'Team Sky chucked me under a bus' – Bradley Wiggins on doping allegations

Sir Bradley Wiggins has said that Team Sky "chucked him under a bus" in relation to doping accusations.

The former Tour de France winner was speaking to The Times ahead of the publication of his new book, The Chain.

"There was something greater going on. [Sky] chucked me under a bus," Wiggins said. "It'll come out."

The still-unresolved 'jiffy-gate' scandal clouded Wiggins' achievements post-retirement, which included Tour glory and five Olympic gold medals.

An investigation was launched into whether a package allegedly received by former Team Sky doctor Richard Freeman for Wiggins at the Critérium du Dauphiné in 2011 contained a legal decongestant, or a banned drug.

A subsequent 14-month inquiry brought few answers but left questions for all involved, including the team's then principal, Sir Dave Brailsford. Brailsford told the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committee in 2018 that the package contained Fluimucil. Questions were also raised over the team's and Wiggins's use of therapeutic use exemptions, or TUEs.

The committee wrote in their report: "We believe that drugs were being used by Team Sky, within the WADA rules, to enhance the performance of riders, and not just to treat medical need."

Separately, Freeman received a four-year doping ban for his role in ordering banned substances to British Cycling's HQ in 2011.

Wiggins told Cycling Weekly earlier this year: "I would love to know one way or another what actually happened. The whole story was that it was delivered to me [personally]. I was on the podium at the end of the Dauphiné, and it was made to sound like I got delivered a package."

The 45-year-old also talked of his cocaine addiction, which he speaks about in his book, as well as being the victim of abuse. He revealed in 2022 that he had been groomed and sexually abused by his coach when he was 13.

On his addiction, Wiggins writes in The Chain: "Hundreds of thousands of people roaring me on, millions more watching at home. One of the great moments of London 2012, and there I am in a wardrobe, snorting cocaine [off my gold medal], mocking my achievement, hating it for what I believed it had brought me.

"It was the equivalent of pissing on someone's grave, and in that moment, I was pissing on my own. The gold medal, the Tour de France… All of it was dead to me. The person I'd been in Paris and London was dead to me, too."

He is in the 'apology and accountability' phase of Narcotics Anonymous now, which is behind the book, and revealed that he has also stopped drinking. He has written about his drinking habits before, including in In Pursuit of Glory, his first book.

"If I had three pints now and then someone put a line in front of me, I would probably… Well, I don't know. But I don't drink any more," Wiggins said. "I could go for a month, you know, and not … And then it could just hit me like a fucking brick."

"Gym [helps]. I go every day. I have a daily routine that starts at 6.15. I've made my bed by seven. Immaculate. And I plan my meals for the day. I live like I'm a professional athlete."

The Londoner has also bounced back from his high-profile bankruptcy; he told The Times that he is "out of bankruptcy, with more work than I can cope with".

Wiggins said: "I’m earning more money than I’ve earned in the past six years. I’ve got my own house. I’m not homeless any more. A year ago, I was homeless."