VeloResults

The alarm clocked stirred me from my slumber at the ungodly hour of 5am. Why would I be getting up on a freezing Monday morning at yon time?

Well, it's not every day you get to witness cycling history in the making - I was off to London, not to see the Queen, but as some would have you believe, the King!

Bradley Wiggins no less, and the Sky team launch at the Milltower Bank was my destination.

Given the weather, my journey was only slightly delayed and I arrived in plenty of time for a coffee with GB Tour legend Barry Hoban, Pinarello UK distributor, my host for the day Phil Griffiths, and the man himself - Fausto Pinarello.

All have high hopes for Sky and were keen to show me the machines Brad and co. will hopefully be riding to victory throughout 2010.

VR man Gregor sits patiently in the audience.

After a lot of waiting around at various levels in the building Dermot Monaghan (ITV presenter) introduced David Brailsford and his management team, then the riders rode across the stage one at a time before walking on and doing a mock sign on.

Bradley makes his entrance.

Brad talks to Dermot.

Lots of flash guns, loud music and slick presentation made for a very strong, media-driven presentation.

We were then told that three of the Aussies in the squad had already been in action down under in the crit series held between Xmas and New Year.

Footage of these guys was followed by more of Brad and the others leading a mini 'Sky Ride' earlier this morning.

It was pretty chilly in central London yesterday morning. (click for the full image)

Leading the ride through the park.

Then it was up to the 29th floor for the buffet and a skek at the clothing (by Adidas), the bikes (Pinarello Dogma with Shimano D/Ace Di2 electronic 7970) and the cars (Jags).

Jaguars for team cars, nice.

After this I was able to catch up with Wiggins and get down to the 'nitty gritty'...

Brad was relaxed and chatty with VR.

When did you decide to join Sky and why?

"The first rest day of the Tour, Dave came to see me in my room and after 5 minutes I wanted in.

"As the season progressed I knew I couldn't stay at Garmin for reasons I can't go into.

"As I have said, it's like coming home for me - but it's the small things too.

"We have someone out in Spain just now checking and GPS mapping all the climbs within 30 minutes of my home and matching them to climbs in the Tour so I can train on them.

"A lot of the guys, even the experienced ones, have mentioned how impressed they are with the detail and finishing touches."

After riding for a number of established teams do you feel Sky, being the new kid on the block, has the infrastructure and back room staff to undertake a season at the top of our sport, or do you see guys being on a sharp learning curve?

"From what I have seen so far, yes!

"Dave has made it clear to everyone that it's our team, and part of that is changing things we don't like as the season progresses.

"The mentality and philosophy here is to control everything possible and minimise the chances of things turning into crap.

"One of the strengths we have is staff from non-cycling backgrounds who ask basic questions of us, things that someone like Sean Yates may not even think of they will, and likewise Yates brings tremendous experience from his riding and management within cycling."

Brad has clearly been doing his flexibility exercises over the winter.

With the Tour being your main target for 2010 will your preparation be the same, will you ride the Giro?

"Pretty much the same.

"I will ride the Giro and a very similar programme to 09', but my target is the Tour so I have a clearer goal so everything will be focussed around that."

What is your first race?

"Etoile de Bessèges in France starting on February 3rd.

"I will be of to Spain from tomorrow until then."

The Sky Team's Pinarellos are gorgeous. (click for the full image)

There's been a fine attention to detail.

The comic [Cycling Weekly] described you as having a 'meteoric rise to the top', after 8 years as a pro, how did it feel to you?

"It was more just getting my ass into gear and things coming together.

"I knew from the results I was getting in training that I was capable of the top 10, but it was difficult for people to believe that and a few had a chuckle to themselves.

"But fourth was better than I expected, so I now know what I am capable of."

A lot is being made of your weight loss last season, did you follow a specific diet or just watch what you eat.

"It's not that big a deal really, I happened to mention it in a string of other factors and people picked up on it.

"Last winter I had a longer break and put on more weight but its not a big thing for me, I know how to loose it when I need to.

"At the Tour of California last year Cav was 10kg over weight and lost it for the Tour, then won 6 stages but no one mentioned it.

"This year I have had a shorter break so have less to loose."

Have you been on the team bus yet, what is your favourite thing about it?

"Not yet, but as long as it has a CD player!"

After thanking him for his time and wishing him all the best for the season I came away having changed my mind about him; he has changed, maybe even grown-up and matured.

He talks with a confidence and belief in himself, but not in an arrogant way, in a very calm way.

Later, he was being grilled by a scrum of press and remained candid, cool and relaxed throughout. That is a difficult if not impossible art to teach someone, and I have only seen it in a few riders before, but almost always they rise to the top in the sport.

I'm not telling you he will be winning the next five Tours, but he truly believes he can win that race at least once; acquiring that self-belief can be a big hurdle.

From 1999 we watched Armstrong take seven Tours de France and most of the time he would claim his main rival was Ulrich - but listening to the German each year it was difficult to believe that even he thought he could win,  so the fact that Wiggins has already overcome this, to me, is a major achievement.

I still have a few nagging doubts but I am beginning to come round.

The jersey designers have gone for simple and understated. Could they have tried a little harder? (click for the full image)

'Just one more ting sir'

The bus; Brad can relax as he will have a CD player and much, much more.

Like everything else, the team bus is a bit special. (click for the full image)

Team Sky went to Formula 1 as a start, then upgraded from there.

For the record, they are Volvo's (model 9700) with 12 litre Volvo Euro 4 engines.

Each has 9 VIP fully reclining Esteban coach seats with electric calf support and bespoke rider storage units. Also a Sky box under each seat for rider channel selection and MacBook Pro storage facility.

Showers, kitchen, bathroom, meeting room with full projector unit for team briefings and 'mood' lighting created in consultation with team psychiatrist Dr. Steve Peters.

Edvald says cheerio. See you at the races.

Ed's bit

The worst dose of flu I've had in my life made sure that there would be no 'jolly' to London for me.

But Gregor was there, doing a fine job; that doesn't mean I can't have my tuppence worth, though!

I'm with Vik that the strip is very weak; white on pale blue isn't a happy amalgam; the logo is all but unreadable in the pictures in the Times.

With the best brains in the world at their disposal, I'd expected something radical.

Chris Froome models the less-than-cutting-edge jersey.

However, it'll have to be a new strip for the Giro and Tour - either that or mini air cons for the jersey pockets.

Dave likes it though, so maybe I'm just becoming Vik ?

And call me old fashioned, but black socks?

I should also mention that Vik reckons that Jaguars should only be seen parked outside golf club houses.

The Times (owned by Big Rupert) gives the launch a full page from their chief sports reporter and a commentary from Jeremy Whittle.

It's in this part that we hear again about 'marginal gains' - this one is like 'gender parity,' it just crept up on us.

Stevie and I have discussed this one at length and whilst we can see that a second here and a gramme there can make a contribution; we're not sure that having a Formula One guy design the bike racks or an asymmetric fork makes much odds when Boonen is in 53 x 11 skimming across the muddy cobbles like something out of Avatar.

By the way, it seems that Stevie and Vik are discussing a 'zero tolerance of Sky' campaign - a good result at Het Nieuwsblad could repeal that, though.

The Telegraph; right wing ranter it may be, but I still have a soft spot for the old girl - back in the 70's it was the only news source there was to calm your nerves about Alf's defence of his '25' crown on a Monday morning.

And whilst all the other "qualities" scurried down the tabloid size route - The Telegraph actually seems bigger, these days.

'Sky's the limit' says the headline; a lot of thought went into that one.

We get a programme for the team, a team list and a little piece about Linda McCartney, ANC and Hercules - shame about that 'diercetuer sportifs' typo.

Over at the Independent they make big play of the figures; 'It's annual budget, following a reported start-up cost of £35m, is believed to be around £10m a year; around one and a half times larger that most of the teams from "old Europe", as the man from L'Equipe put it.'

Wow!

Juan Antonio Flecha swallows hard, and goes out in public with black socks on.

I was talking to a 'well known British pro' the other day, he says that one thing he's learned is that there are few problems in pro cycling which cannot be solved by applying a brown paper envelope stuffed with 100 euro notes.

On that principle, Sky should just buy the Tour - be a lot less hassle for Brad.

The Guardian doesn't give the launch much of an airing; and I might just have detected a whiff of sarcasm in that opening line; 'their anointed leader,' the definition of 'anointed' I like best is, 'to choose by or as if by divine intervention.'

I'm not sure that old JV sees it that way.

It won't be long now 'til the first flag drops and the results will do the talking - I know a lot of the guys on the team and wish them well.

I think they'll get good results - but a Tour podium...

Ed Hood.

With thanks to BC for some of the images.

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