Victoria Pendleton's tattoo tribute to late twin as she talks 'moving forward'

06 October 2023 , 19:01

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Victoria Pendleton's tattoo tribute to late twin as she talks 'moving forward'

Victoria Pendleton is quite literally carrying her late twin close to her heart as she prepares to take on a daunting physical challenge in aid of Stand Up To Cancer.

The Olympic champion cyclist, 43, recently had a huge anatomical heart with her late sibling's name inked across her chest in honour of her beloved twin Alex Pendleton following his untimely death a few months ago. Alex was just 42-years-old when he sadly passed away following "an epic battle against an aggressive brain tumour."

Victoria was flooded with support when she announced the heartbreaking news in June, with the sports star seemingly retreating from the spotlight and taking a deserved break from her career. However, the former track cyclist is ready to take on the world again and live life to the fullest in honour of her late twin.

Victoria Pendleton and her twin brother Alex, who sadly passed from cancer in June (Instagram/victorilou)

Alongside hosted and team leader Paddy McGuinness, Victoria will be one of the brave celebrities tasked with tackling a never-before-attempted feat: highwire walking across a yet-to-be-revealed iconic London landmark. The Stand Up To Cancer challenge saw Victoria recently join stars like Pussycat Doll Kimberly Wyatt and and Love Island finalist Chris Hughes spend several weeks training in Austria in a bid to try to master the vertigo-inducing skill, with their progress captured on Channel 4 cameras for a special series called Don't Look Down.

"I needed to do something, get back into the swing of things and it was the perfect opportunity coming around at the perfect time," Victoria said when explaining why she agreed to the challenge. "I feel very fortunate. It came to me pretty late – I think they were thinking I wouldn’t necessarily be interested in doing something so soon, and I was like, 'Actually, no, I think it sounds really interesting'."

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Speaking exclusively to the Mirror last month, Victoria touched on how therapeutic the experience was and shared how it was the first job she agreed to following the death of her twin brother. The cycling champion recalled during the final months of her sibling's life, she was hesitant to take on any projects in order to put Alex first.

"I think I found it really therapeutic," Victoria mused when looking back on her time training in Austria. "First of all, having something to focus on and to put my energy into learning a new skill, alongside getting to know new people [was great]. It was really it was really nice experience."

The star-studded line-up for the Channel 4 challenge (channel 4)

Moving on to discuss her grief, Victoria continued: "It definitely helped give me some kind of focus to do something constructive because I haven't really accepted any projects over the last couple of years because Alex was ill and then it came on quite suddenly. We didn't know how long he had left and if anything happened, I wanted to be able to drop everything and go home. Like, without having to make my excuses or apologies or leave.

"So I've been very reluctant to get involved with anything for a long time because he comes first and I didn't want to let anyone else down. So for me, it was really nice to take that first step out back getting involved with a project or a show or something. And it was for such a great cause, Stand Up to Cancer.

"I thought, you know, he'd want me to do this. Alex would always be the one encouraging me to get involved in, give it a go. He wouldn't have wanted to get on the highwire himself but he'd be like, 'you can do it, you want to do it, you go and I'll support you.' He was always very encouraging and one of my biggest supporters and fans throughout my entire athletic career.

"So for me, I know that he'd want me to get out and do something and there's nothing I wouldn't do for him. I think it came around at the right time for me to sort of get involved and because I was in such a supportive and understanding group that definitely helped. I feel very lucky to have been with such a great group of individuals, thoughtful individuals, and yeah, being in the mountains as well. It was so beautiful and so peaceful, that it gave me time to sort of, I don't know, reconnect."

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Alex will be close to Victoria's heart quite literally when she takes on TV’s scariest challenge show in aid of Stand Up to Cancer later this month. As she opened up to how life has changed since Alex's death, the former Strictly Come Dancing contestant unveiled a beautiful tattoo tribute to her late brother inked across her chest.

"[Losing a loved one] puts everything in perspective and really makes you appreciate how precious life is," Victoria told us last month. "Honestly, I don’t want to say that life is short, because hopefully lots of us will live long, happy and healthy lives, but life is so precious.

"I think you've got to take every opportunity and experience as much as you can, when you can. That's how I want to move on and be forever because Alex doesn't have that luxury, but I do. That's important to me, that's really important to me. I hope he can see it through my eyes in some ways - I don't know. He'll always be with me like close to my heart and tattooed on it now."

At this point during our interview, Victoria shows us the beautiful and intricate inking across her chest, revealing she had the anatomical heart bearing Alex's name etched on her "like literally a week before I left Austria."

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"I know that he would want me to move on, he would have he would definitely not want me being sad - he was always so positive and so optimistic even to the end, knowing full well that, you know, there was nothing that anyone could do about it," Victoria remembered when discussing Alex.

"He never wanted us to worry about him, or to be sad about him, so moving forward is definitely what he would have wanted. I hope he's very proud."

Don’t Look Down on Channel 4, stream and watch live from Tuesday 10th October at 9.15pm

Zoe Delaney