Team Sky held their official team debut today in London, boasting an international team (26 riders from 12 nations) whose stated goal is “to produce a British winner of the Tour de France within the next five years,” according to team manager Dave Brailsford, “and to become the best and most admired cycling team in the world.”
While their recruiting tactics may set them back a bit on the “admiration” scale as they get going, their strong contingent should make them a serious force in the peloton and on the podium. Besides British star Bradley Wiggins, who was recruited from Garmin just before the holidays, Team Sky brought on Canadian Michael Barry and well known riders like Thomas Lovkvist and Simon Gerrans. (full team roster after the break)
The team will hit the road for the first time at the Tour Down Under later this month, and Wiggin’s first race appearance in the new blue and black team kit will be at the GP Marseillaise on January 31.
For continuous updates, Team Sky’s official website has finally launched at TeamSky.com, and promises to offer:
- Exclusive interviews and profiles for all 26 riders.
- Regular blogs from Bradley Wiggins, Michael Barry and Simon Gerrans.
- Exclusive video footage and photo galleries throughout the season.
- All the latest news and riding plans.
- Big-race coverage, starting with the Tour Town Under in January.
- The inside track on the bike, the kit and all the other key components.
- Facebook and Twitter interaction with the team.
The sponsors are listed on the bottom, including Jaguar, which means they should have some pretty sick team cars in the peloton, perhaps picking up for the missing Rock Racing Cadillacs.
2010 Team Sky Pro Cycling roster:
- Kurt Asle Arvesen (Saxo Bank)
- John Lee Augustyn (Barloworld)
- Michael Barry (Columbia)
- Edvald Boasson Hagen (Columbia)
- Sylvain Calzati (Agritubel)
- Kjell Carlstrom (Liquigas)
- Dario Cioni (ISD)
- Steve Cummings (Barloworld)
- Russell Downing (CandiTV)
- Juan Antonio Flecha (Rabobank)
- Chris Froome (Barloworld)
- Simon Gerrans (Cervélo)
- Mathew Hayman (Rabobank)
- Greg Henderson(Columbia)
- Peter Kennaugh (GB Academy)
- Thomas Lovkvist (Columbia)
- Lars Petter Nordhaug (Joker Bianchi)
- Serge Pauwels (Cervélo)
- Nicolas Portal (Caisse d’Epargne)
- Morris Possoni (Columbia)
- Ian Stannard (ISD)
- Chris Sutton (Garmin)
- Ben Swift (Katusha)
- Geraint Thomas (Barloworld)
- Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto)
- Bradley Wiggins (Garmin)
