Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he's studying for a degree in social work as he looks to change career after becoming the first Brit to win the Tour de France seven years ago.
The 39-year-old seized the Olympic time trial gold just days later, but insists that he no longer wants to be defined by his sporting success, the Guardian reports.
"I don't give a s*** about my cycling career now," Wiggins told the Big Issue magazine in a revealing Letter To My Younger Self.
"I'm just detached from it, I don't want to live off the back of it.
"I live off being me, and I'm happy in my own skin. I've gone full circle, I watch it as a fan now. I don't expect to be recognised or anything."
Wiggins has tried other careers as well as cycling. A brief attempt to become an elite rower and a pundit for Eurosport are two of his efforts, and he was spotted riding a motorbike during this year's Tour, laughing and joking with the riders in the peloton.
"When I was offered a TV role I wasn't sure I wanted to do it," he said. "It took me a while to find myself, redefine myself, and come back to cycling without an ego.
"So now I can do the TV job, but I've also enrolled to do an Open University degree in social work. I want to help people."
Read more of today's top stories
He explained that the "horrific things" he saw when growing up, nothing can shock him now "and I want to use that mental toughness working as a social worker."
"And when people say, 'Oh you're that cyclist', I'll say: 'No, that was a few years ago. I'm a social worker now.'"
Despite being knighted, Wiggin's cycling reputation suffered a knock when hackers revealed details of his therapeutic use exemptions granted ahead of some of his biggest races, including the 2012 Tour.
While an investigation into the contents of a package delivered to the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné for his use was inconclusive.
Wiggins, who won Sports Personality of the Year in 2012, described it as a "malicious witch-hunt" at the time and he said it "felt like I was in the eye of the storm, and I was trying to prove a negative."
It has been announced that Team Wiggins Le Col, the professional team he formed four years ago, will close its doors at the end of the season, having helped a number of young British riders reaching the WorldTour.
"It's nice to be remembered but I can't keep waltzing in with a rock'n'roll haircut and suede suit on, drunk. I've moved on from that person. Everything ends, everything has to end."
