(AFP) – Ben Swift will return to Team Sky in 2019, the team announced Monday.
Swift joined the British squad for its launch in 2010 but left in 2016 and has spent the past two seasons riding for UAE Team Emirates.
“It’s a great feeling to be re-joining Team Sky,” the 30-year-old Swift said. “Obviously, I know the ins and outs of the team. I feel really comfortable here and it’s a place I’ve grown as a rider.”
Swift’s leading results, which include podium finishes in Milano-Sanremo in 2014 and 2016, came while he was with Sky.
Injuries slowed him down the past two seasons, although he did still manage a fifth-place finish in last year’s road world championships in Bergen, Norway while riding for Great Britain.
Rod Ellingworth, Sky’s performance manager, said the team would look to Swift to mentor the team’s young riders in addition to supporting his own aspirations.
“Ben has got a crucial role to play next season,” Ellingworth said. “He’s not only a fine rider in his own right, but he’s also a superb role model for the younger riders on the team to learn from, as we look to bring through the next generation at Team Sky.”
