Team Wiggins has expressed its disappointment after being omitted from next month's Tour de Yorkshire.

Simon Cope, director of the team founded by Sir Bradley Wiggins, said that he was "surprised" by joint organisers Welcome to Yorkshire and ASO's decision.

"Good or bad press at the moment, there's a percentage of the UK population who will be going to the race who want to see [Team] Wiggins there," he told Cycling Weekly.

"You would have thought that we would have got in, but the organisers have made their selection and that's it, we can't do anything about it. We will have to go and find another bike race to do."

Team Wiggins is said to have been excluded from the race on the grounds that the event is oversubscribed, with 49 teams having applied for 36 slots.

However, the team has been invited to apply for future editions of the race.

The news comes amid an investigation by UK Anti-Doping into alleged wrongdoings by Wiggins and Team Sky, claims which both parties have denied.