Sir Dave Hails Sir Bradley

Sir Dave Brailsford described Sir Bradley Wiggins as one of the best athletes in British sporting history after the 2012 Tour de France winner drew his Team Sky career to a close at Paris-Roubaix on Sunday.

Wiggins attacked twice in the one-day cobbled classic but could not make it into the seven-man group that contested the sprint finish and eventually finished 31 seconds behind winner John Degenkolb in 18th.

The 34-year-old will now leave the British squad to join up with his new team, WIGGINS, and begin preparing for riding on the track at next summer’s Olympic Games in Rio.

It ends a professional relationship with Brailsford stretching back to 1998, during which time Wiggins has won four Olympic gold medals and became the first British winner of the Tour de France win 2012.

"We have been through a lot together and he has done an awful lot for British cycling and the whole of sport," Brailsford said. "When you consider his versatility, he has got to be right up there with one of the best athletes that the country has ever produced."

Wiggins attacked out of an elite group of favourites 32km from the finish of Paris-Roubaix and briefly built up a healthy lead, but he was then joined by three other attackers and the breakaway subsequently fell apart.

Brailsford admitted that when Wiggins accelerated, he believed it had the potential to be a winning move.

He added: "If you take a step back, the guy has won the Tour and won the Olympics and done everything he can, and there he was with 30km to go attacking on his own, and you think, 'Jesus, he might ride away from everybody'.

"That takes some doing and he should hold his head up high. He gave it a good old crack, like he always does."

Brailsford will now look to take Team Sky forward without Wiggins and believes Luke Rowe, who finished eighth, is a potential Paris-Roubaix winner who is ready to fill Wiggins' shoes. However, he admitted losing his talismanic team leader was a sad moment.

"It's emotional," he said. "These things comes to an end and you try to think of a nice way to end a sporting career. Do you step out at the top or do you become a fading light and drift away? We thought long and hard about it and decided this was a good way of doing it. It feels like a nice way to end."

Of Rowe, he added: "He is a very exciting prospect for the future. He has run eighth here so why can’t he come back and win it in the future one day? I’m sure he has got the capability."

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S7 - Degenkolb Takes Aragon Circuit

John Degenkolb continued his dominant streak at the Vuelta a Espana after taking a third consecutive win on stage seven.

The German (Argos-Shimano) cemented his lead in the points classification as he powered to victory on the front straight at the Motorland Aragon racing circuit.

A hard sprint following a frantic lap of the track saw Degenkolb edge out Elia Viviani (Liquigas-Cannondale) and Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEDGE) on the line.

Team Sky had dominated the run-in along the circuit access roads and onto the track itself, stretching and even splitting the peloton at one point as they looked to keep Chris Froome out of trouble and set up Ben Swift in the sprint.

As a result of the field finish Froome maintained his strong position of second overall, while Swift was unable to profit at the line taking 10th.

Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) also finished in the pack to take a 10-second lead into the toughest stage of the race thus far on Saturday.

After an uphill finish on Thursday it was time for the sprinters to return to the fray on stage seven with 164.2 kilometres of action on the menu as the Vuelta continued in the heat.

There was an attack inside 2km which saw four riders going clear, Pablo Lechuga (Andalucia), Frantisek Rabon (Omega Pharma-Quickstep), Bert-Jan Lindeman (Vacansoleil-DCM) and Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) the men in the break.

That quartet were only afforded five minutes as a highly-motivated Argos-Shimano squad helped control the peloton and RadioShack-Nissan also helped pull the bunch along in the closing stages.

There was a crash as the pace ramped up inside the final 10km, the peloton all looking to be well-placed on the tight circuit access roads.

The break was swallowed up as they began to attack one another, setting things up for Degenkolb to add to his win tally yet again.

S5 - Degenkolb Wins Logroño Stage

John Degenkolb continued his momentum at the Vuelta a Espana after sprinting to a second victory on stage five.

The German (Argos-Shimano) timed his kick well to narrowly edge out Daniele Bennati (RadioShack-Nissan) on the line in Logrono to claim consecutive sprint wins.

Gianni Meersman (Lotto-Belisol) took third after the fast men duked it out inside the final kilometre on the Spanish streets.

Eight laps of a 21km circuit always looked destined to end in a bunch sprint and saw a huge fight for positioning inside the final 30 kilometres.

The sprint played into the hands of overnight leader Joaquim Rodriguez (Katusha) who was able to finish safely, maintaining his one-second lead over Britain's Chris Froome (Team Sky).

The riders had 168 kilometres ahead of them on a day which looked like a much more straightforward prospect following two tough uphill finishes.

One man who wouldn't have an easy day was Javier Chacon (Andalucia), the Spaniard plugging away solo to build up a lead touching on 12 minutes before being gradually dragged back by the bunch.

Two intermediate sprint at the finish line broke up the action, with Ben Swift (Team Sky) in the mix to take two points at the first time of asking. Unfortunately the Brit was not able to back this up in the final sprint as he sat up to finish 19th.

The peloton were headed up by the red of Katusha after Rodriguez had moved into the race lead on Tuesday, with more teams joining in on the front as the end neared, the bunch holding Chacon at arm's length before finally putting him out of his misery with 28km to go.

John Degenkolb Wins Vuelta Stage 2

John Degenkolb claimed his first Grand Tour stage win as the second test at the Vuelta a Espana came down to a bunch sprint.

The German (Argos-Shimano) timed his burst of speed to perfection to just pip his rivals on the line in an extremely close finish.

Britain's Ben Swift jumped first and led out the sprint in the closing metres, the Team Sky rider holding on for third spot just behind Allan Davis (Orica-GreenEDGE).

The finish in Viana was the first road stage proper of the race and provided a chance for the sprinters to gauge their level against one another.

There was a big fight for position on the arrow-straight run into the town, the bunch kick meaning that the general classification remained unchanged.

Jonathan Castroviejo (Movistar) returned to the podium to pull on the red jersey, with the race set to be spiced up further on Monday with an uphill finish into the Basque Country.

197 riders took the start of the 181.4-kilometre test, Enrico Gasparotto of Astana carrying the unfortunate honour of the first retiree following a crash on Saturday's team time trial.

Four riders hit out early with the main prize mid-stage being the chance to pull on the mountains classification jersey. At just 10 seconds off the race lead Niki Terpstra (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) was not allowed to join the group after initially following the move.

After 77km a fight broke out on the third category Alto de la Chapela, the only climb on the day, with Javier Chacon (Andalucia) edging out Mikhail Ignatiev (Katusha) and Javier Aramendia (Caja Rural) to pull on the first blue and white polka dot jersey.

With the trio only ever building an advantage in the region of five minutes a bunch sprint always looked likely as Movistar controlled the bunch on another scorching day.

A late dig from Sergey Lagutin (Vacansoleil-DCM) was snuffed out before the sprinters' teams took it up and Degenkolb demonstrated his form.