Armstrong steps in again: Wiggins heads to top US trauma clinic — while his friend pays the full bill

Sir Bradley Wiggins has spoken candidly about his mental health struggles since retiring. Stories of (sexual) abuse, alcohol and drugs marked the most difficult years of his life, but thanks in part to a friendship with Lance Armstrong, the 2012 Tour winner began to climb out of that hole. The Texan is still extending a helping hand to the former Olympic champ.

Wiggins has fallen on hard times in recent years. He lost his spot as a TV analyst and ran into serious financial trouble: he even found himself briefly without a home and facing debts of around €2.5 million. That set him on the wrong path, with alcohol and drugs centre stage. "I became a functioning addict," he said not long ago.

his drug problems have been around for years. He even recalls snorting cocaine off his Olympic gold medal, and suffering from anger outbursts. "I raged as I smashed up my 2012 trophy for Sports Personality of the Year and my knighthood. I did that in front of my kids. No wonder there were times when they talked about trying to put me in rehab."

Wiggins had grown sick of cycling — and of life. But Armstrong offered support, and that helped steer him the right way. "He’s been one of my biggest supporters over the past twelve months. He inspired me to stop drinking and get my life back on track. He’s been a gift from heaven.”

Wiggins admits he’s still working to stay on the straight and narrow — and the American star continues to help. He tells the Daily Mail that he will go to one of the best rehabilitation clinics in the United States, with Armstrong footing the entire bill. "I'm off to America on Friday," he says.

At the clinic, the focus will be on processing the traumas that have shaped Wiggins’s life. As a young rider, he was abused by a coach. That experience left a lasting mark on the British legend, who will now continue to work on this in the United States.