Cycling legend Bradley Wiggins: "I ended up snorting cocaine on top of my hard-earned Olympic gold medal."

Bradley Wiggins, Tour de France winner and British cycling legend, has published The Chain , an autobiography in which he opens up about the toughest moments of his life , which for many years was linked to cocaine use, sexual abuse...

The former cyclist, who has eight Olympic medals to his name, harshly admits: "I came to hate my medals. One day I ended up snorting cocaine on top of the Olympic gold I had worked so hard to win."

He also reveals the difficult adolescence he endured, tormented by the sexual abuse he suffered between the ages of 13 and 16 at the hands of his coach, Stan Knight. "He was the first adult who made me feel worthwhile, although he was also the one who stole my innocence ," he says.

Although she suffered such abuse from Knight, who died in 2003, she also considers him key to her professional success: " The confidence he gave me was also what took me to the top. It's hard to accept, but without him I might never have gotten so far."

Another person with whom he suffered greatly was his father, Gary Wiggings, also a former professional cyclist and alcoholic who abandoned his family and died under mysterious circumstances in 2008 in Australia.

" It was murder, there's no doubt about it. And, as terrible as it sounds, I felt relieved. It was like I was freed. Still, he's still my hero. I'm made of him, for better or worse," Bradley recounts.

Regarding episodes from his cycling career, Wiggins addresses his feud with Dave Brailsford, former director of Team Sky , the team with which he won the Tour in 2012.

"I thought we were like brothers, but I realized I was expendable. When I most needed support, they left me alone ," laments the Olympic medalist.

He also experienced another controversial moment at Sky when, during the 2011 Tour de France, doping suspicions arose following a mysterious package the team received, an incident he considers "a bullet used to finish me off."

He now considers all these episodes, which he shares in his autobiography, to be in the past and celebrates his current situation. " Everything is resolved. I'm in a good place. Those responsible for my downfalls are paying the price, and I'm finally back on my feet," he says.