Sir Bradley Wiggins says he has checked into one of America’s leading trauma rehabilitation clinics, with none other than Lance Armstrong picking up the bill.
The 2012 Tour de France champion told the Daily Mail (I know, sorry) he will receive treatment at a facility in Utah, arranged and paid for by the former U.S. cyclist. “I’m off to America on Friday,” Wiggins said during a recent talk. “He’s paid for me to go and see a top trauma counselling clinic in Utah, so I’m looking forward to that.”
Wiggins said Armstrong has also “offered me a role back in cycling, a platform which doesn’t involve me getting on a bike.”
The two men, whose careers overlapped before Armstrong’s 2011 retirement, have remained close. “Lance has been a source of inspiration to me and a constant source of help,” Wiggins said. “He is one of the main factors why I’m in this position I am today, mentally and physically, so I’m indebted to him.”
Wiggins has spoken openly about his struggles with addiction, mental health and financial collapse since retiring. In a separate interview, he described becoming “a functioning addict” and admitted to using cocaine “off my Olympic gold medal.”
“I raged as I smashed up my 2012 trophy for Sports Personality of the Year and my knighthood,” he told the Daily Mail. “This isn’t success. I did that in front of my kids. No wonder there were times when they talked about trying to put me in rehab.”
Now, with Armstrong’s backing, Wiggins says he’s focusing on recovery and processing the traumas that derailed his post-cycling life. It’s not the first time the disgraced American cyclist has helped a former pro who was battling addiction. Armstrong, who confessed to doping after winning a record seven Tours, also helped Jan Ullrich, an addict and alcoholic, with his recovery. In fact, the American himself has said that he has given up alcohol after having problems with it.
The news of Wiggins’ rehab stay follows a series of startling revelations about his post-retirement struggles. A few weeks ago, he spoke candidly to The Telegraph about his descent into cocaine addiction, admitting he once snorted the drug off one of his Olympic gold medals.
The five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner said he became a “functioning addict” after retiring in 2016. “I did shitloads of cocaine,” Wiggins said, adding that he still isn’t sure…
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