As a leading investor in sport in Britain for more than 20 years, sport has always been at the heart of what we do at Sky.

In 2008 we got together with British Cycling to form a long-term partnership. Cycling is a sport that anyone can take part in, no matter what age or ability, and we wanted to change the sport at every level, for every cyclist – from grassroots right through to the elite.

We wanted to support our best athletes to achieve even greater success on the road to London 2012 and inspire one million more people to get on their bikes regularly, both for fun and for fitness.

We created Sky Ride to make it easy for people of all ages and abilities to get back on their bikes in a safe and fun environment, and in 2009 we helped create Team Sky - Great Britain’s first ever professional road racing team which was to change the face of cycling in the UK forever.

Jeremy Darroch, CEO of Sky, said: "Team Sky will inspire people of all ages and abilities to get out and ride, for fun, for fitness and for the environment."

Our aims for Team Sky were to:

- Inspire people of all ages and abilities to cycle, through the team’s positive profile, attitude and success

- Create a British winner of the Tour de France by 2013

- Further support competitive cycling in Great Britain

2012 has been an amazing year for cycling in Great Britain. Alongside huge Olympic cycling success and Bradley Wiggins’ prolific win at the Tour de France, we’re also proud to announce that 1.15 million more people have been inspired to cycle regularly thanks to Sky’s involvement in cycling. And who knows, some of them could even become the stars of the future.

And as our partnership with Team Sky and British Cycling continues, we’ll be giving our cycling heroes every chance to inspire you again.