Bradley Wiggins has told Sky Sports he is confident Sky can handle any situation when Paris-Roubaix is ridden in April, his final race for the team and a big goal for the veteran.

“I learnt a lot from last year. It was an invaluable experience. I learnt to have a plan going into the final, because so much of the preparation is about being fit enough and looking at the cobbled sections, and then all of a sudden you find yourself in the final with a team-mate up against another team with three of four riders, so I think running through all the different scenarios in the final is possibly something we would have done differently.”

“Obviously, Omega Pharma - Quick-Step had strength in numbers there, and that’s something we needed to plan for. I wasn’t expecting to be in that position in some ways, so this time we will have to plan for all eventualities.”

This interview took place the day it was announced Wiggins would sign a four-month deal at Sky before joining his own Team Wiggins.

Sky are aiming to have the numbers in the finale of Roubaix, like OPQS did in 2014 before Terpstra won. Sky can have Geraint Thomas, Ian Stannard and Bernhard Eisel to help Wiggins and he can aid them too.

“In a race like Paris-Roubaix, the ideal scenario would be for us to be in the same position we were in this year, and then it could be any one of us. The return of Ian Stannard will also be an influence.”

But nothing is being left to chance and Wiggins has covered all bases, even riding the cobbles in the wet during the offseason to get to know them better, so that if it rains, like it did during the cobbles stage of the Tour de France, he is prepared.

“I prefer it when it is dry, but at the same time, we have been looking at the course and we looked at it a few weeks ago in the wet.”

“We went out to northern France and it is nice to see it in those conditions because I have never ridden the cobbles in the rain and it gives you an appreciation of what they are like when they are wet. Then when it comes to race day, you have tried them in all different extremes.”