UCI Hour Record holder and 2012 Tour de France Champion Sir Bradley Wiggins and Taylor Phinney of the BMC Racing Team are the latest star riders to confirm that they will be on the start line for the Aviva Tour of Britain, which begins this Sunday (6 September) from Beaumaris in North Wales.
Wiggins, who won the 2013 Tour of Britain, will lead his own Team WIGGINS in their first appearance in the race.
Phinney was fourth in the Olympic Games Road Race in 2012 on his last appearance on British roads, and will line-up for the BMC Racing Team on their second appearance in British Cycling's premier road cycling event. The remaining five riders in their provisional line-up will be announced later in the week.
The duo head the latest riders to be confirmed for the Aviva Tour of Britain, which also includes the provisional line-ups for the Tinkoff Saxo and Cult Energy Pro Cycling teams.
UCI WorldTeam Tinkoff Saxo will be led by Croatian Robert Kiserlovski, who has twice finished in the top ten overall of the Giro d'Italia, with a line-up that also includes Giro d'Italia stage winner Chris Anker Sorensen and Nikolay Trusov, who won a stage of the 2007 Tour of Britain in Taunton.
The Cult Energy Pro Cycling team will make their debut at the Aviva Tour of Britain, with a strong line-up that includes former Tour de France yellow jersey Linus Gerdemann who won the SKODA Tour de Luxembourg earlier this year and 2005 British Road Race Champion Russ Downing.
Fellow former British Champion and 2012 SKODA King of the Mountains winner Kristian House will also return, leading the JLT Condor presented by Mavic team, in what is his final appearance for the 'men in black'.
Team Raleigh GAC will be led by this year's British Cycling Elite Road Series Champion Steve Lampier, joined by Evan Oliphant, who will ride on home roads in East Lothian during Stage Four from Edinburgh to Blyth.
Further British interest comes in the An Post Chain Reaction line-up led by Josh Edmondson, who finished in the top 20 on his last appearance in the Aviva Tour of Britain in 2012. Edmondson won the Ronde de l'Oise stage race in France earlier this Summer.
Riding alongside Edmondson will be fellow Brit Alistair Slater, Lithuanian National Champion Aidis Kruopis and 2012 Olympic Team Pursuit Bronze medallist Aaron Gate.
The latest provisional rider list can be downloaded here. Further rider announcements will be made over the next two days to confirm the remaining line-ups ahead of the Team Presentation, which takes place at Parc Eirias at Colwyn Bay on Saturday 5 September.
Among the riders previously confirmed for the Aviva Tour of Britain are former winners Dylan Van Baarle (2014) and Edvald Boasson Hagen (2009) and former stage winners Mark Cavendish, Gerald Ciolek and Andre Greipel, plus three-time World Cyclo-Cross Champion Zdenek Stybar.
Following Stage One live on ITV, Stages Two to Eight will all be shown live on ITV4, with three-hours of coverage each day. ITV4 will show a one-hour highlights programme each evening.
British Eurosport will also show live coverage and highlights of the race in the UK. Live coverage and highlights will also be shown worldwide in excess of 100 countries.
The Aviva Tour of Britain is British Cycling's premier road cycling event giving cycling fans the opportunity to see the world's best teams and riders competing on their door step.
Stage One Sunday 6 September Beaumaris, Anglesey to Wrexham, 177.7km
Stage Two Monday 7 September Clitheroe to Colne, 159.3km
Stage Three Tuesday 8 September Cockermouth to Floors Castle, Kelso, 216km
Stage Four Wednesday 9 September Edinburgh to Blyth, 217.4km
Stage Five Thursday 10 September Prudhoe to Hartside, 166.2km
Stage Six Friday 11 September Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham, 192.8km
Stage Seven Saturday 12 September Fakenham to Ipswich, 227.4km
Stage Eight Sunday 13 September London stage presented by TfL, 86.8km
The full list of 20 teams for the Aviva Tour of Britain is as follows:
An Post Chain Reaction (Ireland); BMC Racing (USA); Cult Energy Pro Cycling (Denmark); Etixx Quick-Step (Belgium); Great Britain national team; IAM Cycling (Switzerland); Lotto Soudal (Belgium); JLT Condor presented by Mavic (Great Britain); Madison Genesis (Great Britain); Movistar Team (Spain); MTN Qhubeka (South Africa); NFTO (Great Britain); ONE Pro Cycling (Great Britain); Team Cannondale – Garmin (USA); Team Lotto NL Jumbo (Netherlands); Team Novo Nordisk (USA); Team Raleigh – GAC (Great Britain); Team Sky (Great Britain); Team WIGGINS (Great Britain); Tinkoff – Saxo (Russia)
Source: DSG
