BEN Swift's career has taken another upward turn as the former Scunthorpe Poly CC rider signed up for Team Sky.

The 22-year-old was under contract with Russian team Katusha for the 2009 and 2010 seasons, but was known to be keen on a move to Team Sky.

"I'm massively grateful to Katusha for the opportunities they gave me, but coming to Team Sky feels like coming home, because I know so many of the support staff and the riders," Swift said.

"Next year I'd like to ride another Grand Tour but a big focus for me is the track world championships (in Copenhagen in March).

"I want to ride the team pursuit at the London Olympics. Then I'll concentrate fully on the road: that's the career I've mapped out."

Swift, who is currently headed to Adelaide, Australia to take part in the Tour Down Under, takes the total number of Britons in the squad to eight, with triple Olympic gold medal winner Bradley Wiggins as its star rider.

Team principal Dave Brailsford was delighted to have Rotherham star Swift on board after his outstanding professional debut season in 2009.

"Ben is a real talent and his future looks bright because he ticks all the boxes that it takes to make it in this sport," he said.

"He's extremely serious, skilled on bike, he can climb and sprint and I really believe he can go far with us.

"We've worked quite some time with him on the track and I think the next years could be a massive breakthrough for him on the road as well."

Team Sky was launched at a glitzy ceremony in central London with the objective of supplying a British winner of the Tour de France within five years.

Wiggins, who equalled the best finish by a Briton in the Tour de France with fourth place last year, left Garmin to sign a four-year deal with Sky.

Sky's start-up cost is reported to be £35million with 26 riders of 12 different nationalities comprising the roster.

Brailsford, who is also British Cycling's performance director, hopes to establish Team Sky as the biggest player on the circuit with the backing of BSkyB's financial muscle.

Brailsford said: "We started talking a long time ago about setting up a top-level British team but needed to reach a critical mass of riders to achieve it. Now here we are.

"We're ambitious but the key thing for us is to make sure everything is centred on the rider.

"We want to treat the riders with dignity and respect so that they can be the best then can be.

"People need to be motivated to get the best out of them and we want them to achieve excellence.

"Team spirit is critical to us so the personality of the riders played a big part in our recruitment."