"Within three years of retiring I was a drug addict": Sir Bradley Wiggins recalls post-cycling "mess" that led to bankruptcy but insists financial woes "resolved"

Sir Bradley Wiggins says he's "on the front foot" and his financial situation is "all resolved now", the British cycling great also revealing how his struggles post-cycling saw him become addicted to drugs "within three years of retiring" from the sport.

In a lengthy interview with The Telegraph, Wiggins expressed regret at having not paid more attention to his financial affairs during his racing career and suggested that the "mess" of his debts and bankruptcy were the result of being "ripped off left, right and centre by the people looking after me".

In November, documents published by liquidators suggested Wiggins' unpaid debts had increased to almost £2 million, more than doubling from the amount it was thought he previously owed. However, the 2012 Tour de France winner told the newspaper this weekend that "it's all resolved now" and it "has all turned around" in the last eight months.

"I'm on the front foot now," he said. "This was something that was done to me. Eight months on, it has all turned around. The people who are responsible are paying a heavy price for it. Fortunately, it’s all good. My life’s in a good place.

"I regret I never paid attention to my financial affairs when I was racing. It's one of the things that happens to athletes – you make a lot of money and, if you haven't got your eyes on it, people take advantage. I was getting ripped off left, right and centre by the people looking after me. Accountants as well."

Wiggins told the newspaper the collapse of his £13 million fortune and liquidation of his image rights company stemmed from too much money being funnelled out of the company and into subsidiaries that did not generate much. 

The quotes are on the same lines as what Wiggins has said previously about his financial woes, two months after being declared bankrupt in June 2024 the former pro cyclist criticised the tabloid press in the UK for stoking the situation by harassing his family and sharing "sensationalist" rumours about his financial plight, such as that he was forced to "sofa surf" and had "lost absolutely everything".

> Sir Bradley Wiggins' medals and trophies set to be seized after being declared bankrupt

In 2022, Wiggins entered an Individual Voluntary Arrangement to pay off his creditors and avoid bankruptcy, but in November 2023 it was revealed that liquidators had yet to receive any of the almost £1 million they claimed from Wiggins Rights Limited the previous year, in part to pay off an outstanding director's loan.

Sir Bradley Wiggins at Stage 2 of 2015 Tour de Yorkshire (credit: Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

In November, Companies House documents revealed Wiggins' rights company's unpaid debts had more than doubled to almost £2 million, however, as highlighted earlier in this article, the five-time Olympic champion's latest interview states that "it's all resolved now" and "the people responsible are paying a heavy price", comments we have put to Wiggins' liquidators this morning.

"Within three years of retiring in 2016, I was a drug addict"

Elsewhere in the interview, Wiggins talks about the sexual abuse he and other young cyclists suffered from a cycling coach during their childhood, explaining how it led to "a really dark period" and that "within three years of retiring in 2016, I was a drug addict".

"A lot of it was to do with this recall of my childhood," he said. "The contradiction is that the coach who abused me was my first male role model in cycling. I had grown up with an absent father, and so this man instilled a confidence in me as a bike rider. Wherever he went, he would tell everyone: 'This kid's going to be special'. It kind of offset what was going on behind the scenes. There were other kids at the club it was happening to as well. We were normalised to the behaviour, made to feel there was nothing wrong with it. You’re only 13, but it leads to a really dark period."

Bradley Wiggins launches NSPCC campaign (credit: NSPCC)

Wiggins also spoke about his relationship with former Team Sky chief Sir Dave Brailsford, who he now says he's "not a fan of".

Sir Dave Brailsford at Team Ineos launch (credit: SWpix.com)

"I couldn’t even sit here and say, 'I don't like him, but I respect what he has done'. I really haven't got a lot of time for him, to be honest," the former Sky leader said, before cracking a joke about Ineos's latest 'Mission 21' project, aiming to win the Premier League with Manchester United, being "more like Mission Championship" due to the club's poor form and lowly league position.

His friendship with Lance Armstrong has also kept Wiggins' name in the headlines in recent times, the disgraced former pro cyclist having paid for Wiggins to undertake a course of therapy in the United States. 

Bradley Wiggins, Lance Armstrong, and George Hincapie (credit: Liz Kreutz)

"You always have to put this disclaimer in with Lance: 'It's not to condone what he did'," Wiggins said. "Yeah, he took drugs and all that. That's a different part of it, very polarising. It's an open wound in cycling. But in terms of me being here, being alive, he has really helped. He has done the same for Jan Ullrich. The three of us grew up without a father.

"I've really got to know him over the past eight years, and he has been there for me in recent times. He packed me off to this extensive therapy centre, paid for it all. He had a very similar upbringing to me – a fatherless upbringing. 'You can't will this stuff away', he told me. 'You have to sort it out'. On the human side, he has been very good for me."