We have informed several days ago that Orica-GreenEDGE manager Matt White admitted to be interested in signing Bradley Wiggins as the Australian squad aims to target grand tours’ general classification from the 2015 season. While it hasn’t been a long time since the 34-year old Briton insisted that extending his current deal with Team Sky would be his first choice, the situation has changed rather significantly after it became clear that he won’t be selected for their Tour de France roster.

Wiggins emphasized on several occasions that taking part in the 101st edition of the Tour de France with its Grand Depart held in Great Britain would be a great honour and his biggest objective of 2015 season, despite being forced to play a supporting role in the squad led by Chris Froome. It has never been a big secret that Britons didn’t get along together famously and even though there were declarations from both parties about putting their differences to bed, it has become absolutely clear recently that there is no room for any kind of healthy coexistence between them within one team.

In such circumstances, Wiggins acknowledged that most likely he would sign a contract with another squad after his contract with Team Sky expires by the end of 2014 season, since apparently there is no chance for him to ride the Tour ever again while staying in the British team. Apart from Orica-GreenEDGE, Garmin-Sharp was rumored the second possible destination for the 34-year old rider, however, manager of the Australian WorldTour squad confirmed that they were in touch with the former Grande Boucle champion.

“We are looking for a GC guy and that’s the truth. Brad is a guy who would fit into our team, I’ve said that but I can’t elaborate further on who we are interested in.” White told Cyclingnews on the eve of the announcement that Wiggins would miss this year’s Tour de France.

White made it clear that after excelling in individual and team time trials and targeting week-long stage races the Australian squad has matured enough to build a team around the general classification rider. With the likes of Esteban Chaves, Michael Hepburn or Yates brothers in the squad, grand tour contender would be provided with a young and highly motivated team to support him in three-week long races, eager to gain experience and be gromed into their future leadership roles in exchange. However, since the Orica-GreenEDGE manager doesn’t intend to change a specificity of his squad, their potential GC rider has to fit in perfectly and the 34-year old Briton appears to be a good match.

“It’s a tricky balance but that’s why we have to get the right person. We’ve always said that we’ll move for a GC guy if they fit with our team and if we’re ready. We could have started with GC guy but we had modest ambitions at the start and wanted to win bike races but the team had to mature. We’ve won Catalunya, we’ve won Poland and we’ve won Down Under a couple of times and now the team is ready to make that next step if the person is available and willing to come. Then the team is ready to take a lot of opportunities in stage races.

“There’s not a heap of genuine GC riders on the market so that’s why it has taken us a while to identify that person and for them to be available. If we can find that right person to fit into the culture of the team then we’re going to go for it.”

By saying this, White made it clear that Australian squad was not interested in buying grand tour riders off their current contracts with other teams, which makes a list of possible candidates very narrow. It also means that despite many rumors Richie Porte won’t be riding for Orica-GreenEDGE in the nearest future.

“There’s no need to cause problems for riders who are still under contract but we’ve got a couple of options out there. There’s one guy I have in mind but there are different plans if that doesn’t come off. Anything is possible in the market but we’re not interested in talking to riders who have contracts for next season.”

“Richie Porte will not be coming to the team for next year and I can confirm that. We’re not interested in breaking a rider’s contract," White said.