Has Sir Bradley Wiggins put his foot in it by revealing one of Team Sky's new signings for 2017? While signing season is still some months off, the 2012 Tour de France champion told press in America that Owain Doull will ride for the WorldTour team next year.
The Welsh youngster is currently part of Team Wiggins, a development squad made up mainly of track riders who are preparing for this August's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.
Doull will be hoping to form part of the Great Britain squad for the Team Pursuit at the Games, having won silver alongside Wiggins at the World Championships in London in March.
Speaking to CyclingTips at the Amgen Tour of California, where Doull and Wiggins are both riding, Wiggins said that Doull will join Team Sky next year.
“Owain Doull is the first success story of this team and already going into the pro ranks next year with Team Sky,” said Wiggins, at a press briefing in America," Wiggins said.
“Sky supports our team because I’ve got a long relationship with them through winning the Tour, and stuff for them, doing the Hour Record, they wanted to get behind that and support that and televise it and everything.
“They loved the idea of the team. I think they liked the informalness of the team, and what it stands for, as opposed to their other baby, in Team Sky, which is performance elite, winning the best bike races in the world, marginal gains and everything.
“Whereas, we’re like, we don’t need to win races. We’re about getting out of the bus, engaging the public, and sitting on deck chairs."
Doull got out of his deck chair to finish 15th on stage one in California, but his best performance on the road came at the 2015 Tour of Britain, where he finished third overall and recorded six top-10 finishes across the eight stages.
Last year Wiggins also let slip that Mark Cavendish would be leaving Etixx-Quick Step for a new team weeks before his move to Dimension Data was announced.
