Following its success in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, British Cycling unveiled plans to expand into the highest level of professional cycling, announcing the formation of Team Sky in early 2009.
Setting out the ambitious goal of winning the Tour de France within five years, the project set itself apart from other similarly lofty launches, scoring a strong crew of starters - including Chris Froome, Bradley Wiggins and Geraint Thomas - and operating under an improbable 'zero tolerance' anti-doping policy.
The team set out for their first season in 2010, with Greg Henderson securing their first victory in the Tour Down Under criterium. Wiggins then went on to win the prologue in the Giro d'Italia, and although the team's early Grand Tour GC performances were not stunning, the organisation showed promise.
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- February 26, 2009 - Britons announce professional road squad
- September 9, 2009 - Team Sky unveils first six riders
- September 18, 2009 - Sky awarded four-year ProTour license
- November 21, 2009 - Team Sky reveals recruiting, management methods
- November 23, 2009 - Brailsford confident Team Sky can win clean
- December 10, 2009 - Bradley Wiggins signs with Team Sky
- December 15, 2009 - Team Sky announce two additional sponsors
- January 4, 2010 - Team Sky launched in London
- January 17, 2010 - Greg Henderson takes Sky's first win
- May 8, 2010 - Wiggins wins Giro d'Italia prologue
Edvald Boasson Hagen won the team's first Tour de France stage in 2011, and by the Vuelta a España, both Wiggins and Froome stood on the final podium, albeit behind overall winner Jose Cobo.
- February 15, 2011 - Brailsford analyses Sky's "zero tolerance" policy
- July 7, 2011 - Boasson Hagen wins team's first Tour de France stage
- November 11, 2011 - Froome, Wiggins podium in Vuelta a Espana
By 2012, Team Sky was flying, and Wiggins made the impossible dream of a Tour de France victory within five years come true in the squad's third season. He went on to win the Olympic gold medal in the individual time trial.
But the sport's foundations were about to undergo an upheaval when in October USADA published its Reasoned Decision, banning Lance Armstrong, and handing suspensions to six riders including ex-Team Sky rider Michael Barry, who had retired before the verdict could be announced.
- July 22, 2012 - Wiggins wins Team Sky's first Grand Tour
- August 1, 2012 - Wiggins wins Olympic gold
- October 9, 2012 - Leinders not renewed after Team Sky investigation
- October 12, 2012 - Newly retired Team Sky rider Michael Barry confesses to doping at US Postal
- October 17, 2012 - Team Sky asks riders and staff to sign anti-doping declaration
- May 17, 2013 - Wiggins pulls out of Giro d'Italia
- July 21, 2013 - Chris Froome wins Tour de France
- December 17, 2013 - UCI opens biological passport case against Team Sky's Jonathan Tiernan-Locke
- June 3, 2014 - Split racing schedules for Froome and Wiggins ahead of Tour de France
- June 6, 2014 - Wiggins left out of Team Sky's Tour de France team
- June 10, 2014 - Froome surprised at controversy over in-race inhaler use
- June 15, 2014 - Report: UCI fast-tracked Froome's TUE request at Tour de Romandie
- July 9, 2014 - Froome abandons Tour de France
- September 24, 2014 - Wiggins wins time trial world championship
- July 20, 2015 - Froome wins 2015 Tour de France
- July 20, 2015 - Froome ready to reveal Tour de France data but questions intense scrutiny
- July 24, 2015 - Sky's release of Froome's Tour de France data fails to clear the air
- December 3, 2015 - Chris Froome's physiological test data released
- March 13, 2016 - Geraint Thomas wins Paris-Nice
- April 24, 2016 - Wout Poels wins Team Sky's first Monument
- May 17, 2016 - Henao opens up about biological passport ordeal
- July 24, 2016 - Chris Froome wins 2016 Tour de France
- September 15, 2016 - Tour de France winners Froome and Wiggins named in confirmed 'Fancy Bear' WADA hack
- September 23, 2016 - Kiryienka wins time trial world title
- UKAD Timeline - Timeline
- October 7, 2016 - Wiggins and Team Sky under fresh scrutiny over medical package delivery
- March 16, 2017 - Former Team Sky rider admits violating no-needle rule
- April 29, 2017 - Moscon racially abuses Reza at Tour de Romandie
- June 6, 2017 - British Cycling asks Team Sky to leave offices at Manchester Velodrome
- June 6, 2017 - Exclusive: Team Sky riders consider asking Brailsford to resign
- July 23, 2017 - Chris Froome wins 2017 Tour de France
- September 10, 2017 - Chris Froome wins 2017 Vuelta a Espana
- September 28, 2017 - Team Sky report budget of £31 million in 2016
- November 15, 2017 - No doping charges for Wiggins, Team Sky and British Cycling over mystery package
- Froome Salbutamol Timeline - Timeline
- December 13, 2017 - Chris Froome returns adverse analytical finding for salbutamol
- April 11, 2018 - Lappartient says Chris Froome's case will not be resolved before the Giro d'Italia
- May 25, 2018 - Froome solos to victory on stage 19 of the Giro d'Italia to take race lead
- May 27, 2018 - Chris Froome wins 2018 Giro d'Italia
- June 28, 2018 - Chris Froome: I have every right to race the Tour de France
- July 2, 2018 - UCI closes salbutamol case against Chris Froome
- July 22, 2018 - Gianni Moscon disqualified from Tour de France
- July 29, 2018 - Geraint Thomas wins 2018 Tour de France
- December 12, 2018 - Sky announces it will end sponsorship after 2019
- February 14, 2019 - Ecopetrol linked with taking over Team Sky sponsorship
- February 19, 2019 - New Colombia-backed Team Sky very unlikely, says Dave Brailsford
- March 14, 2019 - Team Sky expected to become Team Ineos
- March 19, 2019 - Team Sky to become Team Ineos from May 1
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest Interviews and Features http://www.cyclingnews.com/features/a-brief-history-of-team-sky
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