Doctor Steve Peters is Team Sky's Psychiatrist and Head of Medicine, and forms an integral part of the senior management team.

Having become involved with British Cycling in 2001, Peters' ground-breaking approaches have helped Team GB achieve 16 Olympic gold medals to date, and his contribution has been deemed so valuable that Brailsford once described him as "the best appointment I've ever made."

Peters adopted a similar role at Team Sky when the team was launched in 2010 and his psychological techniques such as 'chimp' and 'gremlin' control are now part and parcel of every rider's psyche.

"Both of those approaches involve the riders understanding how their minds work and then learning how to control their emotions." Peters explains.

"There are two aspects of your brain that work independently of each other. One is quite emotional and irrational; the other is logical, capable of making good judgments. I call the emotional part 'the chimp'. I teach the riders techniques to manage or pre-empt what the chimp is going to do so you can stop the strike.

"As for the gremlin, that is a negative belief or behaviour which has the potential to inhibit performance. I also challenge the gremlin and remove it."

In his joint role as Head of Medicine, Peters coordinates all the medical support the squad receives on the road, as well as making sure everything continues to run smoothly at the team's headquarters in Manchester.

"We employ four doctors at Team Sky, as well as two physiotherapists and a nutritionist. A major part of my job is to make sure they're all able to function properly and do their jobs well."