For Sir Bradley Wiggins, one of Britain’s best and most successful cyclists, it all appears to have gone horribly wrong and the Olympic gold medallist may be forced to sell his gold medals after being declared bankrupt earlier this month. Wiggins, 44, was declared bankrupt by a court on June 3rd and has had his converted barn in North Lancashire, valued at £975,000, repossessed by a building society. The Lancaster-born cyclist rose to fame after becoming the first Briton to win the Tour de France. He is the only rider to win both the Tour de France and Olympic Gold in the same year, winning them a week apart in 2012.
He went on to win five Olympic gold medals and was world champion in four different disciplines but since his retirement in 2016, Wiggins has suffered financial difficulties in his business ventures which has also meant that he has apparently lost his home in Puerto Pollensa which he once referred to as “home from home. I just love the place,” in an interview with the Bulletin.
I remember many years ago interviewing him when he was with Team GB at there old training base in Puerto Pollensa. He spoke about his love-hate relationship with cycling and how for three years he never touched his bikes. However, he got back on and went on to achieve massive success.
He was even signed up by the Balearic government to help promote Mallorca and cycling on the island at the World Travel Market alongside Ireland’s Sean Kelly, one of the greats of road cycling in the 1980s.
And only two years ago, he featured in Lance Armstrong’s The Move podcast and videos recorded and filmed on the island sharing cycling routes to iconic locations such as Sa Calobra and Formentor as well as their thoughts. Mallorca, where he trained every winter when a member of Team Sky, has played a huge part in the life of Wiggins and his family for many years and he has many friends on the island, especially Puerto Pollensa.
Wiggins has also written a number of books about his career. The first, entitled In Pursuit of Glory, was published in 2008 and covers his success as a track cyclist up to the Beijing Olympics. It was updated in 2009 to include his 2009 Tour de France fourth place (later updated to third). On Tour was published in 2010 and covers that year's Tour de France. Following his success at the 2012 Tour de France he published The Bradley Wiggins Opus. That same year he also published My Time which largely deals with the 2012 Tour de France and Olympics. My Story was published in 2013 and is an edited version of My Time for younger readers. In 2015 he added My Hour which tells of his successful attempt at the Hour record. In 2018 he added a seventh book, Icons, which details some of the riders who inspired him.