Sir Bradley Wiggins to ride Tour of Britain, says Team Sky boss

Bradley Wiggins won the Tour of Britain title in 2013

Sir Bradley Wiggins will defend his Tour of Britain title in September rather than ride the Vuelta a Espana, said Team Sky boss Sir Dave Brailsford.

British rider Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France winner, said in February that he might ride the Vuelta to prepare for the Road World Championships in Spain.

But Brailsford told BBC Sport: "He'll ride the Tour of Britain."

The Tour runs from 7 to 14 September, and so overlaps with the final week of the Vuelta, which starts on 23 August.

Wiggins, who rode the London-Surrey Classic on Sunday, intends to compete in the time-trial category at the Road World Championships, which take place in Ponferrada from 21 to 28 September.

He was not included on Team Sky's provisional list of riders for the Vuelta - one of the three Grand Tour races, along with the Tour de France and the Giro d'Italia - when it was released last Monday.

Asked during Sunday's race what the 34-year-old's plans were for the rest of the year, Brailsford added: "He's riding here today, and then he goes from here to an altitude camp.

"He'll ride in a couple of one-day races, then he'll ride the Tour of Britain.

"We hope that will give him the right training preparations to go to the World Championships, and try to deliver in the individual time trial again, which he did so brilliantly last year. We hope he'll do the same again this year."

After winning the Tour de France in 2012, Wiggins was unable to defend his title a year later because of a knee injury, and was then left out of Team Sky's squad for this year's race as Brailsford chose 2013 champion Chris Froome to lead the side.

Instead, Wiggins focused on track cycling at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, winning a silver medal in the team pursuit and then declaring that he would probably not ride another Grand Tour race.

"The road is quite cut-throat," he said at the time. "The track feels more like a family and a closer-knit group of people."