Team Sky has announced their line up for the Vuelta a España with the much anticipated inclusion of Bradley Wiggins a month after he spectacularly crashed out of the Tour de France with a fractured collarbone. However Wiggins, who subsequent to the accident had plates inserted to support his clavicle, will miss the Tour of Britain – which runs September 11 to September 18 – as it clashes by a single day with the Vuelta which starts in Benidorm this Saturday (August 20) and ends in Madrid on September 11.
Dave Brailsford, Team Sky principal, said: “Having Bradley back has reinvigorated us all.” Wiggins, the team’s great General Classification hope, will be joined in the nine-man squad in Spain by Xabier Zandio, Chris Sutton, Chris Froome, Ian Stannard, Thomas Lofkvist, Dario Cioni, Morris Possoni, and Kurt-Asle Arvesen.
Tragedy struck Team Sky at last year’s Vuelta when their massage therapist, 43-year-old Txema Gonzalez, died after contracting a bacterial infection. The Team withdrew from the event and with this year’s penultimate stage ending in Gonzalez’s home town of Vitoria have admitted that it will be an emotional day for all.
