It is a poignant and certainly liberating testimony that the former winner of the Tour de France gave many years after his retirement from sport. Winner of the Grande Boucle in 2012, Bradley Wiggins is one of the greatest cyclists in history. Becoming the first Englishman to win the Tour, before his compatriot Christopher Froome, the 41-year-old Briton also became Olympic champion in London the same year. If he was able to enjoy a brilliant sporting career, his family life is also full since he was married for a long time to Catherine, with whom he had three children.
At first glance, an ideal life for the retired cyclist, but as he confided recently, he has long kept a deep trauma buried in him. “I was sexually abused by a coach when I was younger. I was around 13 and I never completely accepted that”he reveals in the latest issue of the magazine Men’s Healthreleased this Wednesday.
It all touched me as an adult, I buried it
A terrible ordeal that he has never spoken of before, especially within his family home, raised by an abusive stepfather with whom he had bad relations. “All of this affected me as an adult, I buried it. He used to call me a fag because I was wearing lycra and all that, so I didn’t think I could talk to him about it sooner.”explains Bradley Wiggins, who also had problems with alcohol in his life.
The sexual assault he suffered and the very complicated relationship with his stepfather made him a young man different from the others, in his words: “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.”