After a year of learning in his neo-pro season, 2011 saw Peter Kennaugh continue his progression with strong performances throughout the year.

The Manxman completed one of the toughest Giro d’Italia in recent history after a first week which saw him come close to claiming the young rider’s jersey.

With three hard weeks of racing in his legs for the first time Kennaugh then set out to demonstrate his leadership capabilities – returning to the mountains to claim a superb third overall at the Route du Sud.

After extending his run of podium finishes at the British National Road Championships in June to four in a row, Kennaugh returned to the Tour of Poland for the second year running; this time as a protected rider. He did not disappoint, claiming fifth overall after mixing it with the best on the climbs to secure his best ever WorldTour result.

He says: "The Giro was my first full Grand Tour and I didn’t know what to expect. There were lots of different feelings. It was tough in the last week, even just purely riding for the team all the time was a massive effort.

"Looking back it was good thing. I think that just set me up really well for the rest of the year. Since the Giro a lot of races which are normally quite hard have been almost a bit easier.”

The 2012 season also hands Kennaugh the chance to link up with fellow Manxman and training partner Mark Cavendish.

"It’s sort of funny - having grown up with each other and now being on the same team," he adds. Now it’s happened it’s awesome - a strange feeling but a good one.

"Hopefully we can go to races and target those stages for Cav. He always comes up with the goods and hopefully we’ll have the team to provide that good lead-out for him at the end. I just hope I can be part of that at times."