Team Sky has revealed its rider line-up for 2012.

Britain’s first WorldTour team, and the nation’s only squad competing at professional cycling’s elite level, will include 10 homegrown riders, including leader, Bradley Wiggins, world road race champion, Mark Cavendish, and track sensation, Luke Rowe.

RCUK is meeting Cavendish, Rowe, and Wiggins today to discuss their goals for the year ahead.

The squad has also retained key British talents in the form of Olympic gold medalist and former national road race champion, Geraint Thomas, sprinter Ben Swift, who won stages of the Tour Down Under and Tour of California in 2010, national time trial champion, Alex Dowsett, and former national under-23 champion, Peter Kennaugh.

Team Principal, Dave Brasilford, said the closed-season signing of Cavendish had further strengthened a team facing a ‘huge’ 10 months.

“With Mark Cavendish joining riders like Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas and Edvald Boasson Hagen, we have a hugely talented squad of riders with proven ability at the very highest level of our sport,” he said.

Team Sky finished second in the UCI WorldTour team rankings for 2011, notching up an impressive 32 wins and 71 podium finishes.

Highlights included Bradley Wiggins victory in the Criterium du Dauphine, second and third at the Vuelta a Espana for Chris Froome and Wiggins, and two stage victories at the Tour De France for Edvald Boasson Hagen. The Norwegian, widely regarded as one of the sport’s brightest talents, will race again in the colours of Team Sky in 2012.

“We made great strides in 2011, in what was our second season as a WorldTour team. The challenge for all of us is to build on those achievements and become an even stronger and more successful team,” said Brailsford.

“The next ten months will be a huge, but exceptionally exciting challenge. We will be looking to compete on every day of every race and continue the momentum the team created in 2011.

“These are exciting times for Team Sky and we can’t wait for the season to start.”

Gaining the signature of world champion Cavendish last October following the collapse of HTC-Highroad squad was a significant step for Team Sky, with the Manx Missile long considered a central part of Brailsford’s project.

Cavendish, crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year before Christmas,  described joining a British team with the sport’s popularity at an all-time high on British soil as ‘a dream come true.’

“I could not be more excited about the coming season. In many ways it has felt like coming home, by joining Team Sky. I’ve grown up with many of the riders and management and they have shown in just two years how far they have come.  It is a hugely professional set up and arguably the strongest team in the world. It is definitely a team that will win races.

“Being in a British team at a time when our sport is booming is a dream come true. I want to help continue that growth and I know that together as a team we can help inspire even more people to get on their bikes and have a go themselves,” he said.

Team leader, Bradley Wiggins, echoed Brailsford’s views on a line-up strengthened over the winter with the signings of Cavendish’s HTC-Highroad teammates, Bernhard Eisel, Danny Pate and Kanstantsin Siutsou, and former Giro d’Italia maglia rosa, Ritchie Port.

“We have a fantastic looking squad for 2012 and I think we are in great shape to build on our successes last year. The support we continue to receive from fans around the world, and especially in the UK, is tremendous and we are going to be looking to repay that on the road this year,” he said.

The Londoner confronted head on the concerns of many of the sport’s leading commentators about Team Sky’s ability to accommodate the seemingly disparate goals of stage wins for Cavendish while riding in support of his own ambitions for overall placing in the sport’s Grand Tours.

“If there is one thing this team is known for already it’s that we have ambition.  With Mark Cavendish joining the team we are ready to target sprints and GC in the same race and that is hugely exciting.

“There is nothing we like more than someone saying it can’t be done!” he said.

Check back later to learn about our meeting today with Cavendish, Rowe, and Wiggins and look out for updates on our Twitter feed @roadcyclinguk.

Team Sky 2012 rider line-up

Davide Appollonio (ITA)

Michael Barry (CAN)

Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)

Mark Cavendish (GBR)

Alex Dowsett (GBR)

Bernhard Eisel (AUT)

Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP)

Chris Froome (GBR)

Mathew Hayman (AUS)

Sergio Henao (COL)

Jeremy Hunt (GBR)

Peter Kennaugh (GBR)

Christian Knees (GER)

Thomas Löfkvist (SWE)

Lars-Petter Nordhaug (NOR)

Danny Pate (USA)

Richie Porte (AUS)

Salvatore Puccio (ITA)

Michael Rogers (AUS)

Luke Rowe (GBR)

Ian Stannard (GBR)

Kanstantsin Siutsou (BLR)

Chris Sutton (AUS)

Ben Swift (GBR)

Geraint Thomas (GBR)

Rigoberto Urán (COL)

Bradley Wiggins (GBR)

Xabier Zandio (ESP)