Man celebrates meeting hero Wiggins by painting picnic bench gold

A Bradley Wiggins fan who met his hero on a picnic bench at a garden centre has celebrated his Olympic feats by painting the bench gold.

Tim Bishop was enjoying the sunshine at Morris's of Usk Garden Centre and Nurseries when he spotted Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Mark Cavendish taking tea and cake, and wished them well.

Afterwards, with the garden centre’s permission, he painted the bench gold and dubbed it the Olympicnic Bench.

“We thought that as post boxes were painted gold after London 2012 and it would be a great feature at the cafe after their success in Rio,” Tim, a former soldier and keen cyclist told Gloucestershire Live.

“They want to raise their profile with the cycling community, but when we got there today, two ladies were sat there having morning tea and were loving it.”

The plaque states: “Painted gold by Tim Bishop in honour of Sir Bradley Wiggins, Ed Clancy, Steven Burke, Owain Doull and Mark Cavendish who stopped and sat here during their Rio 2016 training.”