Former Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins has opened up about the pain that he went through when his drug-dealer father "abandoned" him when he was a baby.
The Olympic champion's father Gary Wiggins, who was also a professional cyclist, was from Australia originally, and he opted to return to his homeland when his son was just 18 months old.
Wiggins, who is married and has children of his own, has revealed that he travelled Down Under when he was 18 years old to meet his father, but admits that he will never forgive him for leaving him and his mother Linda in the manner that he did.
In an interview with Radio Four's Desert Island Discs, Wiggins said: "He was living in a caravan park and didn't have a lot to his name - he was banned from driving, every now and again he'd just go off on one and drink himself into a stupor. He abandoned us. It's never left me and it will continue to stay with me for the rest of my life.
"It dawned when I had my own - not only 'how could you leave and not have any contact or wonder at some stage what he's up to?' but for my mother as well, just leaving without any word, or money. I don't think I'll ever get over that, really."
In 2008, Wiggins discovered that his father had been murdered at the age of 55 after he was found unconscious next to a road in the Hunter Valley region of New South Wales.
Danielle Joynson
