) -- British cycling director of performance Dave Brailsford is warning that Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins could struggle next season if he does not find a way to balance training with his new celebrity status.
The 32-year-old Wiggins became a national hero after giving his country its first Tour de France. He then added the Olympic time trial gold medal to his yellow jersey and a wave of "Wiggomania" spread over the country. Wiggins is expected to be knighted by the end of the year.
"It will be very difficult," said Brailsford, who also manages Wiggins' team Sky. "I'd go as far as saying that most people, when they win something that they've really (wanted), a big major, career defining victory, the period after that is difficult."
Brailsford, the man who masterminded Britain's harvest of medals in Beijing and London, says the lanky Londoner will find himself in a difficult position next year if he fails to deal with the intense attention that comes with being a Tour champion during the offseason, a crucial period when champions work on their base endurance.
Since pulling out of the 2011 Tour with a broken collarbone, Wiggins has been nearly invincible. This season, he achieved an unprecedented run of successes in some of the most prestigious stage races, with victories in Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, the Criterium du Dauphine and his triumph on the Tour, cycling's showcase event.
Wiggins celebrated his Olympic time trial gold medal with a binge drinking night out in London and said afterwards he will probably never have to buy a drink again after making Britain so proud.
This week, he met his music idol Paul Weller at a Stone Roses gig packed with celebrities including Led Zeppelin's Jimmy Page.
"He will inevitably get asked to do a lot of that this winter," Brailsford said. "And the challenge with a lot of guys who hit a peak, they go through all of that and while everyone else is training really, really hard, they're not."
