Eighty members of Team Sky took to the sea last week with the British Sailing Team in Weymouth as a team building exercise ahead of a big 2015 for the squad.

Riders like Froome, Porte, Stannard, Thomas and Puccio were joined by new signings Andy Fenn and Nicolas Roche in an attempt to get the squad to gel even better ahead of the new season.

"This year we just thought we wanted to do something a bit different. We were looking round at some different ideas and we wanted to preferably do something that was totally different but in a world class, high performance environment," team manager Dave Brailsford explained in a press release.

"I'm good friends with [British Sailing Team Manager] Sparky and was chatting to him about it, and we came up with the idea of coming to Weymouth and Portland and of course it's one of the iconic world class environments and programmes, not just in Britain but in the world now, so to come here and be in a high performance centre, in an academy with GB sailors - it just felt right.”

"And of course sailing is something that none of us have done so we were all pretty excited about what it could offer, and now having done it, I'm very, very happy about what it delivered. It's always interesting for those who have been involved in Olympic sport, or any sport - when you see a sport and you're aware of it, but you've never actually taken part.”

"You learn straight away that sailing a boat's not easy, it's very technical, there's a lot of communication required, a lot of co-ordination required and you've got to be thinking in the same way. There's got to be somebody who's leading the operation, there's also the technical aspect of actually making the boat sail but also the tactical aspect of racing,” Brailsford said.

"We were very keen to race rather than just sail - that was important to us - and then you just get a real awareness when you're trying to win of all the tactical elements, the nuances of the wind direction and everything else that's involved. You realise what a technical sport it is and you have a fantastic appreciation for the quality of the people that perform at the highest level."

"It was a real pleasure to give Team Sky a little taster into our sport, an d it's always fantastic to spend time with individuals who are at the top of their game," said British Sailing Team Manager Stephen 'Sparky' Park.

"I know that the British Sailing Team guys involved all had great fun and found it hugely inspiring to spend the day with other like-minded elite sportspeople.”

Sky’s rivals for Grand Tour success in 2015, Tinkoff-Saxo, will attempt to climb Mount Kilimanjaro in November as part of their preseason team building exercise.