Sir Bradley Wiggins reportedly facing bankruptcy over £1 million debts

Sir Bradley Wiggins is reportedly facing bankruptcy over unpaid debts totalling nearly £1 million, although a spokesperson for the five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner says that he disputes the claim.

The 43-year-old entered an Individual Voluntary Agreement (IVA) with his creditors in July 2020, which also says that his company, Wiggins Rights Limited, entered liquidation in September 2022, reports Cycling Weekly.

Documents recently filed at Companies House by liquidators reveal however that Wiggins is yet to repay any of the £979,953 he is said to have agreed to satisfy in relation to a loan made to him while director of that company.

The liquidators do, however, expect to receive £600,695 through the former pro cyclist’s IVA, most of which will reportedly come from the sale of a property he owns in Spain.

But Wiggins also risks losing the trademark rights to his own surname as well as his nickname ‘Wiggo’ which have been put up for sale by liquidators, while the supervisor of his IVA has also issued him with a notice of breach of the terms of that agreement.

In their report, which was originally published in September, liquidators said: “Unfortunately the joint supervisor has informed creditors [that] if the breach is not remedied then the IVA may be terminated.

“In the event the IVA is terminated the director may become subject to bankruptcy proceedings and this would potentially substantially increase the expected timeframe for recovery of the outstanding directors loan account.”

They added that they expected termination of the IVA to be confirmed “within the next few months.”

In response, Wiggins told Cycling Weekly that his lawyers had encountered difficulty in securing documents they had requested.

He confirmed that his money problems had “gone on for a few years now with no apparent end in sight,” and insisted that it was “a very historical matter that involves professional negligence from  [others] that has left a sh*t pile with my name at the front of it to deal with.”

Wiggins added: “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.”

The former Team Sky star shone most brightly in the heady few months of 2012 when, 10 days after becoming the first Briton to pull on the race winner’s yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees podium, he triumphed in the individual time trial at the London Olympics, performances which led to him being named BBC Sports Personality of the Year for 2012.

Since his retirement in 2016, however, he has spoken candidly of the pressures of coming to terms with fame, his struggles with depression and about the break-up of his marriage to his wife Cath, with whom he has two children, Ben and Bella.

> Sir Bradley Wiggins alleges he was groomed by a coach as a teenager

The former, now aged 18, competed for Great Britain in the junior individual time trial at the UCI World Championships in Scotland in August, winning the silver medal, and is set to ride for UCI Continental team Hagens Berman Axeon-Jayco in 2024.