Team Sky announce their runners and riders for Tour de France debut

THERE are landmarks in the birth of any new professional cycling team - and the naming of Team Sky's Tour de France roster today is as big as any.

NUMBER ONE: Bradley Wiggins leads Team Sky in their Tour de France debut - and for the first time has a team built around him (Getty Images)

Three-time Olympic track champion Bradley Wiggins landed his, and Team Sky's, first Grand Tour stage win with victory in the Giro d'Italia opener in May, an 8.4km (5.2 mile) individual time trial, to sit pretty in pink with the Maglia Rosa  on his back.

But the Tour de France, in which Wiggins finished fourth last year, is the team's raison d'être.

If Team Sky's reason for being is the Tour de France, then their reason for riding is Wiggins - this is the first time the former Garmin-Slipstream man has had a team built around him.

Kurt Asle Arvesen, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Steve Cummings, Juan Antonio Flecha, Simon Gerrans, Thomas Lofkvist and Geraint Thomas were thought to be guaranteed of joining 30-year-old Wiggins as Brailsford, opting for a blend of youth and experience, international prowess and home-grown talent, was left mulling over the final spot.

But 35-year-old Arvesen, an experienced domestique and lieutenant on the road having featured strongly in five of the last six Tours, was the surprise omission.

The Norwegian, who broke his collarbone during the Tour of Qatar in February and retired from last week's Tour of Switzerland with a stomach upset, has failed to hit top form this season and Belgium's Serge Pauwels, a stronger rider in the mountains, have been drafted in as a result.

However, Sky's backing, and an aggressive pursuit of riders, has enabled Brailsford to build an impressive first-year squad for Wiggins - Tour winner, no; podium contender, yes.

Arvesen's compatriot Boasson Hagen, who announced his return from injury with a fine solo win on the final stage of the Critérium du Dauphiné, has the genuine potential to snatch an early stage win on his Tour debut and ease the pressure on Wiggins if he were not to bag the maillot jaune on the 8km (5 mile) prologue.

Spaniard Flecha and Brit Cummings, who at 29 is making his Tour debut after an impressive showing in the Giro, will chaperone Wiggins through the flat plains of France.

Their role is crucial given the split which cost Wiggins 41 seconds against seven-time winner Lance Armstrong as early as stage three 12 months ago - Armstrong beat Wiggins to the podium by just 37 seconds come July 26.

But it will be Swede Lofkvist and Australian Gerrans who will primarily guide Wiggins, never a natural climber, through the mountains.