Former Tour de France champion on the comeback trail after Giro d’Italia injury
Bradley Wiggins is set to make his return to the peloton this weekend, as he takes his place in Sky Procycling’s six-man line up for the Tour of Poland. Wiggins has not raced since abandoning the Giro d’Italia on May 17th with a knee injury and a chest infection, and will look to get his season back on track in the seven-day race.
Wiggins’ 2013 season could hardly have gone differently from last year, when his Tour de France victory came after wins at Paris-Nice, the Tour de Romandie and the Critérium du Dauphiné. His best result this year has been fifth place overall at the Volta a Catalunya in March, and his only victories have come in team time trials, at the Giro del Trentino and Giro d’Italia.
Wiggins’ ill luck and bad results have been mirrored by the success of teammate Chris Froome, who took the multiple Olympic champion’s Tour crown this week.
None of the riders that guided Froome to his own Tour victory will be beside Wiggins in Poland, but he will have three of the riders that were with him at the Giro. This includes Colombian Rigoberto Urán, who took Wiggins’ place at the head of the Sky team in Italy and finished second overall to Vincenzo Nibali (Astana), and compatriot Sergio Henao, along with American Danny Pate.
Like Wiggins, none of the three riders has raced since.
With the Tour of Poland being run under new, experimental conditions – where the International Cycling Union (UCI) hopes to encourage attacking riding – each team will be made up of six riders instead of the usual eight for a WorldTour race. The last two places will be taken by young British riders Luke Rowe and Ben Swift.
Sky Procycling team for the Tour of Poland
Sergio Henao, Danny Pate, Luke Rowe, Ben Swift, Rigoberto Urán, Bradley Wiggins