Bradley Wiggins winds up two cycling firms with £1m-plus debts

Bradley Wiggins has wound up two of his companies with debts of more than £1m after the failure of his defunct Team Wiggins team.

A report in Cycling Weekly revealed Wiggins Rights Ltd, the company set up to “exploit Wiggins’s name and image rights”, has entered liquidation with debts of more than £650,000. New Team Cycling Ltd, which was used to run Team Wiggins between 2015 and 2019, is also being liquidated – with debts of £587,008.

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The biggest creditor to Wiggins Rights Ltd is HM Revenue and Customs, which is owed £272,360. New Team Cycling Ltd owes HMRC £57,344. Meanwhile, 101 Ride Ltd, which is controlled by Wiggins Rights Ltd and in turn owns New Team Cycling Ltd, is owed £238,000.

It is understood Wiggins spent a significant amount of his own money propping up the team, which aimed to give young riders a pathway into professional cycling – but the venture proved unsustainable given the lack of commercial partners.

A spokesman confirmed Wiggins is still solvent and is working with HMRC. “Whilst the closure of both businesses is regretful, it must be made clear that Bradley’s involvement was not day to day,” they said.

“Experienced professionals were trusted to run both the financial and operational elements of the businesses. It must also be made clear that an investigation into lost assets is still under way. For clarity this in no way affects Bradley’s personal solvency.”

In July, the high court in London dismissed a bankruptcy petition brought against Wiggins by HMRC with the consent of the tax office. In a five-minute hearing, judge Daniel Schaffer explained how Wiggins’s lawyers had met representatives from HMRC to come up with a solution.

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