Team Sky – As it happens

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published 11 December 2009

Team Sky is set to compete for the first time in January 2010. The Tour Down Under in Adelaide, Australia, will be the first race for the British-backed pro team.

Find all the latest Team Sky news, gossip and rumours here. Scroll down to find out who's in Team Sky, who owns the team and our week-by-week guide to the latest developments.

AS IT HAPPENS

March 2010

Mar 7 After finishing a solid third in the previous day's time trial stage, Bradley Wiggins defended his third place overall in the Tour of Murcia to take his first podium position of the season.

Mar 6 Swedish rider Thomas Löfkvist puts up a fine defence of his title at the Montepaschi Strade Bianche in Tuscany, Italy. The race, held on the white dust roads of the region was won by Maxim Iglinskiy. In the same race, Peter Kennaugh crashed and broke his collarbone.

Feb 14-19 TOUR OF OMAN

Edvald Boasson Hagen is second on stage one, an evening criterium, behind Jimmy Casper. The Norwegian is third on stage two - taking the overall lead - before finally winning the sprint at the end of stage three. However, Sky relinquished the leader's jersey during stage four amid recriminations. Team Sky claimed that the attacks went when Boasson Hagen stopped for a brief toilet break, which is against racing etiquette. His pause came with 50 kilometres to go, which was not good timing, and, according to other teams Sky had angered plenty in the bunch were annoyed by Sky's tactics earlier in the day, when they upped the pace through the feed zone. Boasson Hagen then won the final stage, a 19km time trial, to finish second overall to Fabian Cancellara.

Feb 7-12 TOUR OF QATAR Team Sky blast to victory in the 8.2-kilometre team time trial, a convincing eight seconds clear of Cervélo, who are later relegated for drafting, and Garmin. Edvald Boasson Hagen takes the leader's jersey. However, on day two the team are caught out in the crosswinds, surrendering the lead. And Kurt-Asle Arvesen crashes, breaking his collarbone. Team Sky's best-placed rider overall is Ian Stannard, in 35th.

January 2010

Jan 31 GP LA MARSEILLAISE Steve Cummings is Sky's best finisher in the Grand Prix La Marseillaise in the south of France, finishing fourth in a race won by Frenchman Jonathan Hivert.

Jan 26 Bradley Wiggins is set to make his debut at the Tour of Qatar, not Etoile de Besseges as originally announced.

Who owns Team Sky? Want to know the background behind Britain's biggest team? Who owns the company, who holds the ProTour licence and how is it structured to ensure there is no conflict of interest between British Cycling and Team Sky?

November 2009

Nov 30 Ben Swift looks set to join Team Sky after his agent confirms to CW that he wished to be freed from his Katusha contract after the team introduced a change to its terms and conditions by issuing a charter insisting that riders pay the team five times their annual salary in the event of a positive test. Katusha's Andrei Tchmil had initially insisted Swift would stay with the team, but Swift's agent said it was only a matter of time before the rider was free to move teams.

November 6 The anticipated annoucement of the final riders for Team Sky's 2010 roster is postponed, amid rumours that the team was attempting to clinch a deal with Garmin-Slipstream's Bradley Wiggins. Meanwhile, the Italian press reports that Reading-born Dario Cioni and another Italian, Davide Vigano, are set to join the team.

October 2009

Oct 28 Serge Pauwels, a Belgian rider with the Cervélo team, is confirmed as a Team Sky rider, as is Canadian Michael Barry, who rides with Columbia. That brings the official roster of rider to 19, with Sylvain Calzati widely tipped to be on the team too.

Quick Step's retiring rider Steven De Jongh is confirmed as part of Team Sky's management for 2010. Twice a winner of Kuurne-Brussels-Kuurne, the Dutchman, aged 35, is a specialist for the cobbled Classics. He turned pro for the TVM team in 1995. De Jongh was part of the TVM team caught up in a French police investigation into doping during the 1998 Tour de France. Riders were questioned by police after EPO was found in a TVM team car earlier in the year and syringes and packaging were found in team hotel rubbish. No charges were made against the riders and they all strenuously denied any wrong-doing. After a turbulent day on the Tour, the TVM team crossed the line at Aix-les-Bains ahead of the bunch together in protest at their treatment by police. Two days before the end of the Tour, the TVM riders all quit the race. The team was not invited to the 1999 Tour de France.

French newspaper L'Equipe reports that former Agritubel and AG2R rider Sylvain Calzati will ride for Team Sky in 2010 Calzati, 30-year-old has a French mother and an Italian father. He won a stage of the 2006 Tour de France in Lorient on the day France played Italy in football's World Cup final. He turned pro for Barloworld in 2003 after riding as a stagiaire for Jean Delatour and Cofidis. He's also ridden for RAGT Semences. After four years with AG2R he joined Agritubel for 2009 and is set to join Team Sky after Agritubel ends its association with cycling.

Danish newspaper Politiken links Columbia's directeur sportif Brian Holm with Team Sky, and quotes British Cycling's Heiko Salzwedel as saying Holm is the type of character they'd want. Holm tells Cycling Weekly: "After everything Bob [Stapleton] did for our team when T-Mobile said 'adios, adidas, amigos', I will stay with him, even if there should come an offer from Sky." After predictable speculation concerning Mark Cavendish, the Columbia rider tells Cycling Weekly he's not merely contracted with the American squad until the end of 2010, but that he couldn't be happier. Mark Cavendish plays down Team Sky speculation.

June British Cycling's performance director Dave Brailsford gives a talk at a Sports Journalists Association lunch and outlines his vision for a British-sponsored, British-run pro team. The goal, he says, is to produce a British challenger for the toughest race in the world - the Tour de France. Cycling Weekly's in-depth analysis answers the big questions and looks at the riders currently available.

Dave Brailsford, who remains British Cycling's performance director, is the team principal of Team Sky. This is a contracted and salaried position. Brailsford is an employee of TRL and does not hold any financial stake in the company. There is a service level agreement between TRL and British Cycling so that coaching and support services provided to Team Sky riders who are not funded by the national lottery by BC's staff are charged to the pro team.

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Team Sky – As it happens

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