2012 Tour de France winner Sir Bradley Wiggins has announced the first official details about Team Wiggins, a new cycling team sponsored by Sky with the British Olympian at the helm.
The new team has been set up to help Wiggins meet his goal of winning gold on the track at the Rio Olympics in 2016, reflected in a squad that includes fellow team pursuiters Steven Burke, Mark Christian, Jon Dibben, Owain Doull and Andy Tennant. Wiggins currently has seven Olympic medals, equal with Chris Hoy, and has a chance to become Britain's most decorated Olympian should he add to that tally in Rio.
"Our ultimate goal is winning the team pursuit in Rio," Wiggins said. "It's to facilitate everything we need for the track programme. The team is track-based and we have got a lot of the guys from the track programme in there so that we can stay and race and train together all year round. We can get exactly what we need in terms of achieving the end goal, which is winning the team pursuit in Rio."
Wiggins recently signed a short extension to his contract with Team Sky up to the end of April 2015, allowing him one final fling at his ambition of winning Paris-Roubaix on 12 April. He will transfer to the new team in May, where he will take on the Hour Record in June - most likely in London's Olympic Velodrome - before focusing on the 2016 Rio Olympics.
Wiggins - the team - has been granted a continental licence by the UCI and is expected to compete abroad as well as in domestic events including the Tour of Britain, the Tour de Yorkshire and RideLondon. The team's race calendar as well as details of bikes, team kit and suppliers will be unveiled in spring this year, according to a news release, with Rapha and Pinarello rumoured to be on board.
"Cycling has given me everything," said Wiggins. "Now I want to build something to inspire kids and to reach all those people who might be on the fringes of the sport. We've seen cycling grow in popularity over the years and I want Wiggins to inspire a new generation of cyclists."
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