Bradley Wiggins has opened up about his often difficult relationship with cycling and the personal issues and trauma it has created in his life, as reports continue to emerge about his financial difficulties.
Wiggins sat down with television commentator and fellow former professional Matt Stephens for a so-called ‘Fireside chat’ at the British National Cycling Show in Birmingham on Sunday. He also spoke to our sister title Cycling Weekly in an exclusive interview.
Questions about his risk of bankruptcy were not welcome but Wiggins appeared happy to sit in front of the bike show public. He revealed he will also return to the Tour de France this year for a race broadcaster, with details still to be confirmed.
He seems in a better place than in recent years despite the reports of his financial difficulties.
“I’m still uncomfortable being the centre of attention. A little bit of that will never leave me,” Wiggins admitted.
On Friday, Wiggins’ lawyer Alan Sellers revealed details of his financial problems to the the Daily Mail, going as far as suggesting Wiggins is “sofa-surfing” and “basically homeless.”
“He has lost absolutely everything. His family home, his home in Majorca, his savings and investments. He doesn’t have a penny. It’s a very sad state of affairs,” the Mail quoted Sellers as saying.
Wiggins was estimated to be worth £13 million as recently as 2017 but now owes close to £1 million after a recent bankruptcy hearing.
According to his lawyer, Wiggins is the latest sports star to suffer financial disaster after entrusting their business affairs to people who didn’t act in their best interests.
“They are so busy being sportsmen that when it comes to their financial affairs, they just get shafted. That’s what happened to Brad,” Sellers said.
Wiggins hopes to recover some of his lost millions via legal action as part of his bankruptcy agreement.
Last year Wiggins told Cycling Weekly that his financial difficulties were “a very historical matter that involves professional negligence that has left a s***pile with my name at the front of it to deal with.”
I’ve always been around cycling, and as much as I’ve tried to push it away in the past, I realised that it’s always going to be there
Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France and then a gold medal in the time trial at the London Olympics. He was the first-ever British Tour winner and won five Olympic gold medals during his long career.
His success and persona made Wiggins hugely popular in Britain, but also intensified his love-hate relationship with the sport.
Wiggins’ use of several Therapeutic Use Exemption (TUE) certificates to take powerful steroids to treat asthma were revealed by Fancy Bears hackers in 2016 but he has always claimed they were medically justified and not to improve his performance.
He retired in 2016 and in 2022 revealed details of the grooming and sexual abuse he alleged he suffered when he was a teenager. He has also talked about his mental health problems and moments of isolation.
Wiggins has recently returned to talk about his career at public events and several hundred people followed his chat with Matt Stephens on Sunday.
“I’ve always been around cycling, and as much as I’ve tried to push it away in the past, I realised that it’s always going to be there,” Wiggins told Cycling Weekly.
“You fall in and out of love with things, or you have enough of it, or at times it becomes an obsession like it did for me,” he says of cycling. After a period of time where he wouldn't even watch any racing, he says that he's now found “a happy balance.”
Wiggins is not back riding a bike but busy working with sports nutrition brand, Applied Nutrition. He is also volunteering and working with young offenders.
Wiggins is now 44 but is still trying to understand the impact his cycling success had on his life. During the peak of his career at Team Sky, Wiggins hid his true feelings.
“I had this extreme confidence on the bike, but off it - when I look back - I was quite contentious at times. I was quite sweary and I could be hot and cold some days. And particularly the veil I adopted when I was this rock and roll star in 2012, the drinking and stuff… it was a way of hiding in public to disguise and distract from who I really was,” he explained.
“I was never comfortable enough to just sit and have a normal conversation with someone. I’d have to play a character because I didn’t really know who I was …”
Wiggins admits he is not ‘in love’ with cycling but after several difficult years he now enjoys the sport, while following the successful career of his son Ben from a distance.
“I don’t get involved in his cycling. I’m just his dad and I think that’s an important thing to say. I just want to be his dad,” he explained, admitting that seeing his son emulate him as a teenager “dragged up a lot of things.”
“I got stuck in my own little world,” Wiggins admitted but now understands that the affection of the cycling public is helpful.
“Cycling is just part of the fabric of who I am and I don’t want to label it as love or not love. I’m slowly edging my way back in… It’s something I’ve embraced again but not fallen in love with… I’m still keeping it at arm’s length.”
“I’m starting to realise that maybe there’s a new role for me and a new sort of ‘inspiration’ I guess if that’s the right word without being too egotistical.
“I'm more happy in my skin than I've ever been now. Life is quite good at the moment. I just need to keep along that trajectory and look after myself.”
“People have said ‘I think your best years are ahead of you’ and that’s a nice perspective.
