Cycle star Wiggins: 'A lot has changed'

LONDON, Aug. 20 (UPI) -- British cyclist Bradley Wiggins says it has taken some time getting used to the celebrity status he has enjoyed since the Tour de France and London Olympics.

Wiggins won the Tour and an Olympic gold medal this summer.

"Eight weeks ago I could have done anything and nobody would have paid any attention," Wiggins, 32, told Britain's Daily Telegraph. "A lot has changed in a short period of time."

The media mill began with his victory in the Tour, which resulted in a paparazzi encampment outside his home for several days. The spotlight only got brighter when he won the time-trial gold in the Olympic cycling competition.

"This was my fourth Olympics and I'd won however many medals before, but I'd always come home unrecognized," he said.

"All of a sudden, this one has really attracted the attention of everybody ... I hadn't comprehended that everything you do, somebody is watching."