Tag: Team Sky

Categories
News

Men Down Under

Team Sky have named their provisional seven-man line up for the 2012 Tour Down Under, the traditional Australian season opener. They comprise Great Britain’s Geraint Thomas and Alex Dowsett, Australians Mathew Hayman, Michael Rogers and Christopher Sutton, Norway’s Edvald Boasson Hagen (a heavily tipped TdU winner following an outstanding 2011) and the USA’s Danny Pate making his Sky debut after the move from HTC-Highroad.

 

Rabobank has similarly revealed their TdU squad; they will be fielding: Luis Leon Sanchez, Mark Renshaw, Michael Matthews, Graeme Brown, Tom Leezer, Jos Van Emden and Wilco Kelderman.

 

The Tour Down Under takes place January 17-22 and in 2012 will see a one-day Cancer Council Classic preceding the main six-stage event.

 

Categories
News

Sky: Greatest Brit Squad Ever?

Mark CavendishAfter months of speculation (and a Cyclo drum-roll, please) Mark Cavendish has finally announced that he has signed with Team Sky. The decision of his current team, HTC Highroad, to fold at the end of the 2011 season after losing their headline sponsor sparked protracted debate about just where the 26-year-old ‘Manx Missile’ might set his future sights and with such a spectacular year of racing under his wheels – culminating in September with him becoming the first male world road race champion for 46 years – his stock had certainly skyrocketed. Cav’s signing will see him riding alongside fellow Brits Geraint Thomas, Ben Swift, Chris Froome and Bradley Wiggins in what could prove to be a pivotal year for British cycling.

 

Commenting on the signing Dave Brailsford, Team Sky Principal, said: “Mark is the greatest sprinter of his generation and is well on his way to becoming the greatest of all time. He is a rider of exceptional talent who has proved his pedigree at the very highest level of our sport…Mark is a born winner and what excites me most is the attitude he brings to all the teams he rides for. We want to inspire more fans to get into cycling and I can think of no one better to help us do that.” Bradley Wiggins added: “I think I speak for everyone in the squad when I say that we’re all delighted to have Cav joining us at Team Sky. He is the best sprinter in the world and has an energy and passion for cycling that is infectious.”

 

Categories
News

Bid to Win

With Team Sky riding high at the Vuelta, Cyclo brings you a chance to bid for a UCI Pro Cycle jacket signed by Bradley Wiggins, Ben Swift and Geraint Thomas – proceeds from the eBay auction are going to St Mary’s Hospice in Ulverston, which means, if you win, you’ll look good and feel good. Otherwise (and with proceeds to the same good cause) how about a flutter on a British Cycling Team jacket signed by no less than Sir Chris Hoy, Victoria Pendleton, Jason Kenny, Craig Maclean, Chris Newton, Paul Manning and Ross Edgar. Go on, you know you want to…

 

Bid for the Sky jacket here and/or the British Cycling jacket here.

 

 

 

Categories
News

Froome for Vuelta Champ?

Chris FroomeCould Britain be in line for its first ever Vuelta a Espana win? Certainly the prospect took a step in the right direction yesterday (Wednesday, September 7) when Team Sky’s Chris Froome unleashed a blistering attack to steal a win on Stage 17 – the 211km leg, Faustino V to Peña Cabarga – from Juan Jose Cobo of Geox. Although the Spanish rider retained the overall leader’s red jersey, Froome’s win across a thrilling head to head hill climb finish took 9 seconds off Cobo’s lead with a combination of the 1 second win and the stage’s awarded time bonus. The victory marked the first time in more than two decades that a Brit has won a mountain finish in a major race; the last to do so was Robert Millar in the 1989 Tour de France.

 

With fours stages still to run on the Vuelta before riders reach the final in the country’s capital Madrid on Sunday (September 11) things can, naturally, still change dramatically, but with Froome sitting pretty in second place on the overall standings and his Sky team mate Bradley Wiggins still in third Cyclo has their collective fingers crossed for a patriotic podium.

 

Categories
News

Strong Brit Line-up for Sky ToB

ToB Sky SquadTeam Sky have announced their line up for the Tour of Britain (September 11-18) with Welshman Geraint Thomas leading the squad. The 25-year-old Olympic Gold Medallist takes his place after a blistering display at the Tour de France that saw him resplendent in the young rider’s white jersey from Stage One to Seven and with a total of three top-ten finishes. Thomas will be joined by his fellow Le Tour team-mate Ben Swift – a Tour of Britain stage-winner for Team Katusha back in 2009 – and fellow Brits Peter Kennaugh and Alex Dowsett, the latter having just taken his first pro win at the Tour du Poitou. The six-man squad is completed by the Australian duo of Michael Rogers (a double Tour of Britain top-ten finisher) and Mathew Hayman, a member of the 2010 Tour of Britain squad. Thomas’s inclusion marks his sixth ToB edition; he has finished sixth and 12th in the last two years.

 

ToB race director Mick Bennett has commented on the squad: “The announcement of such a strong Team Sky line-up clearly sends a message that the team is serious about winning the Tour of Britain. In Geraint, Ben, Alex and Peter they have four of the finest British cyclists currently racing, all of whom are more than capable of winning The Tour of Britain.”

 

 

Categories
News

Will Wiggins Reign in Spain?

Bradley WigginsTeam 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.

 

Categories
News

Cavendish Moves Skywards?

Mark CavendishWith the opening of the transfer period, which under International Cycling Union (UCI) rules is August 1 to December 31, there has been growing speculation about the future of Mark Cavendish’s position with HTC-Highroad. Cav, of course, won the Green Jersey with the team (the first Brit to do so) at last month’s Tour de France but as his contract with them is due to expire at the end of 2011 there has been growing speculation that the Manx Missile will make the move to rivals Team Sky. Speaking to Jonathan Legard on BBC Radio 5 live, the 26 year old sprinter remained tight-lipped on the subject, refusing to be drawn on an answer as to where his future might rest, but confirming, “I’ve had many, many offers and you have to look at every aspect…you have to look at every option.” When Legard pushed him with, “Do you know but you can’t tell us?” Cavendish responded with a succinct, “Yes.”

 

Like many other riders, and regardless of which team he settles on, Cavendish will be under exceptional pressure this time next year with the Tour de France scheduled to finish barely days before the London Olympics are due to begin. In two week’s time (August 14) Cavendish will be taking part in the 140km London-Surrey Cycle Classic, a test run of the 2012 road race event.

 

Categories
News

Sky Still the Limit for Thomas

Geraint Thomas has undeniably been one of the brightest stars at this year’s Tour de France – he sported the Best Young Rider’s white jersey for most of the first week and is currently holding ninth place on the overall Youth standings and tenth as a Climber. Something of a relief then to Team Sky that, just days after suggesting he was in talks with other outfits, he has confirmed that he will be renewing with them for a further 3 years, taking him through to the end of the 2014 season. Commenting on the renegotiated commitment the Welshman says, “The team have shown their potential over the last 18 months and I am delighted to have been a part of that success. The management have shown real faith in me as a rider and I feel like I’m improving all the time. The future is really exciting for Team Sky and British Cycling and I’m thrilled I will be able to play a part in it.”

 

Team Sky principle Dave Brailsford (who is also performance director at British Cycling) showed understandable relief at the development: “We have been determined from the start to build and develop a team around the very best home-grown talent like Geraint. The last two weeks at the Tour de France have underlined again his world class abilities and we look forward to seeing even more from him over the next three years.”

 

The only potential fly in the ointment for Thomas is that his contract is likely to commit him to participation in the 2012 Tour de France which is scheduled to end just days before the start of the London Olympic Games; with the Cardiff-born cycling star already having won gold as part of the team pursuit in the Beijing Games, the timing could jeopardise his chances of repeating that success.