Tour of Britain At a Glance

With all the teams now having named their line ups, this is the provisional starting line up for the Tour of Britain starting Sunday

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Tour of Britain At a Glance

With the Tour de France winner Geraint Thomas and a former Tour winner in Chris Froome, along with Primoz Roglic, Julian Alaphilippe and Edward Theuns, the race has some firepower for sure to take advantage of the lumpy parcour.

That said, many teams lead with sprinters like Lotto Soudal with André Greipel, Quickstep with Gaviria, Dimension Data with Mark Renshaw (a former stage winner), EF Education with Sacha Modolo and Mitchelton-Scott with Caleb Ewan so the race or may not be a controlled affair whilst looking at other teams, it may be that breakaways stay away and upset the hopes of others after stage victories.

As ever, with no real dept of GC or sprint talent, the names at the top of the result sheets each day may be surprising ones as there are plenty of strong riders in the teams named so far. Fingers crossed the British teams are able to get amongst it, not just in the breakaways but the fight for GC and stages too.

Strong Ever Lineup for the Tour of Britain

Event Press Release: The Tour of Britain, the fifteenth edition of the modern race, will feature its strongest ever field – including three of the top five-ranked riders in the world.

Britain’s most successful Grand Tour rider Chris Froome (reigning world number two) and his Team Sky team-mate Geraint Thomas (world number five) headline the startlist, having claimed overall victory in this year’s Giro d’Italia and Tour de France respectively.

“As soon as I’d finished the Tour I knew I wanted to ride the Tour of Britain and race on home roads,” said Thomas. “It starts in Wales which will be special, and then I get to go and race across the whole of the UK. I can’t wait.”

Frenchman Julian Alaphilippe (Quick-Step Floors, world number four) will make his debut in the race, having won two stages of this year’s Tour de France and the race’s prestigious King of the Mountains jersey. He has only previously raced once in Britain, finishing third in the 2014 edition of RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

The startlist also features Slovenian Primoz Roglic (Team LottoNL-Jumbo, fourth overall in this year’s Tour de France), Colombian Fernando Gaviria and Germany’s Max Schachmann (both Quick-Step Floors), all of whom have won Grand Tour stages in 2018.

Gaviria has previously enjoyed success in the Tour of Britain, claiming stage wins in Blythe in 2015 and Newark-on-Trent last year.

Also among the starters are former OVO Energy Tour of Britain stage victors André Greipel (Lotto Soudal, five wins), Caleb Ewan (Mitchelton-SCOTT, four), Wout Poels (Team Sky, three), Mark Renshaw (Team Dimension Data, two), Alex Dowsett (Team KATUSHA ALPECIN, one), Ben Swift (Great Britain, one) Ian Stannard (Team Sky, one) and Tony Martin (Team KATUSHA ALPECIN, one).

The startlist also features two current national road race champions, including British champion Connor Swift (Madison Genesis), who is relishing the opportunity to wear the red, white and blue jersey in the eight-day race. “It will be pretty special to wear the jersey – I can’t wait,” he said. “It’s the biggest race in Britain- it’ll be an interesting race; there are a few sprint stages, a few lumpy days.”

“But maybe a breakaway or two will stay clear; it would be good to see some of the guys I race with on a weekly basis getting in the mix at some of the finishes and maybe even claiming a big win.”

Five reigning national time trial champions – including Thomas – will take the start from Pembrey Country Park on Sunday (2 September). They will have their chance to wear their champions’ jerseys on Stage Five in Cumbria during the race’s innovative, 14-kilometre uphill team time trial.

In addition, four medalists from this year’s Commonwealth Games on the Gold Coast, Australia, will take part. Among them are Welshman Jon Mould (JLT Condor), who took silver in the road race and hails from Newport, south Wales, where Stage One finishes.

In total, 11 teams from the UCI’s WorldTour (first division) will compete in the 2018 Tour of Britain, while 13 of the 20 teams took part in July’s Tour de France. “There aren’t a lot of races outside the Tour de France with so many spectators, but the Tour of Britain is one of them. The fans are always making a very special atmosphere for all the riders and staff members,” said Brian Holm, team manager of Quick-Step Floors, the number one-ranked team in the world.

Among the other debutants are Yorkshire’s Tom Pidcock (Team WIGGINS), the highly-rated reigning junior world time trial champion, and BMC Racing’s Tejay van Garderen. The latter has twice finished fifth in the Tour de France.

“The only time in my career that I have raced in Great Britain was at the 2014 Tour de France and I remember the crowds were amazing, unlike anywhere else I’ve ever seen,” he said. “I’m looking forward to that ambiance out on the road. As far as personal ambitions go, we will obviously aim high in the team time trial, and if that sets us up for a good General Classification result, then that’s all the better.”

For the second year running, each stage of the race will be shown live and in full on ITV4. Eurosport will also air daily live coverage.

THE STAGES
Stage 1 – Sunday 2 September – Pembrey Country Park to Newport, 175km
Stage 2 – Monday 3 September – Cranbrook to Barnstaple, 174km
Stage 3 – Tuesday 4 September – Bristol to Bristol, 125km
Stage 4 – Wednesday 5 September – Nuneaton to Royal Leamington Spa, 183km
Stage 5 – Thursday 6 September – Cockermouth to Whinlatter Pass, Team Time Trial, 14km
Stage 6 – Friday 7 September – Barrow-in-Furness to Whinlatter Pass, 169km
Stage 7 – Saturday 8 September – West Bridgford to Mansfield, 223km
Stage 8 – Sunday 9 September – The London Stage, 77km

Former Winners of the Tour of Britain
2017 Lars Boom (Ned)
2016 Steve Cummings (GBr)
2015 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)
2014 Dylan Van Baarle (Ned)
2013 Sir Bradley Wiggins (GBr)
2012 Nathan Haas (Aus)
2011 Lars Boom (Ned)
2010 Michael Albasini (Swi)
2009 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Nor)
2008 Geoffroy Lequatre (Fra)
2007 Romain Feillu (Fra)
2006 Martin Pedersen (Den)
2005 Nick Nuyens (Bel)
2004 Mauricio Ardila (Col)

Factoids
• Mark Cavendish has won the most stages of the modern Tour of Britain, with 10 victories
• British riders have won the most with 20 stage wins between 2004 and 2016, two ahead of Italy.
• The smallest overall winning margin was in 2007, when Romain Feillu won from Adrian Palomares on countback to the opening day Prologue.
• The largest overall margin of victory was in 2010, when Michael Albasini won by 1:05 from runner-up Borut Bozic.
• The largest winning margin on a stage was 1:46, achieved by Ian Stannard over Graham Briggs on 2016’s Stage Three from Congleton to Tatton Park, Knutsford.
• The Tour of Britain will be 1,140 kilometres.
• Steve Cummings (2016) is the oldest winner of the race at 35 years and 176 days. Dylan Van Baarle (2014) is the youngest winner at 22 years and 116 days.

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THE TEAMS/RIDERS (Provisional)

TEAM LOTTONL-JUMBO
1 Primož Rogli
2 Koen Bouwman NED
3 Pascal Eenkhoorn NED
4 Jos van Emden NED
5 Neilson Powless USA
6 Maarten Wynants SLO

TEAM DIMENSION DATA
11 Mark Renshaw
12 Scott Davies
13 Nicholas Dlamini
14 Jaco Venter
15 Scott Thwaites
16 Jay Thomson

BMC RACING TEAM
21 Stefan Kung SUI
22 Patrick Bevin NZL
23 Jean Pierre Drucker LUX
24 Jurgen Roelandts BEL
25 Miles Scotson AUS
26 Tejay van Garderen (USA

LOTTO SOUDAL
31 Jasper De Buyst
32 André Greipel GER
33 Moreno Hofland NED
34 James Shaw GBR
35 Jens Keukeleire BEL
36 Jelle Vanendert BEL

TEAM WIGGINS
41 Gabriel Cullaigh GBR
42 Mark Downey IRL
43 James Fouché NZL
44 Tom Pidcock GBR
45 Matthew Teggart IRL
46 Joey Walker GBR

JLT CONDOR
51 Graham Briggs GBR
52 Edmund Bradbury GBR
53 Tom Moses GBR
54 Jon Mould GBR
55 Alistair Slater GBR
56 Tom Stewart GBR

MITCHELTON-SCOTT
61 Caleb Ewan AUS
62 Lucas Hamilton AUS
63 Roger Kluge GER
64 Cameron Meyer AUS
65 Robert Power AUS
66 Mikel Nieve CAN

BARDIANI-CSF
71 Enrico Barbin ITA
72 Vincenzo Albanese ITA
73 Giovanni Carboni ITA
74 Andrea Guardini ITA
75 Paolo Simion ITA
76 Alessandro Tonelli ITA

ONE PRO CYCLING
81 Emils Liepins LAT
82 Tom Baylis GBR
83 Hayden McCormick NZL
84 Chris Latham GBR
85 James Oram NZL
86 Peter Williams GBR

MOVISTAR TEAM
91 José Joaquin Rojas ESP
92 Carlos Babero ESP
93 Victor de la Parte ESP
94 Jasha Sutterlin
95 Rubén Fernández ESP
96 Eduardo Sepulveda ESP

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DIRECT ENERGIE
101 Sylvain Chavanel FRA
102 Romain Cardis FRA
103 Jonathan Hivert FRA
104 Paul Ourselin FRA
105 Alexandre Pichot FRA
106 Angelo Tulik FRA

MADISON GENESIS
111 Connor Swift GBR
112 Richard Handley GBR
113 Matthew Holmes GBR
114 Jonathan McEvoy GBR
115 George Pym GBR
116 Erick Rowsell GBR

TEAM EF EDUCATION FIRST-DRAPAC
121 Dan McLay GBR
122 Matti Breschel DEN
123 Hugh Carthy GBR
124 José Fernandes POR
125 Taylor Phinney USA
126 Sacha Modolo

WANTY-GROUPE GOBERT
131 Xandro Meurisse BEL
132 Simone Antonini ITA
133 Odd Christian Eiking NOR
134 Mark McNally GBR
135 Andrea Pasqualon ITA
136 Dion Smith NZL

CANYON EISBERG
141 Alex Paton GBR
142 Ryan Christensen NZL
143 Dexter Gardias GBR
144 Max Stedman GBR
145 Andy Tennant GBR
146 Rory Townsend

TEAM KATUSHA ALPECIN
151 Alex Dowsett GBR
152 Tony Martin GER
153 Dmitry Strakhov GER
154 Nils Politt GER
155 Mads Würtz Schmidt DEN
156 Rick Zabel GE

GREAT BRITAIN
161 Ben Swift
162 Matt Bostock
163 Ethan Hayter
164 Joe Nally
165 Steve Williams
166 Fred Wright

TEAM SKY
171 Geraint Thomas GBR
172 Chris Froome GBR
173 Lukasz Wisniowski POL
174 Vasil Kiryienka BLR
175 Wout Poels NED
176 Ian Stannard GBR

TEAM SUNWEB
181 Edward Theuns BEL
182 Nils Eekhoff NED
183 Chris Hamilton AUS
184 Lennard Hofstede NED
185 Louis Vervaeke BEL
186 Phil Bauhaus GE

QUICK-STEP FLOORS
191 Fernando Gaviria (COL)
192 Julian Alaphilippe (FRA)
193 Bob Jungels (LUX)
194 Iljo Keisse (BEL)
195 Maximiliano Richeze (ARG)
196 Maximilian Schachmann (GER)

 

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