He broke the silence with terrible revelations. Bradley Wiggins, winner of the Tour de France in 2012, said he was sexually assaulted by a trainer during his teenage years in an interview with the British edition of Men’s Health.
The British rider hung up his bike in 2016 after a successful career on both road and track. But before knowing the glory, he had a difficult adolescence between sexual assault and domestic violence. “I was sexually abused by a coach when I was younger. I was around 13 and never completely accepted that. It all touched me as an adult, I buried it,” Wiggins revealed in the interview, which will appear this Wednesday in the UK.
He also said he had been the victim of violence from his stepfather, preventing him from confiding in him about what he had suffered. “He used to call me a fag because I was wearing lycra and stuff, so I didn’t think I could tell him. I was so lonely. I just wanted to get out of that environment. I have become so isolated. I was quite a strange teenager in many ways and I think my energy on the bike stems from adversity,” he said.
Bradley Wiggins also returned to his special relationship with his father, who did not raise him. Former Australian cyclist, he died in 2008 during a fight. “I never got any answers when he was murdered in 2008. He left us when I was little. I first met him when I was 18. We rekindled some sort of relationship, but we didn’t speak for the last two years of his life. He was my hero. I wanted to prove my worth to him. He was a good cyclist, he could have been really good, but it was a wasted talent. He was an alcoholic, a manic-depressive, quite violent and he took a lot of amphetamines and drugs at the time,” said the Briton, who also had complicated periods to manage.
This was the case after his first gold medal at the Athens Olympics in 2004, where he experienced alcohol problems accompanied by suicidal thoughts. But also after his success in the Tour de France ten years ago becoming the first Briton to win the Grande Boucle. “I really struggled with it,” said Wiggins, who trains every day and avoids drinking “too much” to take care of his mental health.