Brailsford - Sky's the limit

Brailsford: Tour impact

We're only in it to have a strong team; we're not in it to be a middle-ground player or a second-division player, we're in it to be one of the key teams.

Dave Brailsford
Quotes of the week

Also see

• Cycling blog
• Sky's GB cycling deal
• Features
• Le Tour schedule

As the Tour de France approaches, British cycling chief Dave Brailsford already has one eye on the 2010 race as he looks for Team Sky to make an immediate impact.

Although Team Sky, funded by BSkyB, will need a wildcard entry to make next year's Tour de France, the impact made by British cycling in the sport means they should be able to get into the race.

Team Sky will launch at the Tour Down Under in Australia in January, and Brailsford is busy formulating exactly who will make up his 25-30 strong team of largely British riders.

From a man who orchestrated such a dominant display on the track at the Beijing Olympics, his goals for the pro team an unsurprisingly lofty.

"Like everything else we've got high ambitions," said Brailsford.

"We're only in it to have a strong team; we're not in it to be a middle-ground player or a second-division player, we're in it to be one of the key teams."

Nationality

Being British will not necessarily be the only criteria for getting a place in Team Sky, but Brailsford is hoping it will help develop young riders from Britain and dove tail with the Olympic road-race team for the London Olympics in 2012.

"One of the reasons we want to do it is to develop young British riders, but I think the important thing that everyone has got to realise that you're not going to get in because of your passport," added Brailsford.

"We're not going to compromise what we'd normally do, it's not going to happen. They'll be a contingency of British riders and they'll be there because they're good enough to be in a top pro-tour team."

Under UCI rules Brailsford cannot announce any names of his team until September 1, but two stars of the sport will not be joining next year with Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins both having deals with other teams.

Although he will have to do without Cavendish for now, Brailsford spoke of his admiration for the 24-year-old, who has already equalled Chris Boardman's record of 41 wins and is a real threat for the green jersey in Le Tour as one of the best sprinters in the world.

Talented

"He is an unbelievably fantastic talent and he deserves all the accolades that he can get," added Brailsford.

"His whole mentality is built around winning and he's very good at it. He'll be in the mix for sure in the Tour."

There are some promising signs for British road cycling though, with a record number of nine riders starting the Giro d'Italia in May - Cavendish, Wiggins, David Millar, Jeremy Hunt, Dan Lloyd, Charly Wegelius, Ian Stannard, Ben Swift and Chris Froome - while the academy squad, based it Italy under the guidance of Max Sciandri, are blooming.

Other riders, such as Geraint Thomas, who is returning from serious injury, will be in the mix for Team Sky, but the academy prospects, including riders such as Peter Kennaugh, who was third in last month's Baby Giro - the amateur Tour of Italy - and Luke Rowe, look promising.

At the other end of the spectrum is Millar, who begins his eighth Tour de France this Saturday and is close friends with Brailsford, but may not be included in his thinking for Team Sky due to his doping admission and subsequent two-year ban.

The 32-year-old Millar has reinvented himself as an outspoken advocate of drug-free sport and is a member of the World Anti-Doping Agency's athletes' commission, but he is not currently allowed to ride in the Olympics under British Olympic Association rules, and his possible inclusion has Brailsford in a quandary.

"At the end of the day, I'm pretty strong against doping - it's not for me, it won't be for our team, it's not for the British Cycling team and I think you've got to be very, very careful in that area," said Brailsford.

"If you start compromising, little compromises, before you know it you're compromising all the time. You're compromising more than you were and before you know it you're cheating."