Bradley Wiggins made history as the first British winner of the Tour de France(Image credit: AFP)
(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bradley Wiggins has revealed he watched Lance Armstrong's doping confession with his seven year old son, happy in the knowledge that he will never have to confess to lying to his children about his career.
Wiggins spoke to the media at Team Sky's training camp in Mallorca. He seemed relaxed and happy during a long sit down session with journalists, even when facing questions about teammate Chris Froome.
"Part of me didn’t want to watch it. The fan in me didn’t want that perception of him as an amazing athlete to be broken. Then I watched it with my seven year-old son," Wiggins said with a slightly emotional voice.
"Those initial six question, the yes-no answers, just watching him suddenly cave in after all these years of lying so convincingly, there was a lot of anger, a lot of sadness and I was slightly emotional as well, if I'm honest. It was difficult to watch. My wife couldn't watch it and walked out of the room."
Wiggins was angry for the damage Armstrong's doping has done to cycling. Yet he explained that he also had a moment of pride, when he realised he will never have to go through the same terrible moment with his son.
"It's heart breaking for the sport and then the anger kicks in. (I felt) What a fucking arsehole! I felt all the natural things that most people watching it felt," Wiggins said.
"It was difficult. Then I had to explain it my son because he'd won the same race his dad had won. But by the end of the hour and a half, I had the best feeling in the world (slapping the palm of his hands together).
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"When he started welling up about his 13 year-old son, and him asking what's all this about. I never have to have that conversation with my own son. His father's won the Tour clean and there's this element of being quite smug about the whole thing."
"Then I got quite: 'You deserve everything you got.' So within two hours of watching the whole thing, the emotions were up and down. By the end I didn’t feel any sympathy for at all."
During his interview with Oprah Winfrey, Armstrong insisted that he didn’t dope when he made is comeback in 2009, saying he had promised is former wife Kristin that he would 'not cross the line'. Wiggins said he didn’t believe him, recalling moments from when they raced shoulder to shoulder at the Tour de France.
"The thing which upset me the most was about 2009 and 2010. I thought: 'You lying bastard'." Wiggins said.
"I can remember going toe to toe with him and watching his body language and watching the man I saw at the top of the Verbier in 2009, to the man I saw at the top of the Ventoux, a week later in dope control together. It wasn't the same bike rider… Just watch the videos of how the guy was riding. I don’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore."
Stephen is one of the most experienced members of the Cyclingnews team, having reported on professional cycling since 1994. Before becoming Editor-at-large, he was Head of News at Cyclingnews. He has previously worked for Shift Active Media, Reuters and Cycling Weekly. He is a member of the Board of the Association Internationale des Journalistes du Cyclisme (AIJC).
