TRIPLE Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins is confident he and his Team GB colleagues will soon be competing together in the Tour de France.
British cycling is on a high after an unprecedented medal haul at the Beijing Games two months ago.
Wiggins added individual and team pursuit golds to the gold and silver he won in those events in Athens four years previously, with Chris Hoy also
picking up three golds in China.
Mark Cavendish and Wiggins may have failed to reach the podium in the Madison event but both have already made their mark in the Tour de France, with Cavendish registering four stage victories this year.
Wiggins will be competing for Garmin-Chipotle next summer but has left the door open to join up with Team GB should that dream become a reality. He said: "It think it will happen. They are in the early stages of putting that together and it would be phenomenal if it does.
"We have got the talent so it is definitely likely now.
"You need the right team – and a sponsor who is going to put up £8 million a year, and they appear to have that. I don't know who it is yet but Sky have come on board and made a big commitment.
"And if a company like Sky gets involved with British cycling then a lot of others will as well.
"We already have the back-up team with (GB performance director] Dave Brailsford, who has put this whole thing together for British cycling, and (head coach] Shane Sutton.
"Then of course you need the riders and there are enough of us out there."
Wiggins, promoting his autobiography In Pursuit of Glory, hoped the arrival of Team GB on the Tour could coincide with the event's return to England after London hosted a stage last year.
He said: "There is talk of it coming back – I believe they are looking at 2011 – so it would be nice if there was a British team."
Wiggins was hopeful of emulating Cavendish next summer. He said: "I just want to win a stage and take the yellow jersey for a while. I came close last year when I had a third and a fourth.
"I have been within a couple of kilometres of winning a stage so it is definitely achievable. I have the ability to do it, it is just that it is so different to the track.
"I use the analogy that it is like Seb Coe taking on the marathon. He definitely had the engine for it as an Olympic champion on the track but to make that step up would take some doing."
The 28-year-old's book reveals his relationship, or lack of it, with his father Garry and also the way he had turned to alcohol after the Athens Olympics.
"It helped me in a way – it was a bit like having counselling. There were many things in there I had never actually spoken about," added Wiggins.
"I hadn't even talked to my mum about a lot of the stuff that had gone on, especially the drinking and the depression."
The full article contains 535 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
