Tour of Britain teams announced

Professional Lothians based cyclist Evan Oliphant celebrates the Scottish stages of the Aviva Tour of Britain 2015 race. Edinburgh will host the start ofthe Scottish Stage of the race on 9th September.

The Tour will feature the biggest line-up of UCI WorldTeams to race in the UK this year, as nine of the world’s best teams head to the region in September.

Headlining the 20-team list are Team Cannondale Garmin, who won the 2014 Tour of Britain with Dylan Van Baarle and the Etixx Quick-Step team of Mark Cavendish and World Champion Michal Kwiatkowski while Top level British interests are represented by Team Sky, still celebrating following Chris Froome’s Tour de France win last weekend.

The other six UCI WorldTeams that will race in the 2.HC ranked Tour are BMC Racing, IAM Cycling, Lotto Soudal, Movistar Team, Team Lotto NL Jumbo and Tinkoff – Saxo.

Those nine, plus MTN Qhubeka, have been in action in the Tour de France, winning 13 of the 21 stages, and will line-up with six rider squads in Beaumaris on Anglesey for Stage One on Sunday, September 6.

“The event presents a fantastic opportunity for British fans to see what will be the best line-up of teams and riders to race in this country this year,” said Mick Bennett, Race Director.

“In 2014 we saw Michal Kwiatkowski, Sir Bradley Wiggins and the BMC Racing Team all go on to win World titles immediately after the race and are sure that this year’s Tour will provide an equal platform for riders going on to target the World Championships.”

Fans of the domestic racing scene will also be able to get behind all six of the country’s UCI Continental teams, including 2015 Pearl Izumi Tour Series Champions Madison Genesis and last year’s Elite Road Series winning squad Team Raleigh GAC, and also cheer on a Great Britain Cycling Team racing on home roads.

Three squads, ONE Pro Cycling, co-owned by former England cricketer Matt Prior, Team WIGGINS, the personal team of World Hour Record holder Sir Bradley Wiggins, and Cult Energy will make their Aviva Tour of Britain debuts this September. They will also be joined by two further UCI ProContinental teams – MTN Qhubeka and Team Novo Nordisk.

Jonny Clay, British Cycling director of cycle sport and membership, said: “Today’s announcement confirms the Tour of Britain as a world-leading event in its class and sets a high standard for cycle sport in this country.

“Sport fans across England, Scotland and Wales can now look forward to seeing some of the best teams in the world on their local roads as the Tour of Britain provides a fantastic finale to the British sporting summer.”

The full list of teams for the Aviva Tour of Britain is: UCI WorldTeams; BMC Racing (USA); Etixx Quick-Step (Belgium); IAM Cycling (Switzerland); Lotto Soudal (Belgium); Movistar Team (Spain); Team Cannondale – Garmin (USA); Team Lotto NL Jumbo (Netherlands); Team Sky (Great Britain); Tinkoff – Saxo (Russia); UCI Pro Continental teams; Cult Energy Pro Cycling (Denmark); MTN Qhubeka (South Africa); Team Novo Nordisk (USA); UCI Continental teams; An Post Chain Reaction (Ireland); JLT Condor presented by Mavic (Great Britain); Madison Genesis (Great Britain); NFTO (Great Britain); ONE Pro Cycling (Great Britain); Team Raleigh GAC (Great Britain); Team WIGGINS (Great Britain); National Teams; Great Britain Cycling Team

Details of the provisional six rider line-ups for each team will be announced during the coming weeks.

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.

Aviva Tour of Britain itinerary: Stage One (Sunday, September 6) Beaumaris, Anglesey to Wrexham, 177.7km; Stage Two (Monday, September 7) Clitheroe to Colne, 159.3km; Stage Three (Tuesday, September 8) Cockermouth to Floors Castle, Kelso, 216km; Stage Four (Wednesday, September 9) Edinburgh to Blyth, 217.4km; Stage Five (Thursday, September 10) Prudhoe to Hartside, 166.2km; Stage Six (Friday, September 11) Stoke-on-Trent to Nottingham, 192.8km; Stage Seven (Saturday, September 12) Fakenham to Ipswich, 227.4km; Stage Eight (Sunday, September 13) London stage presented by TfL, 86.8km.