STEVEN Burke will ride for the newly-formed Team Wiggins cycle team next year, it has been confirmed.

The East Lancashire star, a gold medal winner from the 2012 London Olympics on the track, will switch to the new UCI-ranked British squad formed by Sky and Sir Bradley Wiggins.

Burke was one of eight full-time riders revealed for the 2015 road season with Wiggins expected to join the squad in June, when UCI rules permit him to move from Team Sky.

Colne’s Burke, 26, also won the 2012 world team pursuit title and was third in the individual pursuit, which Wiggins won, at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

Burke spent last season with Haribo-Beacon but he will now join a team built to bring together British endurance riders as they build towards the Rio Olympics in 2016.

The squad is likely to have a track focus that year which could see Burke featuring in Revolution series meetings, as he has done in the past while riding for Haribo-Beacon, while also representing Great Britain at Track World Cups.

Next season the squad is set to mainly race in British Cycling Elite Road and Circuit Race Series, the Tour Series and other UCI-ranked events such as the Tour of Britain.

The squad will also race in Europe although, due to its continental level status, it will not be invited to World Tour races such as the Tour de France.

Joining Burke in the squad are his national team pursuit team-mates Andy Tenant, Mark Christian, Jon Dibben and Owain Doull, along with Daniel Patten, Iain Paton and Michael Thompson.

It is expected that riders from British Cycling’s Olympic Academy Programme will also be able to join Team Wiggins if they are in good enough form.

Wiggins is likely to target Paris-Roubaix in the early part of the season while he could also take on the Hour Record in the summer before switching teams.

The four-time Olympic gold medalist has previously spoken of his ambition to find the next Sir Chris Hoy as part of the reason forming the squad.

He said: “That is something that I think would really drive me for the next 10 years.

He added: “That is kind of what the start of this team is about; it’s that grassroots, the future of the sport and finding the next champion.”