Sir Bradley Wiggins has opened up about one of cycling’s most famous rivalries. Namely, his feud with teammate Chris Froome. Wiggins revealed that it took nearly a decade to find closure.
In excerpts from his new book The Chain, published by The Sun, Wiggins revisits the tense days inside Team Sky during the 2012 Tour de France. The Briton became the first from his country to win the race. However, it sounds like his dub was overshadowed by growing tension with Froome, who appeared to challenge his leader during the 11th stage to La Toussuire.
On that Tour
“That might sound mad, but to win the Tour you need to be in control of as much as humanly possible,” Wiggins said. “If you can’t trust the guys in the same kit, who can you trust?”
He recalls threatening to walk out that night, only to be persuaded to stay by team boss Dave Brailsford and directeur sportif Sean Yates. “From that point on, I never felt able to trust Chris,” he said.
The strained relationship lingered long after Wiggins’ lone Tour triumph. He later excluded Froome from a celebratory charity gala, a move he now calls “pathetic.”
“I hurt him, and I shouldn’t have,” Wiggins said. “To be able to speak to him again, to say sorry, was so liberating. It was unhealthy for me to carry that bitterness around.”
Wiggins says the two reconciled in 2021, marking the end of what he describes as “nine years of awkwardness” — and one of cycling’s most talked-about grudges.
The former world champion has opened up quite about his past lately. In early October, the Olympian shared quite a bit about his battles with drugs.
He opened up in startling detail about his post-retirement descent into cocaine addiction. The Briton even confessed he once snorted the drug off one of his Olympic gold medals.
The five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner told The Telegraph he became a “functioning addict” after retiring from professional cycling in 2016. “I did shitloads of cocaine,” Wiggins said.
The Brit has been on the mend, however. In his Instagram posts he is seen doing what he does best: riding a bike.
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