Briton Steve Cummings knows Bradley Wiggins well from their days as Olympic and Team Sky team-mates, however he has defending champion Cadel Evans' back for the three weeks of Le Tour this year.

Cummings has joined a formidable BMC Racing team where he will help Australian Evans alongside celebrated domestiques such as George Hincapie and Marcos Burghardt.

Not only that, the American outfit funded by Swiss billionaire Andy Rihs can also call upon the likes of former world No. 1 rider Philippe Gilbert and Tejay van Garderen.

Cummings picked up an Olympic team pursuit silver medal alongside Wiggins in Athens 2004, while he supported Wiggins at the 2010 Tour during Team Sky's debut.

The 31-year-old said, "I try to do my best for the leader. I'm really happy for him, because he's had such a good year. He's just showing everyone how good he is.

"For a few years he's been trying and now it's all clicked into place. I've just sent him the odd message of congratulations."

In terms of his own form, Cummings has had to bounce back from injury to prove his worth to BMC Racing.

He added, "After everything that happened and they had such a good Tour last year, I was a little bit surprised. It's great to know that the team have a lot of confidence in me.

"They want me for the undulating stages, when it becomes a little bit more mountainous, the days when it's hard all day."

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