Sir Bradley Wiggins, the first Briton to win the Tour de France, has been declared bankrupt amid financial difficulties with his businesses.
The cyclist, who also won eight Olympic medals, including five golds, has had a troubled relationship with his business ventures since retiring in 2016.
Wiggins Rights Limited, which owns the trademarks to Bradley Wiggins, Wiggo and Wiggins, entered liquidation in 2020 with debts of £650,000. Creditors included HM Revenue & Customs, which last year claimed it was owed £313,447.
The cyclist won eight Olympic medals, including five golds
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The company was owned by Wiggins, his former wife Cath and his mother Linda. A spokesman said at the time: “Bradley’s involvement in the companies was not day to day,” and that “this in no way affects Bradley’s personal solvency”.
In 2022, Wiggins was placed in an Individual Voluntary Arrangement, designed to help him pay off creditors. But last year the debt had grown to almost £1 million, with the liquidator reporting in November that the company was owed £760,000 by a director.
Wiggins, 44, of Dolphinholme, Lancaster, was declared bankrupt at Lancaster county court on June 3.
He has previously claimed the financial difficulties are “a very historical matter that involves professional negligence from [others] that has left a s***pile with my name at the front of it to deal with.
“Happens to a lot of sportsmen while they’re doing the grafting and on that there’ll be a number of legal claims from my lawyers left, right and centre as a result.”
Trustees will now be appointed to seize and dispose of Sir Bradley’s assets, which could include medals and trophies. Fellow athlete Boris Becker was ordered to hand over his Wimbledon trophies after his bankruptcy in 2022.
Wiggins was knighted in 2013 after becoming the first man to win Olympic gold and the Tour de France in a single year in 2012
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Paul Rouse, head of client services at the accountancy firm Forvis Mazars, said: “Sir Bradley Wiggins is a British sporting icon, and for him to find himself in this financial position, a decade on from his peak, will be an extremely distressing fall from grace.
“A bankruptcy trustee will be appointed to seize and sell his assets, potentially including medals and trophies of his successful sporting past, as was the case with Boris Becker recently.
“As you would expect, those involved in elite sport are often focussed solely on their primary goals of winning titles and striving for sporting excellence.
“Professionals will surround them to advise on the financial benefits that follow that success, and they would be wise to ensure that their chosen advisors are trustworthy, and that they are safeguarding their client’s long-term position”.
Wiggins was knighted in 2013 after becoming the first man to win Olympic gold and the Tour de France in a single year in 2012.
He has previously described the long shadow that depression has cast over his life.
His father, also a professional cyclist, left home when Wiggins was two and he was brought up by a single mum on a housing estate in Kilburn, north London.
Wiggins retired from cycling in 2016 after allegations, which he denied, that he had crossed an ethical line by taking a drug, albeit for therapeutic reasons. He told The Times in 2021 that he was training to become a doctor.
Wiggins was approached for comment.