Team Wiggins Le Col
British cycling team
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Team Wiggins Le Col (UCI team code: WGN), 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 in 2015. The team folded at the end of the 2019 season after completing the Tour of Britain.[1]
| Team information | ||
|---|---|---|
| UCI code | WGN | |
| Registered | United Kingdom | |
| Founded | 2014 | |
| Disbanded | 2019 | |
| Discipline(s) | Road & track | |
| Status | UCI Continental | |
| Bicycles | Pinarello | |
| Website | Team home page | |
| Key personnel | ||
| General manager | Robert Dodds Andrew McQuaid Bradley Wiggins | |
| Team manager | Simon Cope | |
| Team name history | ||
2014–2018 2019 | WIGGINS Team Wiggins Le Col | |
| ||
Team history
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The team was founded by Bradley Wiggins, 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.[2][3]
The team has a reported budget of £460,000 which is comparable to JLT–Condor and Madison-Genesis. According to Cycling Weekly the team's management comprises Robert Dodds (president of XIX Entertainment, and Wiggins's manager), Andrew McQuaid (rider agent and director of Trinity Sports Management) and Wiggins himself. The team appointed former Wiggle–Honda DS Simon Cope as its first directeur sportif .[4]
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, Jonathan Dibben, Owain Doull, Daniel Patten, Iain Paton, Andy Tennant and Michael Thompson.[4][5] 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 licence.[6]
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.[7] In 2016, he entered the Tour De Yorkshire with his team and dropped out in the first stage.[8] WIGGINS was not invited to the 2017 Tour de Yorkshire.[9] In 2018 following the collapse of Team Aqua Blue Sport, Team Wiggins participated at short notice in the 2018 Tour of Britain.[10] Tom Pidcock 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 which indicated that XIX Entertainment no longer held a 40 per cent stake in the team, and that this share had been transferred to Wiggins' firm, Wiggins Right Limited.[11]
In August 2019, Wiggins announced that the team would be closing down at the end of the year.[12]
Sponsorship
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Sky was the team's original sponsor.[13] The team's kit was initially produced by Rapha.[14] 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.[15] The team used Pinarello bikes equipped with Zipp, Fizik, Elite and SRAM components.[16]
Final roster
- As of 30 September 2019.[17]
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Major wins
- 2015
- Wiltshire GP, Andy Tennant
- Stage 2 Flèche du Sud, Andy Tennant
- Stages 3 & 4 Flèche du Sud, Owain Doull
- Round 6 – Barrow Tour Series, Christopher Lawless
Points classification Tour of Britain, Owain Doull- 2016
- Stage 3a (ITT) Le Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux, Jonathan Dibben
- Stage 4 Ronde de l'Isard, Scott Davies
- Stage 5 Olympia's Tour, Christopher Latham
- 2017
- Klondike Grand Prix, Christopher Latham
- 2018
- Volta ao Alentejo
- Stages 1 & 6, Gabriel Cullaigh
Youth Classification, Mark Downey
- Rutland–Melton International CiCLE Classic, Gabriel Cullaigh
- Stage 2 Giro della Valle d'Aosta, Mark Donovan
Mountains classification Le Triptyque des Monts et Chateaux, James Fouché- 2019
- Tour of Antalya
- Mountain classification, James Fouché
- Intermediate sprints classification, James Fouché
- Volta ao Alentejo
- Stage 3, Gabriel Cullaigh
- Mountains classification, James Fouché
- Triptyque des Monts et Châteaux
Points classification, Thomas Pidcock- Stage 2b, Thomas Pidcock
- Paris–Roubaix Espoirs, Thomas Pidcock
Overall Tour Alsace, Thomas Pidcock
- Young rider classification, Thomas Pidcock
- Stage 2, Thomas Pidcock
National, continental and world champions
- 2015
British U23 Road Race, Owain Doull- British Track (Individual pursuit), Andy Tennant
UEC European Track (Team pursuit) Bradley Wiggins- 2016
World Track (Points race), Jonathan Dibben- World Track (Madison), Bradley Wiggins
- British U23 Time Trial, Scott Davies
Olympic Games (Team pursuit), Steven Burke, Owain Doull & Bradley Wiggins- Olympic Games (Team Sprint), Philip Hindes
- 2017
- British U23 Time Trial, Scott Davies
- 2018
- British U23 Road Race, Robert Scott
New Zealand U23 Road Race, James Fouché
Irish U23 Time Trial, Michael O'Loughlin- 2019
- New Zealand Road Race, James Fouché
- New Zealand U23 Road Race, James Fouché
- New Zealand U23 Time Trial, James Fouché
- Irish U23 Time Trial, Michael O'Loughlin
