Yellow For Britain?

So, after London won the bid to host the Olympic games in 2012 there has been an influx of cash poured into British sport. Many of the minor sports have been greatly affected by this sudden interest and after the success of the British cycling squad in the 2008 Beijing games it is no wonder that a new British cycling team has been created.
Team Sky is to be a British based cycling team that will compete from the start of the 2010 calender year, with one of their main targets to win the ultimate road race in cycling, the Tour de France. Now, this seems like a plausible target to suggest, surely every teams aim in any sport is to eventually win the top prize, whether it be the Champion's League in football, or the Heineken Cup in rugby union. Yet surely the operative word in that last sentence is eventually. As much as teams in football, like Manchester City, are seemingly willing to try where Chelsea effectively failed, it is very hard to win the top prize in any sport so quickly when building a new squad, even with enough money. However, Team Sky have set the task of winning the Tour de France to within 5 years. The Team has then made it doubly more difficult by stating that they want this winner to be British himself, so there will be no attempted recruitment of Alberto Contador...
On the other hand though, cycling should not be compared with other sports that many people in Britain associate themselves with. Despite it most certainly being a team sport there is a great reliance on individuals to produce in certain types of races. Different cyclists have different qualities allowing them to compete in various ways. Take Mark Cavendish and Bradley Wiggins as two British examples. Mark Cavendish, who currently rides for Team Columbia - HTC, won 6 stages of the Tour de France in 2009, stream-rolling the other riders out of the way with his electrifying finishes. Bradley Wiggins on the other hand, who rides for Garmin - Slipstream, did not win a stage, yet came 4th overall, leaving Cavendish to struggle behind on the mountain stages, upon gaining valuable time over his fellow British rider who finish a respectable 131st.
So, Cycling is like having an 100 meter sprinter and a steeplechase runner in the same race. If Team Sky seriously want to challenge for the Tour de France, they needed a strong team around a man like Bradley Wiggins to stand a chance. Hence why Team Sky have tried to get Wiggins on board, however, with him producing such a good result for Team Garmin - Slipstream, why on earth would they want to let him go. Yet, if the team cannot attract top quality cyclists into the squad, or more importantly, Britain's best hope of winning the Tour, there has got to be some serious doubts over their potentially over enthusiastic targets, especially since Lance Armstrong has announced that he too shall be creating a squad to compete and there will not be many riders who turn the opportunity of riding with him down.