Ranking every Team Sky Tour de France squad

When Sky Procycling launched in 2010, the aim was to win the Tour de France with a British rider within five years. They achieved that three years ahead of schedule in 2012 with Bradley Wiggins, adding four further victories courtesy of Chris Froome in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, before passing the baton to Geraint Thomas in 2018.

Team Sky’s three Tour winners are winding down their cycling careers at this point, with Wiggins having retired in 2016, Chris Froome’s contract with Israel-Premier Tech concluding this year and Geraint Thomas confirming yesterday that he’ll be bowing out of the sport at the end of 2025.

Regardless Team Sky’s impact is still felt today. The British squad optimised science and reworked the tactical code to engineer a series of dominant Tour victories during its heyday in the 2010s, planting a train of climbers at the front of the pack to deter other teams from attacking, a tactic still used by the likes of Visma-Lease a Bike and UAE Team Emirates. With a huge budget behind them as well, Team Sky weren’t afraid to buy up the sport’s biggest names and shoehorn them into domestique roles for their British leaders.

With the last legends of the Team Sky era coming to the end of their racing careers, we’ve had a look back at those formidable Tour de France squads and ranked the lineups from worst to best, based on team strength, name value and eventual results. We’re talking about the Team Sky era here specifically, so only including 2010 to 2018.

9. 2010

Team Sky’s 2010 squad

• Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain, 22nd in GC)
• Michael Barry (Canada, 96th in GC)
• Steve Cummings (Great Britain, 148th in GC)
• Juan Antonio Flecha (Spain, 86th in GC)
• Simon Gerrans (Australia, DNF)
• Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway, 113th in GC)
• Thomas Löfkvist (Sweden, 15th in GC)
• Serge Pauwels (Belgium, 104th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 64th in GC)

Team Sky were blighted by some real teething errors in their debut Tour de France. Hoping for Wiggins to bounce back from a Giro d’Italia of mixed fortunes, the Brit was the protected leader. After a strong fourth place at the 2009 Tour with Garmin (which was later upgraded to third), they were right to back the former track specialist, however the support on offer was rather meagre in comparison to the troupes we’re going to see later on. In all fairness though, this was their first season and the team had split ambitions, with a mixture of sprinters and Classics men on their roster.

In terms of this Tour de France, mountain support for Wiggins was thin. He had just Serge Pauwels and Thomas Löfkvist for company, and ultimately no mountain train could have bridged the gulf created between Wiggins and the top ranks of GC. The 2012 Tour winner would finish the race in 22nd (one place behind Lance Armstrong). In fact, Löfkvist would come closest to the maillot jaune, finishing 15th on the general classification.

On paper, the team was rammed with stage hunters, but Steve Cummings, Juan Antonio Flecha and Simon Gerrans fell flat at the Tour. Edvald Boasson Hagen – who at this time was one of the most lucrative talents in the sport – reached the top three in a handful of sprints, but that is the only real takeaway from this maiden Tour for Sky.

8. 2011

Team Sky's 2011 squad

• Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain, DNF)
• Juan Antonio Flecha (Spain, 98th in GC)
• Simon Gerrans (Australia, 96th in GC)
• Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway, 53rd in GC, 2 stage wins)
• Christian Knees (Germany, 64th in GC)
• Ben Swift (Great Britain, 137th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 31st in GC)
• Rigoberto Urán (Colombia, 24th in GC)
• Xabier Zandio (Spain, 48th in GC)

In collaboration with WWF, Team Sky unveiled a green-accented kit ahead of the 2011 Tour de France, only for Bradley Wiggins to win the national championships a week prior to the Grand Départ. He was on good form coming into the 2011 race, having won the Critérium du Dauphiné in June.

There were three other key riders within this transitional Sky lineup. Flanked again by Edvald Boasson Hagen, who'd this time go on to win two stages, as well as talented young Colombian Rigoberto Urán and Geraint Thomas, who was still a rouleur at this point, Wiggins's wingmen had a year's extra experience in their legs.

The squad was still balanced between GC and the sprints, as teams often were in the early 2010s. A couple of riders were there to help Boasson Hagen, including Ben Swift who would ride his first – and, to date, only – Tour for the team. The mountain support was taken on by Urán and Xabier Zandio, who would feature in numerous Sky line-ups in the years to come.

To the likes of Leopard-Trek, Saxo Bank and BMC, Team Sky's mountain contingent was no competition. Urán gave the GC a good go, ultimately finishing in 24th place, but without Wiggins, who suffered a crash in the first week, the squad was missing in the big moments.

7. 2014

Team Sky's 2014 squad

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, DNF)
• Bernhard Eisel (Austria, 126th in GC)
• Vasil Kiriyenka (Belarus, 86th)
• David López (Spain, 105th in GC)
• Mikel Nieve (Spain, 18th in GC)
• Danny Pate (USA, 153rd in GC)
• Richie Porte (Australia, 23rd in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 22nd in GC)
• Xabier Zandio (Spain, DNF)

After winning the 2012 and 2013 Tours, Team Sky were a proven force by 2014. Following a competitive run-up, it looked as though Froome would be under fierce pressure from Tinkoff-Saxo's Alberto Contador, who lined up with his own superteam at the start in Yorkshire. With the race beginning in the UK, the pressure was on for Sky to deliver, but they fielded a team including only two Brits: Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome. Three Spaniards were given support roles and Richie Porte returned for a reprisal of his role as the world's best superdomestique.

Defending champion Froome pulled out of the 2014 race on Stage 5 after a second crash in as many days though. This gave way for Sky to finally allow Richie Porte leadership duties, which he fulfilled this for a while, but he couldn't sustain his position in the top ten, ultimately falling from second to sixteenth on Stage 15.

With Porte flailing in the final week, he was surpassed by his teammates Thomas and Nieve, who finished just inside the top 25 in GC. Without a stage win and no riders in the top ten of GC, the 2014 Tour can be deemed a miss for Team Sky. After the lofty heights of the two previous Tours though, who can blame them for missing the mark? You can't win them all.

6. 2013

Team Sky's 2013 squad

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 1st in GC, 4 stage wins)
• Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway, DNF)
• Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain, 77th in GC)
• Vasil Kiriyenka (Belarus, DNF)
• David López (Spain, 127th in GC)
• Richie Porte (Australia, 19th in GC)
• Kanstantsin Suitsou (Belarus, 90th in GC)
• Ian Stannard (Great Britain, 135th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 140th in GC)

Following up on a mightily successful 2012 Tour de France, Team Sky sent Wiggins to the Giro while Chris Froome targeted the Tour de France. The wider squad had been altered from the previous year's too. With Cavendish gone, the line-up emphasised climbers, recruiting the support of the experienced David López and young British talent Pete Kennaugh.

It was always going to be hard for Froome to lose the 2013 Tour de France. Hot off a win at the Tour de Romandie and Dauphiné earlier that year, Froome followed in Wiggins's footsteps and claimed the yellow jersey after the first mountain stage.

With the valiant support of Richie Porte, winner of Paris-Nice that year, Froome defended the jersey in the cols of the Pyrenees and Alps, adding a stage win against the clock at Mont-Saint-Michel as well as a dominant solo victory atop Mont Ventoux at the end of week two. Despite a tussle with a fan up Alpe d'Huez, Porte guarded Froome up Dutch Mountain for the Brit to win the 2013 Tour de France in emphatic fashion.

While Sky won the Tour with a clear margin, this was one of their weaker team performances at the race. Outside of Porte, domestiques were rather thin on the ground, while Saxo-Tinkoff and Movistar often appeared as stronger squads with more depth.

5. 2016

Team Sky's 2016 squad

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 1st in GC, 2 stage wins)
• Sergio Henao (Colombia, 12th in GC)
• Vasil Kiriyenka (Belarus, 103rd in GC)
• Mikel Landa (Spain, 35th in GC)
• Mikel Nieve (Spain, 17th in GC)
• Wout Poels (Netherlands, 28th in GC)
• Luke Rowe (Great Britain, 151st in GC)
• Ian Stannard (Great Britain, 161st in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 15th in GC)

The 2016 Tour de France is known for one thing: Chris Froome running up Mont Ventoux.

Sadly for his teammates, this somewhat overshadowed a solid performance at the Tour. The departure of superdomestique Porte led Sergio Henao to be drafted in for the mountains alongside Wout Poels, who had recently won Liège-Bastogne-Liège. Recent signing Mikel Landa grabbed attention too, having finished the 2015 Giro in third place overall.

This is one of Sky's most modest squads, perhaps due to the absent Porte. Mikel Nieve and Vasil Kiriyenka steadied the ship while Luke Rowe and Ian Stannard supported Froome during the flat opening week. Geraint Thomas stepped up as a GC rider too, finishing in 15th place for the second consecutive year.

If you combine Sky's top five on GC, this is their best performance as a collective. Froome was joined in the top 20 by three of his teammates: Henao, Thomas and Nieve.

4. 2017

Team Sky's 2017 squad

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 1st in GC)
• Sergio Henao (Colombia, 28th in GC)
• Vasil Kiriyenka (Belarus, 112th in GC)
• Christian Knees (Germany, 144th in GC)
• Michał Kwiatkowski (Poland, 57th in GC)
• Mikel Landa (Spain, 4th in GC)
• Mikel Nieve (Spain, 14th in GC)
• Luke Rowe (Great Britain, 167th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, DNF, 1 stage win)

Although the 2017 Tour de France saw Sky win with its tightest margin, the team held the yellow jersey for all but two stages.

Piloted by Froome in the GC, it also possessed Geraint Thomas, who won the opening stage after recovering from a crash at the Giro, and podium contender Mikel Landa. Landa was a standout rider on this Tour but would miss out on the podium by a single second, becoming the best-placed non-British rider at the Tour during the Sky era.

The trio of the Mikels and Michał Kwiatkowski worked well in the mountains, keeping Froome's rivals at bay, even if Froome himself didn't help matters taking a wrong turn up the Peyregudes to end up in a caravan veranda.

Overall this was the Tour that Froome needed team support the most. Fabio Aru snatched the jersey off his back and his rivals sensed danger. Sky's steady mountain support, perhaps helped by a weakened overall Tour start list that year, managed to save his bacon.

3. 2015

Team Sky's 2015 sqaud

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 1st in GC, 1 stage win)
• Pete Kennaugh (Great Britain, DNF)
• Leopold König (Czechia, 70th in GC)
• Wout Poels (Netherlands, 44th in GC)
• Richie Porte (Australia, 48th in GC)
• Nicolas Roche (Ireland, 35th in GC)
• Luke Rowe (Great Britain, 136th in GC)
• Ian Stannard (Great Britain, 128th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 15th in GC)

After the disappointment of 2014, Team Sky bulked up its roster for 2015. Headed by Chris Froome, who'd go onto win the race for a second time, Sky's line-up boasted the domestique support of Richie Porte, Nicolas Roche and top ten Tour finisher Leopold König. To boot, this was also their most British line-up, fielding a total of five riders from the UK, including national champion Pete Kennaugh.

The roster, backed up with strong rouleurs Thomas and Stannard, supported Froome through the echelons in the Netherlands, putting minutes into his rival from two years prior, Nairo Quintana. With yellow in hand early on, Sky nursed Froome's advantage throughout the first week before bursting into life once the race hit the Pyrenees.

The 'Sky train' decimated the opposition on Stage 10's mountaintop finish to La Pierre Saint Martin, with Froome and Porte finishing first and second on the day. Geraint Thomas made his first GC tango, remaining in the mid-ranks of top ten before striking a telephone pole on the descent of the Col de Manse. Regardless, the squad limited Froome's losses when Contador, Nibali and Quintana threatened a coup in the Alps, and he sailed into Paris in yellow once again.

2. 2018

Team Sky's 2018 squad

• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 3rd in GC)
• Egan Bernal (Colombia, 15th in GC)
• Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain, 78th in GC)
• Michał Kwiatkowski (Poland, 49th in GC)
• Gianni Moscon (Italy, DSQ)
• Wout Poels (Netherlands, 58th in GC)
• Luke Rowe (Great Britain, 128th in GC)
• Geraint Thomas (Great Britain, 1st in GC, 2 stage wins)

Pound for pound, Team Sky's 2018 Tour squad is indisputably one of the best, especially given it is the only eight-man team on this list given UCI rule changes that came into effect that. Coming into the Tour, the team also debuted a killer whale-inspired jersey as part of Ocean Rescue's #PassOnPlastic campaign. Slightly ironic in retrospect given the team would be bought out by a petrochemical company a few months later.

Although the team's tactics were focussed around Froome, Sky demonstrated an unfamiliar flexibility to support Geraint Thomas in his title bid once he took the maillot jaune on Stage 11. This two-fold strategy proved pivotal in their approach as they struck fear into their rivals through brute climbing strength and all-round race control. Jumbo-Visma wobbled them slightly in the mountains, but the express train of Bernal, Poels, Froome and Thomas was always going to be tough to challenge.

As legacy goes, this roster harbours three Tour winners, the most of any on this list. Although Bernal was still a youngster, he made his presence felt as Sky continued to rule the Tour with an iron-fist. Their dominance was evident in the composition of the overall podium, which included Sky riders in 1st and 3rd.

1. 2012

Team Sky's 2012 sqaud

• Bradley Wiggins (Great Britain, 1st in GC, 2 stage wins)
• Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway, 55th in GC)
• Mark Cavendish (Great Britain, 142nd, 3 stage wins)
• Bernhard Eisel (Austria, 146th)
• Chris Froome (Great Britain, 2nd in GC, 2 stage wins)
• Christian Knees (Germany, 82nd in GC)
• Richie Porte (Australia, 34th in GC)
• Michael Rogers (Australia, 23rd in GC)
• Kanstantsin Siutsou (Belarus, DNF)

Team Sky's most convincing all-round performance came in 2012. With seven stage victories (33% of all on offer) from three different riders and the top two spots on the overall podium, it's hard to argue against this topping the ranking.

On Stage 7's uphill finish to La Planche des Belles Filles, we saw a tidal shift in pro cycling as the 'Sky train' graced the roads of the Tour de France for the first time. The climbing arsenal of Kanstantin Siutsou, Michael Rogers and Porte shattered the peloton until Froome and Wiggins were left at the head of the race to take the win. By winning the stage and yellow jersey that day, the team demonstrated that they were far and away the strongest in that year's Tour de France.

This wasn't the last we'd see of the dreaded 'Sky train' in 2012 either. The line of Adidas-clad riders put a stranglehold on the GC race as Wiggins and Froome comfortably held on for the top two places, with Froome sacrificing his own ambitions – when he looked to be the stronger rider at times – for Wiggins once the race hit the Pyrenees.

Mark Cavendish, who joined Sky for one year, was guided by a mini train consisting of Boasson Hagen and Eisel. Together, they piloted the Manxman to three stage wins along the way, and were of course joined by Wiggins for those iconic shots of the yellow jersey leading out the world champion.

Without a shadow of a doubt, this 2012 performance is the most influential on our list. It ushered in the Team Sky era, moulding a new tactical rule book to follow in the years to come, and inspiring a generation of riders young and old.