Abu Dhabi Tour "surprised and disappointed" by reports Sir Bradley Wiggins won't be there

Organisers of the Abu Dhabi Tour say that they are “surprised and disappointed” at reports that Sir Bradley Wiggins will not participate in the event later this month, which was expected to have been the final road race of his career.

While Team Wiggins will take part, according to reports in the Guardian and elsewhere, they will be without their eponymous founder as he focuses instead on the 6 Day London track event, which begins two days after the four-day race in the Gulf ends.

The Abu Dhabi Tour is organised by the Abu Dhabi Sports Council with the collaboration of Giro d’Italia owners RCS Sport. In a statement released today, they said:

Before the first announcement (20 September) we received the approval from Team Wiggins to communicate the presence of Bradley Wiggins at the upcoming Abu Dhabi Tour.

Last week the Official Enrolment Form was submitted by a Team Wiggins official to RCS Sport with the name of the rider Bradley Wiggins included in the provisional entry list.

In addition, as is usual practise for a major race, flights and accommodation have been booked in the name of Bradley Wiggins and those accompanying him.

The race organisers are surprised and disappointed to see different stories in the media regarding Bradley Wiggins and the Abu Dhabi Tour.

It is important to clarify that the long-standing expectation has been that Sir Bradley will be riding the 2016 Abu Dhabi Tour, and that all operations by the race owner, race organiser and its representatives and agents have been based on that expectation in good faith.

The news follows a turbulent month for the 36-year-old Wiggins who in August won the fifth Olympic gold medal of his career.

He has come under criticism after hacking group Fancy Bears published in September details of Therapeutic Use Certificates (TUEs) issued to him between 2011 and 2013.

> Wiggins defends drug use on BBC's Andrew Marr Show

Last week UK Anti-doping said it was investigating a medical package – the contents are unknown, but were allegedly intended for Wiggins – delivered to Team Sky at the 2011 Critérium du Dauphiné.

> 'Nothing dodgy' – British Cycling coach on mystery medical package he delivered to Team Sky doctor

At 6 Day London, Wiggins will ride with Mark Cavendish – coincidentally an ambassador for the Abu Dhabi Tour – with whom he won the Madison at the UCI Track Cycling World Championships at the Lea Valley VeloPark earlier this year.

The pair will also race together at the Six Day event in Gent, the city Wiggins was born in, as he brings the curtain down on a career in which he has become the only cyclist to have won world and Olympic titles on both the track and road, as well as the Tour de France.