Team Wiggins Le Col (), also known as ''Team Wiggins'' in media, was a professional developmental cycling team based in the United Kingdom, which began competing in elite road bicycle racing and

track cycling Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it ...

in 2015. The team folded at the end of the 2019 season after completing the

Tour of Britain The Tour of Britain is a multi-stage cycling race, conducted on British roads, in which participants race across Great Britain to complete the race in the fastest time. The event dates back to the first British stage races held just after the S ...

Team history

The team was founded by

Bradley Wiggins Sir Bradley Marc Wiggins, CBE (born 28 April 1980) is a British former professional road and track racing cyclist, who competed professionally between 2001 and 2016. He began his cycling career on the track, but later made the transition to r ...

, after much speculation in the latter part of the 2014 road season, in order to better facilitate his return to the track as part of his preparations for the

2016 Olympic Games ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

. The team has a reported budget of £460,000 which is comparable to JLT–Condor and

Madison-Genesis Madison Genesis was a British-based professional road cycling team, registered at UCI Continental level and competing in domestic and European competitions between 2013 and 2019. Founded in 2013, the team was announced in July 2012 as a platfor ...

. According to ''

Cycling Weekly ''Cycling Weekly'' is a British cycling magazine. It is published by Future and is devoted to the sport and pastime of cycling. It used to be affectionately referred to by British club cyclists as "The Comic".

'' the team's management comprises Robert Dodds (president of

XIX Entertainment XIX Entertainment is an entertainment content and intellectual rights organisation based in North America and Europe. The company, which has been valued at $100 million was set up by Simon Fuller in 2010 to commercially develop world class individ ...

, and Wiggins's manager), Andrew McQuaid (rider agent and director of Trinity Sports Management) and Wiggins himself. The team appointed former DS Simon Cope as its first

directeur sportif A ''directeur sportif'' (French for sporting director, although the original French term is often used in English-language media; plural ''directeurs sportifs'') is a person directing a cycling team during a road bicycle racing event. It is se ...

. For the team's inaugural season the team began with eight full-time riders, with Wiggins joining on 1 May 2015. Those eight were Steven Burke,

Mark Christian Mark Peter Christian (born 20 November 1990) is a Isle of Man, Manx former racing cyclist, who last rode for UCI ProSeries, UCI ProTeam . A former member of the Great Britain Olympic Development Program, Christian won a bronze medal for the Isl ...

, Jonathan Dibben, Owain Doull, Daniel Patten, Iain Paton, Andy Tennant and Michael Thompson. These eight riders are supplemented by riders from the British Academy on a race to race basis. On 5 January 2015 the team was officially awarded its

UCI Continental The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) to expand cycling around the world. The five circuits (representing the continents of Africa, th ...

licence. In March 2015, Bradley Wiggins confirmed that he would make his debut with the team at the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire at the start of May. In 2016, he entered the

Tour De Yorkshire The Tour de Yorkshire is a road cycling race in the historic county of Yorkshire, England which first took place in May 2015. It is promoted by the Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) and is rated as a 2.HC event as part of the UCI Europe Tour. ...

with his team and dropped out in the first stage. WIGGINS was not invited to the

2017 Tour de Yorkshire The 2017 Tour de Yorkshire was a three-day cycling stage race staged in Yorkshire over 28–30 April 2017. It was the third edition of the Tour de Yorkshire, organised by Welcome to Yorkshire and the Amaury Sport Organisation. The race was won ...

. In 2018 following the collapse of Team Aqua Blue Sport, Team Wiggins participated at short notice in the

2018 Tour of Britain The 2018 Tour of Britain was an eight-stage men's professional road cycling race. It was the fifteenth running of the modern version of the Tour of Britain and the 78th British tour in total. The race started on 2 September in Pembrey Country P ...

Tom Pidcock Thomas Pidcock (born 30 July 1999) is a British cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam . After a prodigious junior and under-23 career with World C ...

was the team's highest placed rider in the race at 17th in the General Classification. In November 2018 the team filed paperwork with

Companies House Companies House is the executive agency of the company registrars of the United Kingdom, falling under the remit of the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy. All forms of companies (as permitted by the Companies Act) are in ...

which indicated that XIX Entertainment no longer held a 40 percent stake in the team, and that this share had been transferred to Wiggins' firm, Wiggins Right Limited. In August 2019, Wiggins announced that the team would closing down at the end of the year.

Sponsorship

Sky The sky is an unobstructed view upward from the surface of the Earth. It includes the atmosphere and outer space. It may also be considered a place between the ground and outer space, thus distinct from outer space. In the field of astronomy, ...

, along with

British Cycling British Cycling (formerly the British Cycling Federation) is the main national governing body for cycle sport in Great Britain. It administers most competitive cycling in Great Britain, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It represents Bri ...

, will sponsor and support the team. The team's kit was initially produced by Rapha. but as of 2018 the team switched to use Le Col as their clothing supplier. In December 2018 Wiggins announced that Le Col would step up to becoming the team's co-title sponsor for 2019, with the team being known as Team Wiggins Le Col. The team use

Pinarello Cicli Pinarello S.p.A. is an Italian bicycle manufacturer based in Treviso, Italy. Founded in 1953, it supplies mostly handmade bicycles for the road, track, E-bikes(NYTRO), mountain bikes and cyclo-cross. The company also produces bicycles u ...

bikes equipped with Zipp, Fizik, Elite and SRAM components.

Final roster

Major wins

;2015 : Wiltshire GP, Andy Tennant : Stage 2

Flèche du Sud The Flèche du Sud, is a road bicycle race held annually in Luxembourg. It is currently organised as a 2.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Road bicycle racing is the cycle sport dis ...

, Andy Tennant : Stages 3 & 4

, Owain Doull : Round 6 – Barrow

Tour Series The Tour Series is an annual series of cycling criterium races held in the United Kingdom since 2009. It is televised by ITV4 in the UK. The competition emphasises team effort with individual wins deemed less important. The races are held over 1 ...

, Christopher Lawless : Jersey blue

Points classification The points classification is a secondary award category in road bicycle racing. Points are given for high finishes and, in some cases, for winning sprints at certain places along the route, most often called ''intermediate sprints''. The points cl ...

, Owain Doull ;2016 : Stage 3a (ITT)

Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux is a Belgian cycling road race. It was first held in 1996. Since 2005, the race has been organised as a 2.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing compe ...

, Jonathan Dibben : Stage 4 Ronde de l'Isard, Scott Davies : Stage 5

Olympia's Tour The Olympia's Tour is a cycling stage race held in the Netherlands. History A.S.C. Olympia was founded in Amsterdam on 27 November 1898. It ran one-day races but wanted a race through all the Netherlands. The first Olympia's Tour was in 1909, w ...

Christopher Latham Christopher Jack Latham (born 6 February 1994) is an English cyclist from Bolton, who most recently rode for UCI Continental team . In 2015 he won the bronze medal in the elimination race at the 2015 UEC European Track Championships in Grenchen, ...

;2017 : Klondike Grand Prix,

;2018 : Volta ao Alentejo ::Stages 1 & 6, Gabriel Cullaigh :: Jersey white

Youth Classification, Mark Downey : Rutland–Melton International CiCLE Classic, Gabriel Cullaigh : Stage 2

Giro della Valle d'Aosta Giro della Valle d'Aosta is a stage race road bicycle race held annually in August in Aosta Valley, Italy. Since 2005, the race is organized as a 2.2 event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing ...

, Mark Donovan : Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux, James Fouché ;2019 :

Tour of Antalya The Tour of Antalya is a multi-day road cycling race held annually in Turkey. It is part of UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing competitions which were introduced in 2005 by the Union Cycliste Intern ...

Mountain classification, James Fouché ::Intermediate sprints classification, James Fouché : Volta ao Alentejo ::Stage 3, Gabriel Cullaigh :: Jersey polkadot

Mountains classification, James Fouché :

Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux Triptyque may refer to: * Triptyque Ardennais, road cycling race held since 1959 in Belgium * Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux is a Belgian cycling road race. It was first held in 1996. Since 2005, the rac ...

Points classification,

Thomas Pidcock Thomas Pidcock (born 30 July 1999) is a British cyclist who currently competes in the cyclo-cross, mountain bike and road bicycle racing disciplines of the sport for UCI WorldTeam . After a prodigious junior and under-23 career with World C ...

::Stage 2b,

Paris–Roubaix Espoirs Paris–Roubaix Espoirs is a one-day road cycling race held annually in France. In 2005 the race was integrated into the UCI Europe Tour as a category 1.2U race. Held since 1967, it is the under-23 version of the Monument classic Paris–Roubaix ...

Overall

Tour Alsace The Tour Alsace (or Tour d'Alsace) is a 6-day road bicycle race held annually in Alsace, France. It was first held in 2004 and it is a 2.2 rated event on the UCI Europe Tour The UCI Continental Circuits are a series of road bicycle racing Roa ...

Young rider classification,

::Stage 2,

National, continental and world champions

;2015 :

British U23 Road Race, Owain Doull : MaillotReinoUnido

British Track (Individual pursuit), Andy Tennant : UEC Champion Jersey

UEC European Track (Team pursuit)

;2016 :

World Track (Points race), Jonathan Dibben : Jersey rainbow

World Track (Madison),

British U23 Time Trial, Scott Davies : Gold medal olympic

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a vari ...

(

Team pursuit The team pursuit is a track cycling event similar to the individual pursuit, except that two teams, each of up to four riders, compete, starting on opposite sides of the velodrome. Race format Both men's and women's events are competed over ...

), Steven Burke, Owain Doull &

(

Team Sprint The team sprint (also sometimes known as the Olympic sprint) is a track cycling event. Despite its name, it is not a conventional cycling sprint event – it is a three-rider team time trial held over three laps of a velodrome. The current men's ...

Philip Hindes Philip Hindes MBE (born 22 September 1992) is a British track cyclist, specialising in sprints. He holds dual nationality, having been born in Germany to a British father. Having initially competed for Germany at a junior level, in 2010 he swi ...

;2017 :

British U23 Time Trial, Scott Davies ;2018 : MaillotReinoUnido

British U23 Road Race, Robert Scott : MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand U23 Road Race, James Fouché : MaillotIrlanda

Irish U23 Time Trial,

Michael O'Loughlin Michael Kevin O'Loughlin (born 20 February 1977) is a former professional Australian rules footballer, who played his entire Australian Football League career with the Sydney Swans. O'Loughlin was named a member of the Indigenous Team of t ...

;2019 :

New Zealand Road Race, James Fouché : MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand U23 Road Race, James Fouché : MaillotNuevaZelanda

New Zealand U23 Time Trial, James Fouché : MaillotIrlanda

Irish U23 Time Trial,

References

External links

{{official website, https://web.archive.org/web/20230307131722/https://www.teamwiggins.co/ Cycling teams based in the United Kingdom UCI Continental Teams (Europe) Cycling teams established in 2015 2015 establishments in the United Kingdom Defunct cycling teams based in the United Kingdom