Nearly 10 years after his retirement, the former Tour de France champion and five-time Olympic gold medallist, Bradley Wiggins, is baring all in his latest autobiography, ‘The Chain’.
The 45-year-old has spent the last six months working on the book, which he has described as "the most honest and personal [one] I've ever written".
"Back in 2012, everyone knew who Bradley Wiggins was," he writes in the blurb of 'The Chain'. "Everyone, that is, but me."
The book marks Wiggins's first autobiography since 2012, the year he won the Tour de France, the Olympic time trial, and major stage races including Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie, and the Critérium du Dauphiné.
That year, he was the golden boy, 'Wiggo', the man to beat. But off the bike, "I didn’t really know who I was," Wiggins told Cycling Weekly last June.
In an Instagram post announcing his latest book, Wiggins described it as "the story of me finally making peace with myself".
"It's about what happens when the race is over," he said, "about facing the darkest parts of myself, and finally figuring out and learning to accept who I am and what I am."
"For years, I hid behind the identity, mask, and medals of 'Wiggo'. But inside, I was struggling more than anyone realised."
The years since his retirement in 2016 have been, for Wiggins, an operation in working out who he is when he isn’t racing. He has battled with addiction, faced bankruptcy, and revealed alleged sexual abuse dating back to his early teens. Without the distraction of cycling, and unresolved trauma, Wiggins began to fall into what he has described as “very dangerous” situations.
"I was doing s*** loads of cocaine," he revealed during a press event, attended by Cycling Weekly, last month. "I had a real problem and my kids were actually going to put me in rehab at one point, I’ve never spoken about that. I really was walking a tightrope.”
Now, over twelve months sober, Wiggins is charting his process of self-discovery in a new autobiography as he rebuilds his relationship with the sport that has defined his life.
"I've accepted in the last 12 months that however much I try and push it away, I am a cyclist, it is my life, and it will always be part of my life," Wiggins said.
"I think I was causing myself more pain by trying to push it away. Every time someone sees me they go, 'Oh, you're that cyclist', so it's just never going to leave me, ever."
Wiggins's new book, ‘The Chain’, will be published by Harper Collins on 25 October, and is available to pre-order now.
