Wiggins says ‘backward’ cycling will be worse off without Sky
SIR Bradley Wiggins has warned cycling could take a step backwards if Team Sky close their doors at the end of next season.
Sky, who own and sponsor the team, announced last week they will end their investment in professional cycling at the end of 2019, leaving Sir Dave Brailsford scrambling to find new backing to keep the bestfunded team in the sport together.
Wiggins, who became the first Briton to win the Tour de France when racing for Team Sky in 2012, has often been critical of his old employers since leaving in 2015, but said the end of the team would not be good news.
“People need to be careful what they wish for because if Sky go now the sport will be worse off for it,” Wiggins said.
“(Cycling) won’t disintegrate but it won’t have the profile it has enjoyed now. This day was always going to happen because the sport is so backward in some ways, the people that run it. It’s not corrupt but it’s so backward. There’s no money in the sport.
“Sky brought money but I’m talking about sponsors in general aside from Sky. Rather than be grateful for a company like Sky people just hammered it.”
Team Sky were often targeted by some fans, particularly in France, and many of the UCI’s recent reforms of racing regulations were seen to be ‘anti-Team
Sky’ as they sought to break the dominance of a team that has won six of the last seven Tours de France.