LONDON, Jan. 4 (Xinhua) -- The new British professional cycling team Team Sky was officially launched Monday with the aim of producing a Tour de France winner within five years.

    The squad is spearheaded by triple Olympic gold medalist Bradley Wiggins, who left American team Garmin last month to sign a four-year deal with Sky.

    Wiggins said that he had accompanied most of his 26-rider squad of 12 nationalities in a ride through London with hundreds of fans.

    "With this team and the way things are looking already I'll have the best chance of winning the Tour that I'll ever have," said Wiggins at the launch.

    The team is being headed up by David Brailsford, the performance director of British Cycling, with the financial backing provided by the satellite broadcaster BSkyB.

    "We started talking a long time ago about setting up a top-level British team but needed to reach a critical mass of riders to achieve it," Brailsford said, "Now here we are."

    The new band of black and sky blue-suited men gained another recruit with rising British star Ben Swift joining from Russian team Katusha, as it is revealed on Monday.

    The stars of Team Sky also included 22-year-old Norwegian Edvald Boasson Hagen, who won last year's Tour of Britain and a stage in the Giro d'Italia, and 23-year-old Geraint Thomas, a gold medalist alongside Wiggins in Beijing.