The former Tour champion opens up about his drug addiction and the difficult road to recovery ahead of the release of his new book.
In a wide-ranging interview with The Times, Bradley Wiggins opened up, revealing shocking details from his recent past, ahead of the release of his new autobiography, 'The Chain.'
The former Olympic champion and Tour de France winner hit rock bottom after retiring in 2016, spiraling into cocaine addiction that led him to sleep on park benches and in makeshift shelters. In one of his darkest moments, he himself revealed, he even snorted cocaine from his Olympic gold medal—an act he describes as "pissing on your own grave."
Wiggins also addressed long-standing doping allegations that have surrounded Team Sky, particularly regarding therapeutic exemptions (TUEs) for corticosteroids in the 2011 and 2012 Tours.
'The team threw me under the bus,' he said, implying that there was someone to protect.
Today, however, Wiggins is a new man: he's been sober for a year, attends Narcotics Anonymous, and even received help from Lance Armstrong, who brought him to the US for a rehabilitation program. He's gotten his life back on track with a strict routine:
"I wake up at 6:15, go to the gym every day, plan my meals. I live like a professional athlete."
The former champion also overcame bankruptcy, finding new job and financial stability. He even rediscovered the joy of cycling in his spare time, an activity he had abandoned due to the trauma of abuse he suffered as a youth.
"I'm earning more now than I have in the last six years. I have my own home, and I'm no longer homeless. I was a year ago," Wiggins proudly recounts, a symbol of how it's possible to bounce back even from the most disastrous falls.