Sir Bradley Wiggins’ unpaid debts double to almost £2 million, as five-time Olympic champion’s bankruptcy woes continue

Sir Bradley Wiggins’ unpaid debts have increased to almost £2 million, more than doubling from the amount it was thought he previously owed, with the five-time Olympic champion and 2012 Tour de France winner’s financial woes expected to continue for the next two years, according to a recent bankruptcy report filed by joint liquidators.

Last November, it was reported that the Wiggins was facing bankruptcy over unpaid debts totalling to £979,953, owing to loans made by him as the director of his company Wiggins Rights Limited.

However, this new information, revealed in a filing made at Companies House earlier this month after additional claims made by creditors, would indicate that his initial debts were severely underestimated.

The news comes as another blow to the beleaguered British cyclist who retired in 2016 after a glittering professional career with Team Sky which reached its zenith in 2012, as Wiggins became the first Briton to pull on the race winner’s yellow jersey on the Champs-Elysees podium and then won a gold medal at the London Olympics.

In June, he was officially declared bankrupt, with trustees expected to seize and dispose of Sir Bradley’s assets — including his medals and ­trophies.

> Sir Bradley Wiggins' medals and trophies set to be seized after being declared bankrupt

Now, according to the progress report filed by the joint liquidators, the previous Individual Voluntary Agreement made by Wiggins on behalf of his company for a claim of £979,953 has been terminated following the granting of the bankruptcy petition, and instead a “revised uplifted” claim of £1,976,157 — more than double the initial amount — has been filed under the proceedings.

The liquidator also noted: “The Liquidation will remain open until the Intellectual Property Rights have been sold and the Director’s Bankruptcy proceedings have been finalised

“I estimate that this will take approximately twenty-four months and once resolved the Liquidation will be finalised and our files will be closed.”

Following his bankruptcy declaration, Wiggins’ lawyer spoke of the miseries experienced by the former BBC Sports Personality of the Year, which had left him homeless and without a penny. 

“In reality, Brad is sofa-surfing. He stays with friends and family. I don’t know where he stayed last night, I don’t know where he will stay tonight or tomorrow night. He doesn’t have an address... It is a total mess," said barrister Alan Sellers, head of sports law at Liverpool solicitors Bond Turner. 

“He has lost absolutely everything. His family home, his home in Majorca, his savings and investments. He doesn’t have a penny. It’s a very sad state of affairs.”

Sellers added that the former Hour Record holder rider, who was also an integral part of the Team Sky squad that would begin the domination of world cycling for years to come, was left "embarrassed". He said: "I've said to Bradley that 'what you’ve achieved can never be taken away from you. Life will be better when you’re debt free. And you’ve still got the support of the public’.”

>  Bradley Wiggins slams “sofa surfing” reports as “sensationalism” and explains bankruptcy “mess” in candid Lance Armstrong interview

According to the initial reports, Wiggins, who was reportedly worth £13 million as recently as 2017, had a long list of varied creditors, ranging from HM Revenue and Customs to a 25-year-old former rider with Team Wiggins, the cycling outfit he set up to nurture young talent, who is claiming an unpaid sum of £583.

Wiggins ahead of stage two of the 2015 Tour de Yorkshire (Alex Whitehead/SWpix.com)

Wiggins joins a long list of sports personalities, including tennis star Boris Becker and boxer Joe Louis, who have reportedly been let down on the financial side by their advisers and consultants, with Sellers saying that he has been hard done by their errors.

He said: “There seems to be this army of so-called advisers who quite frankly rip these people off. And they are so busy being sportsmen that when it comes to their financial affairs, they just get shafted. That’s what happened to Brad."

Wiggins had 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.

“[This] 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.”

> Brad’s back on his bike! Wiggins says he’s “a little bit nervous” as he gets ready to cycle for the first time “in nearly three years” during 50-mile meet and greet ride

In August, Wiggins finally broke his silence on his financial ordeals in a candid interview with Lance Armstrong, telling him that he was taken advantage of and was unaware of the severity of his issues until he had retired.

“One of the things I regret is I never paid attention to my financial affairs when I was racing,” he said. “You asked before if I’d got any money for riding the Giro [in 2013, after winning the Tour the previous year], and I didn’t. Because I always assumed money would be there forever, that I’d always have a value that people would pay for.

“I never did the sport for the money, but I realise I should have paid more attention to it. Because you get to the point where I am in this situation now, because of the mess that’s been created, and because it’s been rumbling on for quite a few years now – this hasn’t just happened overnight. It’s now in the hands of receivers, who can go through everything.

“Because I was getting ripped off left, right, and centre by the people looking after me, accountants as well. Which is one of the things that happens to athletes you know, you make a lot of money and if you haven’t got your eyes on it, people take advantage.

“And this will all come out in the wash over the next few years, it’s just going to be a hell of a headache to get right.”