CYCLING

TEAM SKY have flexed their muscles by revealing their operating budget for 2017 was £34.5million – and star riders’ wages will drive it even higher.

Boss Sir Dave Brailsford’s expensive squad – the costliest on the Grand Tour circuit – has delivered six Tour de France wins in the last seven years. Top earners Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas (left) were already on £6.5m a year between them last year. And Thomas’s pay rise after his maiden Yellow Jersey triumph, plus a £2.4m-a-year deal for Colombian prospect Egan Bernal, will push Team Sky’s budget even higher.

The figures for 2017 represent a £3.4m (11 per cent) rise on the year before.