How it unfolded
Dave Brailsford founded Team Sky in 2010 declaring he would produce a British Tour winner within five years, and delivered in three. Bradley Wiggins won both individual time trials, a 41.5 km stage 9 and a 53.5 km stage 19, to bank time, while in the mountains Chris Froome and Richie Porte set an unwavering, high-wattage pace at the front that peeled rivals off one by one. On stage 11 to La Toussuire, television caught Froome accelerating ahead of his own leader before being told over the radio to slow down, exposing tension over the team's internal hierarchy. Wiggins beat Froome by 3 minutes 21 seconds for the overall win, and teammate Mark Cavendish took the final stage on the Champs-Elysees for a fourth straight year. Ten days later, Wiggins added Olympic time-trial gold in London.
Why it still matters
By transplanting track-programme methodology onto the road, this team went on to win the Tour seven times over the next eight years and turned racing into a matter of power meters and data. It's also when the phrase "marginal gains" entered use outside sport altogether. At the same time, criticism built that this controlled pacing had drained the drama out of the mountains, setting the stage for the next generation's all-out attacking style.