Bradley Wiggins: ‘I’d have had more rights as a murderer … I only asked for a fair trial’ | Donald McRae

The former cyclist says doping allegations have devastated his family life but cannot taint his love for the sport and reveals he still talks to Lance Armstrong but not Dave Brailsford

“People ask me now, ‘Are you Bradley Wiggins?’ and I always say, ‘I used to be,’” the former cyclist explains with a painful little smile as his famous old name slips from his mouth. “It’s funny because I do it to everyone in this book. When I met Miguel Induráin he got embarrassed. I don’t like it when people do it to me. I say, ‘I’ve moved on. He’s gone now, that person.’”

The book is called Icons. It’s rather beautiful and an intriguing blend of cycling history and personal snippets which offer insight into Wiggins’ contradictions. The “proper nerd” he used to be, as a cycling-obsessed teenager living on a Kilburn council estate, shines through some endearing pages about the bike riders who consumed him when he fell for a brutal and complicated sport.

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