The Olympic Games team pursuit may be Sir Bradley Wiggins’s main focus in 2016, but the former Team Sky man will race on the road at the Amgen Tour of California in May, it has been revealed.
Wiggins will take members of his eponymous team over to the race next year, returning to the scene of his last stage race win for Sky, back in 2014.
The race departs from San Diego on May 15, culminating in Sacramento eight days later, with an individual time trial set to take place on stage six in Folsom – the location of Wiggins’s blistering ride against the clock in 2014.
“The Amgen Tour of California brings the perfect combination of stellar competition, amazing scenery and superior organisation,” said Wiggins. “I look forward to returning to the Amgen Tour of California with Team Wiggins to once again take on the top competitors in the sport.”
Wiggins beat BMC’s Rohan Dennis, then riding for Garmin Sharp, by 44 seconds in the 20km time trial on stage two in 2014 and held a 30-second gap over the Australian by the finish line in Thousand Oaks – a stage won by Mark Cavendish.
Peter Sagan won a thrilling 2015 edition of the race, pipping Etixx-Quick Step’s Julian Alaphilippe by just three seconds, sealed by picking up bonus seconds in the final stage in Los Angeles.
The Slovak will likely be back to defend his title again in 2016, having picked up 13 Tour of California stage wins in the last six seasons.
