Sir Bradley Wiggins: My kids had to move school due to bullying and drugs taunts
Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he had to move his children to a new school because of harassment following his Tour de France win and the Lance Armstrong drug revelations.
The Lance Armstrong thing in January... my kids started getting harassed at school. 'Is your dad on drugs?'
In 2012, the Team Sky rider became the first British winner of the Tour, several months before United States rider Armstrong was stripped of his seven titles after finally admitting he had doped extensively throughout all of those wins.
Wiggins admitted his two children, Ben and Isabella, had suffered "horrendous" bullying due to Armstrong's admissions and his own increased profile, notably through playground taunts over drug use in cycling.
"That [Tour win] changed everything," Wiggins told national newspapers. "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?'
"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. But a year on, it feels like a complete contrast. I feel much more comfortable in my own shoes now."