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Bradley Wiggins is looking to build on a fine start to the season when he heads into Paris-Nice this weekend with fellow Brits Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas joining him in Team Sky’s line-up.
Wiggins’ seasonal debut at the Volta ao Algarve was rounded off in perfect style as he won the concluding time trial to move up to third in the overall standings, which were topped by team-mate Richie Porte, whilst Thomas was part of the Great Britain line-up which claimed silver in the team pursuit at the London Track World Cup.
And next up is Paris-Nice which takes place between 4-11 March.
The “Race to the Sun” gave notice of Wiggins’ fine form in 2011 as he took third overall and it once again represents a clear early-season aim.
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"Everything about this team is just snowballing and getting better and better, race after race. We’re becoming more consistent too, it's more of a habit now." Bradley Wiggins |
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“It's the first big WorldTour race of the season in Europe and we'll just look to continue the momentum - that's the goal,” explained the 31-year-old.
Wiggins has been delighted to see new recruits like Porte and Kanstantsin Siutsou make an instant impact at Team Sky and that pair will race alongside him again in France, along with Chris Froome, Christian Knees, Danny Pate, Geraint Thomas and Rigoberto Urán.
“The new guys like 'Kosta' and Richie are all just slotting in perfectly. Portugal was the first time we'd ever raced together and it was a brilliant week.
“Everything about this team is just snowballing and getting better and better, race after race. We’re becoming more consistent too, it's more of a habit now. So everything we go to, one thing leads to another and we’ve also got an incredibly strong squad at Tirreno-Adriatico which takes place around the same time as Paris-Nice.
“It's great to be part of it and I’m just looking forward to Paris-Nice now and my next few races after that.”
Wiggins also underlined the importance of this phase of the campaign, having done the hard yards in training during the winter.
He explained: “In terms of training it sort of settles down now as the racing takes shape. Weeks like Algarve, you can't really replicate that and train that hard - it was a really tough five days.
“That's pretty much the pattern now for the next couple of races - Paris-Nice, then the Tour of Catalunya and then we're off on the next training block in Tenerife. It's about racing hard and then recovering in between. The training is kind of all done for the winter and it's well and truly the season now.”
