Wiggins: Algarve a “brilliant week" for Team Sky

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After finishing off in style by claiming the individual time trial on the final day, Bradley Wiggins has reflected on a fine week for Team Sky in southern Portugal at the Volta ao Algarve.

As well as winning the final stage, Wiggins helped teammate Richie Porte clinch the overall GC, while Sky’s Edvald Boasson Hagen won the points classification. Both men matched Wiggins’ feat of winning an individual stage, too. With Mark Cavendish winning two stages at the Tour of Qatar earlier in the month, the early signs for a successful 2012 are looking very positive indeed for the British outfit.

“We won three stages, Richie took the overall, Edvald claimed the white jersey and I was third on GC so it was a brilliant week for us all,” Wiggins told British Cycling. "We knew training this winter had gone really well but until you actually put it into practice in the first race of the season you are never quite sure where you are at. The goal was to try and get Richie as high up as possible in Portugal but we were just going from day to day with no big expectations really.

“It obviously went better than we'd all anticipated and it was great to start the season off that way; not only individually but as a team too - I think the way we rode together made us the dominant force.”

Porte joined Team Sky during the off-season and the 27-year-old Australian has got his spell with his new team off to a roaring start. His form and ultimate win in the GC didn’t surprise Wiggins at all.

“Everyone knew Richie was capable of that, which made our jobs a bit easier in the sense that we just had to give 100% and he was going to finish it off,” Wiggins said. “It's nice when someone finishes it off at the top of the mountain like that after all the hard work through the day from the whole team.”