British Olympic cycling legend Sir Bradley Wiggins and wife Cath announce they are separating after 16 years of marriage
CYCLING legend Sir Bradley Wiggins and his wife Cath have announced they are separating after sixteen years of marriage.
The British Olympic star tweeted the sad news of the split last night and said their two children remained "a priority".
Sir Bradley tweeted: "It is with deep sadness my wife Cath and I have decided to separate. Our two children remain our priority and we ask for privacy at this time. Brad & Cath."
The couple, who first met in 1997, have two children together and live in a plush 1970s barn conversion in the scenic Trough of Boland, north of Preston.
The cycling star enjoyed huge success in his sporting career, bursting into the limelight after becoming the first Brit to win the Tour de France in 2012.
In 2016, he won gold at the Rio Olympics and became Britain's most decorated Olympian with eight medals at the tournament.
'LIVING HELL'
But in 2018, doping allegations were made against him which he said put a huge strain on his marriage - forcing his wife to check into rehab.
The allegations were dropped after UK Anti-Doping were unable to find evidence that Wiggins possessed any banned substances after 14 months of investigation.
He told the Guardian the investigation had made his life a "living hell".
He said: "People have free rein to put their own facts in place. Kids read headlines and their parents say things about you.
"The whole thing becomes an uncontrolled trial by media. In any other court it would be thrown out because the media have skewed the facts.
"You watch your family suffer, and it's terrible. It nearly killed my wife. She ended up in rehab over it. I'm at home having to deal with it."
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Sir Bradley is now studying to be a social worker after moving on from his cycling career.
He told the Big Issue in 2019: "I don't give a s**t about my cycling career now, I'm just detached from it, I don't want to live off the back of it."
The cyclist was knighted in 2013, and also won BBC Sports Personality of the Year the year before.
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