Team Sky – As it happens
Team Sky is set to compete for the first time in January 2010. The Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, will be the first race for the British-backed pro team.
Find all the latest Team Sky news, gossip and rumours here. Scroll down to find out who's in Team Sky, who owns the team and our week-by-week guide to the latest developments.
TEAM SKY'S BEST RESULTS
1st
Greg Henderson - Cancer Council Classic (Jan 17)
Chris Sutton - Tour Down Under stage 6 (Jan 24)
Team Sky - Tour of Qatar stage 1 team time trial (Feb 7)
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Oman stage 3 (Feb 16)
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Oman stage 6 TT (Feb 19)
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Juan Antonio Flecha - Omloop Het Nieuwsblad (Feb 27)
Greg Henderson - Paris-Nice stage 1Mar 8)
Edvald Boasson Hagen – Tirreno-Adriatico stage 7 (Mar 25)
Russell Downing – Criterium Int. stage 2 (Mar 28)
Bradley Wiggins – Giro d'Italia stage 1 TT (May 8)
Ben Swift – Tour of Picardie stage 2 (May 15)
Ben Swift – Tour of Picardie overall (May 16)
2nd
Chris Sutton - Cancer Council Classic (Jan 17)
Greg Henderson - Tour Down Under stage 2 (Jan 20)
Greg Henderson - Tour Down Under stage 6 (Jan 24)
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Oman stage 1 (Feb 14)
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Oman overall classification
Bradley Wiggins - Ruta del Sol stage 4 TT (Feb 24)
Simon Gerrans - Ruta del Sol stage 5 (Feb 25)
Thomas Löfkvist - Montepaschi Strade Bianche (Mar 6)
Team Sky – Giro d'Italia stage 4 TTT (May 12)
Ben Swift – Tour of Picardie stage 1 (May 14)
Greg Henderson – Giro d'Italia stage 13 (May 21)
3rd
Greg Henderson - Tour Down Under overall classification
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Qatar stage 5 (Feb 11)
Edvald Boasson Hagen - Tour of Qatar stage 5 (Feb 15)
Simon Gerrans - Ruta del Sol stage 3 (Feb 23)
Ian Stannard - Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne (Feb 28)
Bradley Wiggins – Tour of Murcia time trial stage 4 (Mar 6)
Bradley Wiggins - Tour of Murcia overall classification (Mar 7)
Juan Antonio Flecha – GP E3 Harelbeke (Mar 27)
Juan Antonio Flecha – Paris-Roubaix (Apr 11)
Russell Downing – Tour of Picardie stage 2 (May 15)
AS IT HAPPENS
March 2010
Mar 7 After finishing a solid third in the previous day's time trial stage, Bradley Wiggins defended his third place overall in the Tour of Murcia to take his first podium position of the season.
Mar 6 Swedish rider Thomas Löfkvist puts up a fine defence of his title at the Montepaschi Strade Bianche in Tuscany, Italy. The race, held on the white dust roads of the region was won by Maxim Iglinskiy. In the same race, Peter Kennaugh crashed and broke his collarbone.
February 2010
Feb 28 Ian Stannard takes third place behind two Dutch riders, Traksel and Flens, in the Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne race, held in horrible conditions in Belgium.
Feb 27 Juan Antonio Flecha, Sky's Spanish rider, takes the team's biggest win so far by soloing to a superb victory in the Omloop Het Nieuwsblad, a one-day race that starts and finishes in Ghent, Belgium.
Feb 24 Bradley Wiggins takes second behind Dane Alex Rasmussen in the 10km time trial stage of the Ruta del Sol (Tour of Andalusia) in southern Spain.
Feb 21 Chris Froome takes ninth place overall in the two-day Tour du Haut Var in southern France.
Feb 17 Russell Downing is drafted into the Team Sky squad for the Belgian Classics Het Nieuwsblad (Feb 27) and Kuurne-Brussels-Kuuren (Feb 28).
Feb 14-19 TOUR OF OMAN
Edvald Boasson Hagen is second on stage one, an evening criterium, behind Jimmy Casper. The Norwegian is third on stage two - taking the overall lead - before finally winning the sprint at the end of stage three. However, Sky relinquished the leader's jersey during stage four amid recriminations. Team Sky claimed that the attacks went when Boasson Hagen stopped for a brief toilet break, which is against racing etiquette. His pause came with 50 kilometres to go, which was not good timing, and, according to other teams Sky had angered plenty in the bunch were annoyed by Sky's tactics earlier in the day, when they upped the pace through the feed zone. Boasson Hagen then won the final stage, a 19km time trial, to finish second overall to Fabian Cancellara.
Feb 7-12 TOUR OF QATAR Team Sky blast to victory in the 8.2-kilometre team time trial, a convincing eight seconds clear of Cervélo, who are later relegated for drafting, and Garmin. Edvald Boasson Hagen takes the leader's jersey. However, on day two the team are caught out in the crosswinds, surrendering the lead. And Kurt-Asle Arvesen crashes, breaking his collarbone. Team Sky's best-placed rider overall is Ian Stannard, in 35th.
Feb 6 In an interview with The Guardian newspaper, Bradley Wiggins hits back at David Millar's criticism of Team Sky and their controversial recruitment tactics. He says critics of Team Sky are merely jealous and denies the team is the most hated in the peloton.
Feb 3-7 ETOILE DE BESSEGES Nicolas Portal is Sky's best finisher, in 44th place overall. Cummings, Kennaugh and Augustyn do not start the final day.
January 2010
Jan 31 GP LA MARSEILLAISE Steve Cummings is Sky's best finisher in the Grand Prix La Marseillaise in the south of France, finishing fourth in a race won by Frenchman Jonathan Hivert.
Jan 26 Bradley Wiggins is set to make his debut at the Tour of Qatar, not Etoile de Besseges as originally announced.
Who owns Team Sky? Want to know the background behind Britain's biggest team? Who owns the company, who holds the ProTour licence and how is it structured to ensure there is no conflict of interest between British Cycling and Team Sky?
Jan 19-24 TOUR DOWN UNDER
Stage 1 Sky's Greg Henderson was 5th, in the stage won by HTC-Columbia's Andre Greipel.
Stage 2 Andre Greipel wins again. Sky's Henderson second.
Stage 6 Sky take another one-two with Chris Sutton beating his team-mate Greg Henderson at the end of the final criterium. It meant Greg Henderson finished the Tour Down Under third overall.
Jan 17 Cancer Council Classic criterium Greg Henderson and Chris Sutton give Team Sky the perfect start by finishing first and second in the a 51km criterium in Adelaide that preceded the Tour Down Under. Other Sky riders were: Swift (31st), Froome (96th), Vigano (98th), Hayman (127th), Downing (130th).
Jan 5 Team Sky's riders beat the snow to head to Valencia in Spain for a 10-day training camp. Some of the riders due to race at the Tour Down Under are already in Australia, the rest are due to fly out from London on January 7.
Jan 4 The official launch of Team Sky takes place at Millbank in central London. The jerseys, bikes and riders are officially unveiled in a presentation hosted by Sky presenter Dermot Murnaghan. Jaguar are providing the team cars and other sponsors include M&S and Gatorade.
Jan 3 It is revealed that Ben Swift will finally join Team Sky after his release from a two-year contract with Russian squad Katusha is negotiated.
Team Sky's launch is to be held at Millbank, London on January 4. The team has invited 300 members of the public to ride with the team, starting at a secret location that will be sent to the successful applicants by text message.
Bradley Wiggins confirms he will ride the Giro d'Italia as well as the Tour de France. The prologue in Amsterdam and the longer time trial in Verona will be his main goals. Dario Cioni is likely to be the team leader for the Giro.
December 2009
Team Sky's official launch will be in London on January 4. The following day the team will head to Valencia in Spain for a training camp.
The team will ride black and blue Pinarello Dogma bikes with Shimano Dura-Ace Di2 groupset and Dura-Ace wheels. It is rumoured Adidas will provide the kit.
Dec 10 Team Sky call a press conference in central London to unveil Bradley Wiggins as their new signing on a four-year contract. The deal reportedly trebles Wiggins's salary. Garmin's Jonathan Vaughters reacts.
November 2009
Nov 30 Ben Swift looks set to join Team Sky after his agent confirms to CW that he wished to be freed from his Katusha contract after the team introduced a change to its terms and conditions by issuing a charter insisting that riders pay the team five times their annual salary in the event of a positive test. Katusha's Andrei Tchmil had initially insisted Swift would stay with the team, but Swift's agent said it was only a matter of time before the rider was free to move teams.
November 19 Italian riders Davide Vigano and Reading-born Dario Cioni confirmed as joining the team from Fuji-Servetto and ISD-Neri.
November 16 Three more riders are confirmed by Team Sky. As reported in October by CW French rider Sylvain Calzati joins from Agritubel along with his compatriot Nicolas Portal from Caisse d'Epargne. Aussie Mat Hayman, strongly rumoured to be joining since early summer, is also confirmed.
November 6 The anticipated annoucement of the final riders for Team Sky's 2010 roster is postponed, amid rumours that the team was attempting to clinch a deal with Garmin-Slipstream's Bradley Wiggins. Meanwhile, the Italian press reports that Reading-born Dario Cioni and another Italian, Davide Vigano, are set to join the team.
October 2009
Oct 28 Serge Pauwels, a Belgian rider with the Cervélo team, is confirmed as a Team Sky rider, as is Canadian Michael Barry, who rides with Columbia. That brings the official roster of rider to 19, with Sylvain Calzati widely tipped to be on the team too.
Team Sky's management team meet in Tuscany for their first get-together.
Chris Sutton, the Australian rider with Garmin-Slipstream, is confirmed for Team Sky.
Saxo Bank rider Marcus Ljungqvist is confirmed as one of Team Sky's managers.
Quick Step's retiring rider Steven De Jongh is confirmed as part of Team Sky's management for 2010. Twice a winner of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the Dutchman, aged 35, is a specialist for the cobbled Classics. He turned pro for the TVM team in 1995. De Jongh was part of the TVM team caught up in a French police investigation into doping during the 1998 Tour de France. Riders were questioned by police after EPO was found in a TVM team car earlier in the year and syringes and packaging were found in team hotel rubbish. No charges were made against the riders and they all strenuously denied any wrong-doing. After a turbulent day on the Tour, the TVM team crossed the line at Aix-les-Bains ahead of the bunch together in protest at their treatment by police. Two days before the end of the Tour, the TVM riders all quit the race. The team was not invited to the 1999 Tour de France.
French newspaper L'Equipe reports that former Agritubel and AG2R rider Sylvain Calzati will ride for Team Sky in 2010 Calzati, 30-year-old has a French mother and an Italian father. He won a stage of the 2006 Tour de France in Lorient on the day France played Italy in football's World Cup final. He turned pro for Barloworld in 2003 after riding as a stagiaire for Jean Delatour and Cofidis. He's also ridden for RAGT Semences. After four years with AG2R he joined Agritubel for 2009 and is set to join Team Sky after Agritubel ends its association with cycling.
It is confirmed that Team Sky will ride Pinarello bikes after signing a three-year deal. British Cycling's elite and academy riders will also ride Pinarellos. The strong rumours are that the bikes will be equipped with Shimano's electronic groupset.
Marcus Ljungqvist is confirmed as Team Sky sports director. The Swedish champion turned down an offer from Lance Armstrong's Team Shack for the 2010 season. Britain's Sean Yates is also strongly linked to a management role within the squad.
September 2009
British newspaper The Daily Mail reports that a deal is done between Team Sky and Garmin-Slipstream to allow Bradley Wiggins to join the team for the 2010 season. However, Jonathan Vaughters tells CW there's no truth in the story.
Team Sky is awarded a four-year ProTour licence by the UCI on September 15, meaning the team will compete at the top level of the sport from 2010-2013.
On September 10, Team Sky officially named 10 more riders for the 2010 line-up.
Edvald Boasson Hagen, Thomas Lövkvist, Greg Henderson, Morris Possoni (all from Team Columbia-HTC), Simon Gerrans (from Cervélo), Kurt-Asle Arvesen (from Saxo Bank), Juan Antonio Flecha (from Rabobank), Kjell Carlstrom (from Liquigas), John-Lee Augustyn (from Barloworld), Lars Petter Nordhaug (from Joker-Bianchi).
Team Sky officially announces the names of the first six team members, all British, on September 9: Geraint Thomas, Steve Cummings, Chris Froome, Russell Downing, Ian Stannard and Peter Kennaugh.
A report filed by online newspaper The Australian names Aussie riders Simon Gerrans, Matt Hayman and Chris Sutton as joining Team Sky.
On September 18, the Daily Mail reports that Bradley Wiggins' contract with Garmin-Slipstream was bought out for £2 million by Team Sky so that Wiggins could ride for Sky in 2010. Both Team Sky and Garmin deny any deal has taken place.
August 2009
Is this the first sign that Pinarello are to supply Team Sky's bikes?
The Italian manufacturer has revealed a Sky bike in blue and black. Looks like a big coincidence, although it could simply be the design for road bikes used in training by Sky+HD riders such as Victoria Pendleton and Chris Hoy.
July 2009
Speaking on Sky Sports News Dave Brailsford says: "It would be nice to think that those two guys [Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish] will ride for Team Sky in the future." Wiggins and Cavendish are contracted to Garmin and Columbia respectively until the end of the 2010 season.
Team Sky files an application for a ProTour licence. According to sources, the application featured a partial roster. CW understands 17 riders have signed contracts, but no names can be revealed until September 1.
Rumours fly around at the Tour de France. Cervélo's Serge Pauwels is linked to the team by the Dutch press. CW understands Pauwels is a target, but no deal is signed.
More rumours suggest Edvald Boasson Hagen and Thomas Lovkvist (both Columbia) will sign, as our sister magazine Cycle Sport speculated in December.
June 2009
CW understands the 2010 Team Sky roster will feature eight or nine British riders.
A number of riders have already signed 26-page contracts with Team Sky for 2010. No names confirmed, but the contracts apparently go into great detail regarding the rules and expected conduct.
Quarrata, the Tuscan town which is home to the Great Britain Academy team, will also be a base for the Sky team.
Garmin rule out the idea of Bradley Wiggins and David Millar joining Sky on the basis that Wiggins has a contract for 2010 and Millar is a co-owner of the Garmin team.
Team coach Shane Sutton appears to let slip in a BBC interview that the squad has signed David Millar, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and Steve Cummings for 2010.
Rod Ellingworth checks out potential training camp venues in Spain, while testing for kit and equipment continues apace.
The bike trade is buzzing with rumours. Some asume it's a done deal with Boardman bikes, others suggest Pinarello are in line to supply the bikes, but no one from Team Sky will comment until contracts are signed. Adidas is strongly rumoured to be the kit supplier, but not confirmed.
Team Sky's European base and Service de Course is set to be in the Belgian town of Mechelen, just north of Brussels, with excellent links to the airport and Eurostar station.
May 2009
In his book Boy Racer Mark Cavendish rules out a move to Team Sky in 2010.
Dutch riders Karsten Kroon (Saxo Bank), Laurens Ten Dam (Rabobank) and Spaniard Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank) are next to be linked to the team.
Italian media reports that Italian duo Danilo Di Luca and Alessandro Petacchi, who ride for LPR Brakes, are targets for Team Sky. Although Sky's management team are not commenting on specific rumours, they did rule out this one.
April 2009
Team Sky recruits Carsten Jeppesen as its operations manager, playing a key role in setting up the squad. The Dane spent eight years working for Bjarne Riis's CSC team.
March 2009
Danish newspaper Politiken links Columbia's directeur sportif Brian Holm with Team Sky, and quotes British Cycling's Heiko Salzwedel as saying Holm is the type of character they'd want. Holm tells Cycling Weekly: "After everything Bob [Stapleton] did for our team when T-Mobile said 'adios, adidas, amigos', I will stay with him, even if there should come an offer from Sky." After predictable speculation concerning Mark Cavendish, the Columbia rider tells Cycling Weekly he's not merely contracted with the American squad until the end of 2010, but that he couldn't be happier. Mark Cavendish plays down Team Sky speculation.
February 2009
Scott Sunderland issues a press release confirming he has been recruited as team manager. After months of speculation, finally Team Sky is official. Team Sky takes off.
2008
December Our sister magazine Cycle Sport delves behind the scenes to track the progress of the team so far, speculating on the set-up and the type of riders Brailsford could be interested in, and even throwing some names into the hat. Cycle Sport exclusive: The Sky's the limit - Behind the scenes with the British pro team project.
November Australian directeur sportif Scott Sunderland is pictured by Cycling Weekly in conversation with British Cycling's performance director Dave Brailsford. Sunderland was set to join the new Cervélo Test Team for the 2009 season, but that agreement was ended by mutual consent before it even began. CW asks Is Scott Sunderland set for British pro team?
October The new Sky+HD track trade team is announced. Chris Hoy and Victoria Pendleton are among the squad's riders. The jersey is later revealed and the Sky+HD squad makes its debut at the Manchester World Cup at the end of the month.
September The Sky logo appears on the British Cycling jersey for the first time at the road World Championships in Britain. We ask 'Is this another step on the road to a Sky-sponsored British pro team?
September Dave Brailsford sheds a little more light on his plans. Cycling Weekly joins the dots and speculates that the pro team's sponsor could be Sky.
July British Cycling signs a five-year, multi-million pound sponsorship deal that makes broadcaster BSkyB the federation's principal partner.
June British Cycling's performance director Dave Brailsford gives a talk at a Sports Journalists Association lunch and outlines his vision for a British-sponsored, British-run pro team. The goal, he says, is to produce a British challenger for the toughest race in the world - the Tour de France. Cycling Weekly's in-depth analysis answers the big questions and looks at the riders currently available.
WHO'S IN THE TEAM?
Team Sky 2010
Kurt-Asle Arvesen (Nor)
age 34 from Saxo Bank
John-Lee Augustyn (RSA)
age 23 from Barloworld
Michael Barry (Can)
age 33 from Team Columbia
Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)
age 22 from Team Columbia World ranking 2009: 6
Sylvain Calzati (Fra)
age 30 from Agritubel Europe Tour ranking 2009: 214
Kjell Carlstrom (Fin)
age 33 from Liquigas
Dario Cioni (Ita)
age 34 from ISD-Neri
Steve Cummings (GB)
age 28 from Barloworld Europe Tour ranking 2009: 236
Russell Downing (GB)
age 31 from CandiTV Europe Tour ranking 2009: 50
Juan Antonio Flecha (Spa)
age 32 from Rabobank World ranking 2009: 58
Chris Froome (GB)
age 24 from Barloworld Europe Tour ranking 2009: 533
Simon Gerrans (Aus)
age 29 from Cervélo World ranking 2009: 25
Mat Hayman (Aus)
age 31 from Rabobank World ranking 2009: 95
Greg Henderson (NZ)
age 33 from Team Columbia World ranking 2009: 109
Peter Kennaugh (GB)
age 20 from British Cycling academy Europe Tour ranking 2009: 188
Thomas Löfkvist (Swe)
age 25 from Team Columbia World ranking 2009: 55
Lars-Petter Nordhaug (Nor)
age 25 from Joker-Bianchi Europe Tour ranking 2009: 140
Serge Pauwels (Bel)
age 26 from Cervélo World ranking 2009: 178
Nicolas Portal (Fra)
age 30 from Caisse d'Epargne
Morris Possoni (Ita)
age 25 from Team Columbia
Ian Stannard (GB)
age 22 from ISD-Neri Europe Tour ranking 2009: 803
Chris Sutton (Aus)
age 25 from Garmin-Slipstream World ranking 2009: 207
Ben Swift (GB)
age 22 from Katusha
Geraint Thomas (GB)
age 23 from Barloworld Europe Tour ranking 2009: 427
Davide Vigano (Ita)
age 25 from Fuji-Servetto World Calendar ranking 2009: 113
Bradley Wiggins (GB)
age 29 from Garmin-Slipstream World Calendar ranking 2009: 39
WHO OWNS TEAM SKY?
Team Sky is owned by a management company called Tour Racing Limited,
which is owned by the broadcaster BSkyB. TRL holds the team's ProTour licence. TRL's board is made up of two Sky executives together with Brian Cookson and Ian Drake, the president and chief executive of British Cycling.
Dave Brailsford, who remains British Cycling's performance director, is the team principal of Team Sky. This is a contracted and salaried position. Brailsford is an employee of TRL and does not hold any financial stake in the company. There is a service level agreement between TRL and British Cycling so that coaching and support services provided to Team Sky riders who are not funded by the national lottery by BC's staff are charged to the pro team.
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Founded in 1891, Cycling Weekly and its team of expert journalists brings cyclists in-depth reviews, extensive coverage of both professional and domestic racing, as well as fitness advice and 'brew a cuppa and put your feet up' features. Cycling Weekly serves its audience across a range of platforms, from good old-fashioned print to online journalism, and video.
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