Bradley Wiggins has revealed that he is travelling to the United States for an intensive week of trauma counselling — a visit to a Utah clinic funded by Lance Armstrong.Speaking during a promotional event for his new autobiography The Chain, Wiggins said he was preparing to fly to America “on Friday” to begin therapy at a specialist centre, with the cost covered by Armstrong. The pair have grown increasingly close in recent years, with the American former Tour de France winner having offered Wiggins what he described as “a platform which doesn’t involve me getting on a bike.”“I’m off to America on Friday,” Wiggins said, as quoted by The Telegraph. “He [Armstrong] has paid for me to go and see a top trauma counselling clinic in Utah, so I’m looking forward to that. He’s offered me a role back in cycling, a platform which doesn’t involve me getting on a bike.”
Wiggins credits Armstrong as a source of support
The 2012 Tour de France champion has spoken candidly in recent months about his experiences of childhood sexual abuse and his battles with cocaine addiction — subjects that are central to his new book. Through it all, he said, Armstrong has become a figure of strength and guidance.
“He’s been a great strength to me and a great inspiration to me, and it’s on a human level,” Wiggins told the BBC earlier this year. “Lance has been very, very good to me… You can only take someone how they treat you, and Lance has been a constant source of help and one of the main factors why I’m in this position I am today mentally and physically.”
The Briton first discussed the idea of therapy back in April, telling L’Équipe that Armstrong had recommended a course that had “changed his life.” “He told me that this therapy had changed his life,” Wiggins said. “It lasts a week — you spend ten hours a day in a room, without a phone, without anything. I don’t know what awaits me. We’ll see.”
Wiggins has been open and honest about his struggles
Armstrong’s growing role as mentor figure
Armstrong, banned for life from professional cycling and stripped of his seven Tour titles, has sought to re-establish himself in recent years through his The Move podcast and by helping others within the sport. He notably supported Jan Ullrich through his own addiction and mental-health battles, with the German later crediting Armstrong for “bringing him back to life.”
Now, a decade after both men fell from grace in very different ways, Armstrong is again extending that sense of solidarity — this time towards a Tour de France successor who is working to rebuild himself away from the spotlight.