Owain Doull column: Team Sky were the only team I wanted to join

After quite a few months of keeping it under my hat, the news is finally out: I'm joining Team Sky.

I'm incredibly excited and proud to have signed for them and I'm really looking forward to this next phase of my career.

We had intended to wait until later in the season to announce the move, but Sir Bradley Wiggins let it slip at a press conference at the Tour of California last week and that was that.

But I don't mind. Lots of people knew anyway and it's nice to finally be able to talk about it.

I actually signed the contract way back last September, after the Tour of Britain. I had other offers on the table, but there was never any doubt in my mind that Team Sky was the place for me.

As well as being a great team, they were willing to let me concentrate on racing on the track at the Olympic Games this year, which is a huge goal and something I didn't want to compromise.

I also think it is the ideal place for me to develop. Look at Luke Rowe, for example. He joined as a 22-year-old and has gone on to become one of the best riders in the world, leading the team at races like Paris-Roubaix and forming part of Tour de France-winning line-ups, so there is a path there for me to follow.

They also have a very similar style to what I'm used to at British Cycling, so the transition should be a smooth one.

I'll be joining Team Sky after the Olympics as a trainee - or stagiaire, in cycling terms - and then I'll turn professional with them at the start of next season.

Later this month I'm going to have a sit down with Rod Ellingworth, who is Team Sky's head of performance operations, so that we can work out my race plan.

It's quite tricky to predict what type of rider I will become with Team Sky because being a pro is so different to the racing I have done in the past, but my hope is to develop into a classics rider in the mould of Greg Van Avermaet.

He's a rider who I look up to. He can climb on hard finishes but is still quick enough to compete in sprint finishes. I would love to have that versatility.

But that's the long-term goal. In the short-term, my first couple of years are all about learning the trade and putting the foundations in place for my future. Any success will be a bonus.

Even more imminent are the Olympic Games, which are now only 78 days away. Not that I'm counting.

This has been a dream for quite a few years but it's getting very real now and I'm under no illusions that these next three months will be some of the most important of my life.

Thankfully, I'm just about over a knee injury that I picked up earlier in the spring, which is a big relief. I still feel it every now and then, but it's nearly there and should be good for Rio.

Myself and the rest of the pursuit team will spend the next five weeks based in the UK. I'm racing a few criteriums around the country next week, but mostly we'll be on the track and in the gym in Manchester.

After that we head to Italy for a couple of weeks, then we go to the Olympic holding camp in Newport, and then it's time to head to Rio to see what we're made of.