Bradley Wiggins (Sky) at the front of the bunch(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Bradley Wiggins (Sky) took it easy back in the bunch today(Image credit: Jonathan Devich)
Vicenzo Nibali (Liquigas) rides inw ith Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome (Sky)(Image credit: AFP)
Yellow. 100th Tour de France winner Chris Froome (Sky) soaks up the moment on the podium(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome will lead Sky's attack on the Grand Tours(Image credit: View over Abinger Hammer cricket ground as the peloton ride by fans in the Surrey countryside sitting in their local watering hole)
Bradley Wiggins is on Team Sky's long list to race the Tour de France and the chances that he will be on the start line on July 5 in Leeds continue to grow. According to Team Sky's director Kurt-Asle Arvesen, if Wiggins is selected, he will be working for defending champion Chris Froome.
"Bradley is definitely back in good form," Arvesen told Cyclingnews. "Most of the guys on our team want to be apart of the Tour team. Bradley, won it two years ago, it starts in the UK this year, of course it will be a good thing for us to have him there. Right now, our Tour de France longlist is about 14 or 15 guys."
If Wiggins does race the Tour, it will be in a worker's role for his teammate and defending champion Chris Froome. The Kenyan-born British cyclist dominated the mountain stages during last year's Tour and won the race by 4:20 minutes ahead of runner-up Nairo Quintana from Movistar and 5:04 minutes ahead of third placed Joaquím Rodríguez from Katusha.
"He will be working for Froome in GC," Arvesen confirmed. "The way Froome rode last year, he's definitely it — it's Froome for the Tour. Bradley will be there to support Froome, if he wants to go, if he's selected and if he's in good form."
Wiggins finished ninth at Paris-Roubaix and is currently leading the Tour of California after four stages. Although he is showing strong early-season form, Arvesen believes he is not yet at his best.
"He's not in Tour-form yet," Arvesen said. "If you look back at the 2012 season, when he won the Tour, he had already won Romandie and Dauphiné."
Wiggins is a favourite to win the Tour of California in Thousand Oaks on Sunday. He won the stage two time trial in Folsom and is leading the overall classification by 28 seconds ahead of Garmin-Sharp's Rohan Dennis and 1:09 minutes to Tiago Machado (NetApp-Endura) with four stages to go.
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Kirsten Frattini is the Deputy Editor of Cyclingnews, overseeing the global racing content plan.
Kirsten has a background in Kinesiology and Health Science. She has been involved in cycling from the community and grassroots level to professional cycling's biggest races, reporting on the WorldTour, Spring Classics, Tours de France, World Championships and Olympic Games.
She began her sports journalism career with Cyclingnews as a North American Correspondent in 2006. In 2018, Kirsten became Women's Editor – overseeing the content strategy, race coverage and growth of women's professional cycling – before becoming Deputy Editor in 2023.
