CYCLING star Mark Cavendish has confirmed he will join Tour De France winner Bradley Wiggins in the Team Sky line-up for this year’s Tour of Britain - which starts in Suffolk on September 9.
It is another major boost to the race, which is set to draw huge crowds when it starts in Ipswich and heads along the Suffolk coast - through the likes of Woodbridge, Leiston, Aldeburgh and Southwold.
Cavendish was a double-stage winner in last year’s Tour of Britain and is the current World Champion on the road.
Britain’s first ever Tour de France winner and Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins also revealed on Sunday he would ride The Tour of Britain, giving British fans the chance to see him just under two months since he clinched his historic victory in Paris.
Race Director Mick Bennett said: “To have the reigning Tour de France and Olympic Time Trial Champion, and the current World Champion competing in The Tour of Britain is a dream for us. That both riders are British and such great champions means that there is now a unprecented interest in the event.
“We are delighted that the Tour of Britain will be the first chance for many British fans to see Bradley Wiggins since his Tour de France and Olympic successes. We are also very pleased that Mark Cavendish to the race again so he can ‘show-off’ the rainbow stripes in front of home fans. What Mark did for the race last year following the cancellation of Stage Two meant a great deal to us, so he will always be welcome as a fantastic ambassador for The Tour.”
Joining Cavendish and Wiggins in the Team Sky line-up will be Devonian rider Jeremy Hunt, who will race over home roads on Stage Seven of The Tour from Barnstaple to Dartmouth.
Alongside the trio of British riders are two members of Bradley Wiggins’ successful Tour de France line-up Bernhard Eisel and Christian Knees, plus Swedish rider Thomas L�fkvist.
Meanwhile, amateur cyclists will have the chance to preview the route of Stage One of The Tour of Britain, by taking part in The Tour Ride East Anglia on Saturday September 8 - the day before the Grand Depart from Ipswich.
To find out more and to enter, please visit www.tourride.co.uk
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