Team Wiggins director left ‘surprised and disappointed’ by Tour de Yorkshire snub

TEAM WIGGINS have expressed disappointment at being omitted from the Tour de Yorkshire.

Tour de Yorkshire organisers Welcome to Yorkshire on Tuesday announced 18 teams for the April 28 to 30 men’s race, but Sir Bradley Wiggins’s eponymous outfit was not among them.

Five-time Olympic gold medallist and 2012 Tour de France winner Wiggins – who took part in the previous two editions of the Yorkshire race – no longer rides for the team, which was established to develop young British talent, following his retirement in December.

The ongoing UK Anti-doping investigation into allegations of wrongdoing in cycling could be seen as a distraction.

Simon Cope, Team Wiggins sports director, told Cycling Weekly: “It’s very disappointing and it is very much a surprise. I don’t really know why. It’s a very strange one.

“I do feel that with the riders we have got, we would have been a top-10 contender in the GC (general classification), all things going well.

“Good or bad press at the moment, there’s a percentage of the UK population who will be going to the race who want to see Wiggins there.

A Welcome to Yorkshire spokesperson said: “Six British continental teams applied for the five slots available for the men’s race. Unfortunately, someone had to miss out and this time it was Team Wiggins.”