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Ineos Grenadiers and Soudal Quick-Step are the two headline names amongst the teams set to ride the Tour of Britain this September.
British Cycling Events announced on Wednesday morning that Soudal-Quick-Step will return to the race for the first time since 2021.
Four WorldTour teams in total will line up in Kelso, Scotland on 3 September for the start of the six day event. As well as the two biggest teams, Dutch squad dsm-firmenich PostNL will return to the race alongside Bahrain Victorious, who will make their first appearance racing in Britain.
No riders were part of British Cycling Events announcement, but Cycling Weekly reported last week that double Olympic champion Remco Evenepoel is expected to headline the Soudal Quick-Step team selection.
After dominating the men’s Olympic road race last weekend, Evenepoel could be set for a debut racing on British roads as he builds for the upcoming World Championships in Zurich, Switzerland at the end of September.
Race director Rod Ellingworth recently told Cyclingnews that Evenepoel would be “very welcome” next month.
Alongside the four main WorldTour teams, three other teams will send their development squads to the race. Lidl-Trek Future Racing, Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale development and Groupama-FDJ will all be on the start line.
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Three pro teams will also be present, Uno-X Mobility, Q36.5 Pro Cycling and Israel-Premier Tech, with the rest of the team selection being made up primarily with Continental level squads.
Saint Piran and Trinity Racing will be flying the flag for Great Britain alongside a GB national team. Van Rysel-Roubaix, Global 6, Project Echelon racing and REMBE pro cycling complete the full list of participating squads.
“We are excited by the line-up of teams for this year’s Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain, and the combination of squads that will be lining up on 3 September,” Ellingworth said on Wednesday.
“Many of the teams have enjoyed previous success with stage wins and overall victories in the race, while others making their debut will be keen to add their names to the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain Men roll of honour this year.
“We are sure that fans can look forward to six thrilling days of action, and we can’t wait to see all of the teams in action next month.”
After getting underway in the Scottish borders, the Tour of Britain will then head south with stages in northern England, South Yorkshire, the East Midlands and Northamptonshire before its conclusion on the Suffolk coast in Felixstowe on 8 September.
Earlier this year the race was shortened to six stages moving forward with the aim of achieving future parity with the newly created Tour of Britain Women.
It was recently revealed that the first two stages of this year’s race could be the most “challenging” in the race’s history with more than 5,000 metres of elevation gain on the menu.
After taking over the running of the event from the now defunct SweetSpot group, British Cycling made clear that they would be open to the possibility of the racing moving to WorldTour level in the future.
Jonathan Day, managing director for British Cycling events said: “I think we’re really open minded about it. But if it’s right for the events and right for the sport then absolutely.”
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