The British team was founded in 2010 with the clear aim of producing the first British Tour de France winner in just a few years. The media company Sky acted as a strong financial backer, while the close ties to the then very successful British Cycling Federation helped with the expertise. However, the beginnings were bumpy and the new approach to cycling in terms of nutrition, training and riding style was met with some scepticism. Buzzword: "marginal gains".
Two years after it was founded, Team Sky was at the top: Bradley Wiggins won the 2012 Tour de France as a Brit ahead of team-mate Chris Froome. It was the beginning of years of dominance by the British team, which brought the team six more overall Tour victories by 2019. An overview of how the riders from the 2012 squad have fared since then.
Bradley Wiggins
Yellow in Paris, gold in London: 2012 was a huge success for Wiggins with his Tour victory and time trial success at the Olympic Games in England. His unconventional and occasionally provocative manner also made him popular beyond the world of cycling, and he was appointed Commander of the British Empire by the Queen - he now has a "Sir" in front of his name. In sporting terms, however, Wiggins was unable to build on the successes of 2012 in the years that followed. And many things also went wrong in his private life after his career ended in 2015.
His company "Wiggins Rights Limited", which managed his trademark rights among other things, went bankrupt - Wiggins was personally liable and plunged into huge debt. The 44-year-old has been in private insolvency proceedings since June of this year. Wiggins also came under suspicion of doping in 2018 in the course of an investigation by the British Sports Committee. It concerned the use of an asthma medication before the 2012 Tour de France, which Wiggins justified on medical grounds.
Chris Froome
Born in Kenya, he will still be riding in the professional peloton in 2025 - now aged 39. At Sky, he replaced Wiggins as captain and won the Tour de France four times between 2013 and 2017. In 2019, however, Froome crashed heavily during a route inspection at the Critérium du Dauphiné and broke his thigh, hip and several ribs. He was never able to regain his old abilities. Nevertheless, the Israel Premier-Tech team signed him in 2021 for a rumoured annual salary of five million euros - an investment that never paid off, at least in sporting terms.
In the past two years, the team no longer nominated him for the Tour de France. Nevertheless, Froome is still under contract with Israel Premier-Tech. The end of 2025 is now the end. After the end of his career, he wants to set up a cycling academy in Kenya. One controversy in his career was the positive doping test for the asthma drug salbutamol during the 2017 Vuelta. Froome was later cleared of the doping allegation.
Mark Cavendish
He's done it: with his stage win in Saint-Vulbas at this year's Tour de France, Cavendish took his 35th stage win in France - replacing Eddy Merckx in the all-time leaderboard. The British sprinter is now the most successful stage winner in Tour history. Behind the 39-year-old lies a long, turbulent career, with many highs, many lows and many unexpected comebacks. Cavendish had already been written off several times due to an Epstein-Barr virus and numerous crashes, but always came back with victories.
He was knighted by Prince William in October. Cavendish has not yet explicitly commented on whether he will now retire. Cavendish only completed the 2012 season for Team Sky, winning three stages of the Tour de France at the time.
Richie Porte
The 39-year-old is barely present in the cycling world anymore. Instead, Porte is enjoying life in his native Tasmania, has found a new hobby in swimming and regularly takes part in gravel events in Australia. "It's just a great time in my life to be back home and living a normal life," Porte told the portal "Auscycling" last year.
At Sky, Porte was long regarded as the "crown prince" for future leadership roles, but never made a breakthrough. He later tried his hand as captain at Team BMC and Trek-Segafredo for a long time without success. It was not until 2020, at the age of 35, that he finished third on the Tour podium. He returned to Ineos Greandiers (formerly Sky) for the last two years of his career in 2021 and 2022.
Edvald Boasson Hagen
In 2024, the Norwegian spent the last year of his career with the French team Decathlon Ag2r La Mondiale. The big successes were already several years in the past. Among other things, the 37-year-old won a stage at the Tour de France in 2011 and 2017. Boasson Hagen rode for Sky for five years until 2014 and was considered one of the most versatile talents in cycling at the time, but was never quite able to fulfil the high expectations. With the end of his career, he now wants to spend more time with his family, he announced.
Michael Rogers
As a tireless helper, the Australian played a major role in Wiggins' overall success at the Tour de France. Meanwhile, Rogers had to end his own career in 2016 due to cardiac arrhythmia. He celebrated his greatest successes with three world championship titles in the individual time trial in 2003, 2004 and 2005. The now 44-year-old also won a Tour stage in 2014. From 2021 to 2024, Rogers served as "Head of Innovation" at the UCI and in this role worked on new rules and technologies for cycling. Among other things, he drove the development of the e-sports sector in the world governing body.
Bernhard Eisel
The Austrian was one of the few helpers for Cavendish in the Sky squad at the time and later rode with the Briton again at Dimension Data. Eisel built up an outstanding reputation as a sprint rider during his career, but rarely won races himself. However, his name is still on the list of winners of Gent-Wevelgem (2010).
After ending his career in 2019, Eisel joined the Eurosport TV channel as a pundit, a role he still fulfils today. He also worked for the streaming channel Global Cycling Network. Since 2022, the 43-year-old has also been the sporting director of the Team Red-Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe.
Christian Knees
Born in Cologne, Knees has remained loyal to the British team even after the end of his career: since 2020, he has been a member of the sporting directors' squad at the current Team Ineos Grenadiers. Among others, the 43-year-old looks after Kim Heiduk in the team. Knees previously rode for the team himself from 2011 to 2020 and, as a tall rider, was considered a bodyguard and road captain for the captains on flat stages. In addition to 2012, Knees was also part of the Tour squad when Chris Froome won the Tour in 2017.
Kanstantsin Sivtsov
The Belarusian had to abandon the 2012 Tour after crashing on stage 3. Sivtsov was employed by Team Sky until 2015 and was particularly valued for his time trial qualities. In 2018, the now 42-year-old tested positive for Epo - at the time he was riding for Bahrain-Merida. He was subsequently given a four-year ban and officially ended his career in 2020. According to his profile on the Linkedin website, Sivtsov is now a manager at the Kosta Group, based in Florida.
