Wiggins back on home ground

Wiggins: Heads the squad

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Team Sky have announced their provisional line-up for the Tour of Britain, with Bradley Wiggins leading the six-man squad.

He'll be joined by fellow Brits Steve Cummings, Russell Downing and national road race champion Geraint Thomas as well as Australian Mathew Hayman and New Zealand sprinter Greg Henderson.

Cummings and Thomas both supported Wiggins in Team Sky's first appearance at the Tour de France, while Downing continued his outstanding season by taking the overall title at the Tour de Wallonie at the end of July.

Hayman and Henderson both excelled when Team Sky's debut campaign got off to a flying start in the Tour Down Under and more recently helped Downing to his Wallonie win.

Strong line-up

"We're delighted to have Team Sky riding the Tour of Britain this year, particularly with such a strong line-up that shows they mean business," said the Tour of Britain's Technical Director Mick Bennett.

"I'm sure fans in Wales will be particularly excited to see Geraint Thomas riding Stage Three into Swansea and I know Bradley can expect a lot of support during the final stage, in what is of course London's Olympic and Paralympic borough."

The Tour of Britain begins in Rochdale on Saturday 11th September, finishing eight days later with the TfL London Stage, based in Newham around the historic London Docklands.

And the race has long been a big target for Team Sky, Team Principal Dave Brailsford saying: "We're doing lots of special things this year but right at the top of that list is to be able to take a British team to the Tour of Britain.

Inspiration to participation

"Hopefully we'll race hard and get a result but this team is about so much more than simply winning bike races and we really want to make a big effort in that respect.

"We want to engage with people and the Tour of Britain will give us a huge opportunity to do just that and to thank people for supporting us through the year.

"It's also very much about inspiring youngsters and one of the things I want to highlight for this year is to see whether we can find a couple of creative ways to engage with kids and get them close to the riders.

"That's what it's all about. We want to inspire the next Bradley Wiggins."