Wiggins to Ride Tour de Yorkshire
Sir Bradley Wiggins' participation in the inaugural Tour de Yorkshire has been confirmed.
The four-time Olympic champion, who left Team Sky after Paris-Roubaix on April 12, will ride for his eponymous team in the May 1 to 3 race, organisers have announced.
Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner, was not selected in Team Sky's 2014 squad for the race when it began in Yorkshire.
The Tour de Yorkshire, which begins in Bridlington and finishes in Leeds, is a legacy of the Grand Depart and features Steven Burke, Mark Christian, Andy Tennant, Owain Doull and Jon Dibben in Team Wiggins.
The quintet are all looking to be team-mates of Wiggins in the four-man, four-kilometre team pursuit at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympics.
Marcel Kittel, who won the opening stage of the Tour de France in Harrogate last summer, returns to Yorkshire with his Giant-Alpecin squad.
The German sprinter, who has struggled for form in 2015, will be fancied for stage one to Scarborough and stage two from Selby to York, with both routes expected to finish in a sprint.
The final Wakefield to Leeds stage is undulating and makes for a thrilling finale.
The Team Sky squad is led by Rotherham's Ben Swift and Scot Andy Fenn, while two-time Olympic track champion Ed Clancy, who is from Huddersfield, rides for JLT-Condor.