Tuesday 6 September 2016 11:07, UK
The 2016 Tour of Britain has attracted some of the best cyclists in the world.
An all-star field contains multiple Olympic medallists and Tour de France stage winners.
Here, we pick out the contenders for overall victory, the leading sprinters and other ones to watch from Sunday, September 4, to Sunday, September 11…
Wout Poels (Team Sky)
Poels finished second last year and is almost certain to be in contention once again this time around. He is probably the best climber in the field and will also be strong in the time trial, but having effectively lost the 2015 race on bonus seconds, he will need to try to bag some top threes on the rolling stages as well.
Dan Martin (Etixx - Quick-Step)
The 30-year-old Irishman returns to the race after a two-year absence and is likely to be Poels' closest challenger for overall victory. He will be to the fore on both the stage six's summit finish and the rolling stages, but he will need to limit his losses on stage 7a's time trial.
Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands)
Dumoulin is one of the best time-triallists in the world and is also an excellent climber, so he should be challenging for wins on stages six and 7a, as well as the overall title. Like Poels, however, grabbing bonus seconds on rolling days could be important.
Rohan Dennis (BMC Racing)
Dennis is another time-trial specialist who can also climb well, so he should be up at the top end of the general classification. Earlier this year, he finished second overall at the Tour of California, a race not too dissimilar to the Tour of Britain.
Mark Cavendish (Dimension Data)
Cavendish returns to the road after winning silver on the track at the Rio 2016 Olympics and will be looking to recapture the form that saw him to four stage victories at July's Tour de France. He has 10 Tour of Britain stage wins to his name - more than any other rider - but his last was in 2013.
Elia Viviani (Team Sky)
Viviani beat Cavendish to omnium gold in Rio and, like the Manxman, he is racing for the first time on the road since the Games, so his form is somewhat of an unknown. He won three stages of last year's Tour of Britain, but his last sprint victory was back in March.
Andre Greipel (Lotto Soudal)
With Cavendish and Viviani coming off a block of track work, the door could be open for Greipel to capitalise. The 34-year-old German has nine wins to his name this season and will be disappointed if he doesn't add at least one more over the next week.
Caleb Ewan (Orica-BikeExchange)
Ewan is an up-and-coming, 22-year-old Australian who could rule world sprinting when the likes of Cavendish and Marcel Kittel retire. Victory over John Degenkolb, Alexander Kristoff and several other big names at the Cyclassics Hamburg two weeks ago showed he goes into the Tour of Britain with good form.
Steve Cummings (Dimension Data)
Cummings will be required to work for Cavendish on the sprint days but will then get free rein on all other stages and there should be plenty of opportunity for him to grab a win. He specialises in solo attacks - whether 5km or 50km - and is just as adept on hills as he is on the flat.
Tony Gallopin (Lotto Soudal)
Gallopin enjoys rolling terrain and is therefore well-suited to a race like the Tour of Britain. Stage wins will definitely be in his sights, but if he can minimise his losses on the stage six's summit finish and stage 7a's time trial, he could also mount a general classification challenge.
Enrico Gasparotto (Wanty-Groupe Gobert)
The 34-year-old Italian specialises in short and sharp climbs followed by flat finishes. There are several stages in the Tour of Britain that suit him well and he could easily walk away with a couple of wins to his name.
Tao Geoghegan Hart (Great Britain)
Hart is an up-and-coming climbing talent who will turn professional with Team Sky next year. He will lead the Great Britain national team at the Tour of Britain and, having finished 15th and 21st at the past two editions, don't be surprised to see him pushing for a top-10 place overall.
