He was Britain’s most decorated Olympian and the only cyclist to have ever won the World and Olympic championships, as well as the Tour de France.
But for all the titles, gold medals, yellow jerseys, a knighthood and an accumulated £13million fortune, Sir Bradley Wiggins has two achievements that will never falter to make him smile: his children Isabella, 18 and Ben, 19.
For it is they who helped the sporting legend navigate his rockiest road yet.
Not only has 2024 seen their father declared bankrupt, but just a few months ago ‘Sir Wiggo’, who originally hails from north London, admitted he had nowhere to live.
Those major life events came off the back of the breakdown of his seemingly solid marriage to Cath, a child with a new partner from whom he has since separated, and the stain of a drug scandal from which, despite his vehement denial, the 44-year-old sporting icon never quite recovered.
There were also the moments of self-doubt, depression and revelation that he was sexually abused as a teenager.
Through it all, his children ‘never once doubted their dad’, says Cath, neither as an athlete or as a doting father – and last night the proof was there for all the world to see.
Arriving at the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards, Wiggins was proudly flanked by a glamorously-dressed Isabella and a smartly-suited Ben, who has inherited his family’s prowess for cycling.
For all his titles and medals, Sir Bradley Wiggins has two achievements that will never falter to make him smile: his children Isabella, 18 and Ben, 19. Pictured: The doting father was flanked by the teenagers at last night’s BBC Sports Personality of the Year
The youngsters are credited with helping the sporting legend navigate his rockiest road yet, with 2024 seeing ‘Sir Wiggo’ experience bankruptcy and homelessness
The children were thrust into the limelight after their father became the first British cyclist to win the Tour de France in 2012
It was a tender moment of family solidarity for the cycling legend, who acknowledges the price his children have paid for a father that has rarely been out the public eye since he shot to fame – and again as he battled personal demons, controversy and financial strife.
Isabella and Ben were just youngsters at primary school when Wiggins became a household name as the first British winner of the Tour de France in 2012.
The talented cyclist was then named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 2013 and was knighted in the New Year’s Honours list that year.
But what should have been a moment of bursting pride for the children became a nightmare after they both suffered ‘horrendous’ bullying in the playground and cruel taunts that their father had taken banned substances to win.
Wiggins’ historic victory came just before US rider Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles after admitting he had doped extensively throughout all of those wins.
The cyclist revealed he was forced to move his children to a new school because of their harassment.
Wiggins, who became as well known for his long sideburns and irreverent style as for his sporting prowess, later explained: ‘That [Tour win] changed everything. I left home pretty much unknown and came home the most famous man in the country for that week.
‘It was hard for me and the family. It affected them as well. The Lance Armstrong thing in January… my kids started getting harassed at school. ‘Is your dad on drugs? He won the Tour. Is he the same as Lance Armstrong?’
What should have been a moment of bursting pride for the children became a nightmare after they both suffered ‘horrendous’ bullying at school. Pictured: Isabella and Ben with their father at the 2012 Tour de France
Wiggins received a knighthood in 2013 was plagued by feelings of self-doubt and imposter syndrome – and later smashed up the accolade in front of his children
‘Horrendous stuff. Horrible. My son getting bullied at school. I had to move my kids from that school and move them to another school.
‘I felt responsible for that and it all added to my unhappiness at the time.’
The expectation to be a good parent to his children weighed heavily on Wiggins – perhaps all the more so because of his own conflicted relationship with his father.
Gary Wiggins was an Australian professional cyclist who specialised in six-day racing. He was also violent towards his wife, Linda, an alcoholic and a drug abuser who walked out on the family when Wiggins was just an 18-month-old baby.
Wiggins largely grew up without knowing his father, but when his cycling career took off aged 19, Gary walked back into his life.
He is said to have cruelly told his son, despite their apparent reconciliation: ‘You’ll never be as good as your old man.’
Gary was murdered in unexplained circumstances in Australia, the country of his birth, in 2008.
Despite his ill treatment, Wiggins later poignantly reflected: ‘I wished he had been around.’
Cycling success: Wiggins pictured at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing during a training session
Going for gold: Wiggins proudly holds up his medal at the Rio 2016 Olympics, alongside his ex-wife Cat
He made the admission in 2022 during a candid interview with Alastair Campbell, in which he revealed the insecurities he had experienced as a youngster without a father.
It was also the first time he divulged being sexually abused by a coach at the Archer Road Club in west London.
Stan Knight, now dead, abused Wiggins from the ages of 13 to 16.
Reflecting on that difficult time, Wiggins said of his father’s absence at such a time: ‘He was quite a violent man but weirdly, when you’re a kid, you want someone to stand up for you and I felt like I’d been bullied, that this had all happened because I didn’t have a dad in my life.
‘People saw a vulnerability there.’
That vulnerability lasted well into his adulthood and was witnessed first-hand by his children, he admits.
Struggling with his own self-worth and imposter syndrome, at one point Wiggins took his most coveted trophies and destroyed them in front of Ben and Isabella.
Speaking on The Bradley Wiggins Show Podcast in 2019, he said: ‘I smashed my Sports Personality trophy, I smashed my knighthood in front of my kids and chucked them in the flower bed to make a point to them.
Doting father: Wiggins pictured with his son Ben at the end of the 2012 Tour de France race
‘I wanted to show them that it’s not the material items that we now polish on the mantelpiece for the rest of our lives to elevate dad in our household as something special.’
Then in 2016, Wiggins became embroiled in an anti-doping investigation over the contents of a Jiffy bag delivered to him in France in 2011.
He vehemently denied any wrongdoing and continues to protest his innocence.
In November 2017, the investigation found insufficient evidence the bag had contained a banned substance, but the cloud of the allegation never entirely dissipated.
When he later struggled with depression amidst the loss of his cycling career, lucrative sponsorship deals, and a looming bankruptcy hearing, it was Ben who helped his father through.
Speaking on The High Performance Podcast, Wiggins credited his son, a promising cyclist who was last year crowned junior world champion in the Madison, with saving his life.
He said: ‘There were some really extreme moments. Probably the last one was about a year ago without going into too much detail.
‘But I was in a very dark place in a very dark room for many days, and it was a hotel, and my son actually was the one who kind of intervened and made me realise, recognise the self-destructive mode I was in.
‘There were a lot of reasons for that.’
Wiggins will be the first to admit this year has seen him face the toughest of trials, but through it all – and despite his own lack of self-belief – his children still stand proudly by his side, as does his ex-wife Cath.
To them, he always be Sir Wiggins, doting father and sporting hero.
‘I’ve no doubt whatsoever in his integrity as an athlete, none whatsoever,’ reflected Cath poignantly in an interview earlier this year.
‘Nor did the children. They never once doubted their dad.’