CYCLING sprint sensation Mark Cavendish will take part in the Tour of Britain and will visit Cumbria for the second stage, it has been confirmed.

Organisers have announced the first top riders for this year's Tour of Britain, with Britain's record Tour de France stage winner leading the way.

Fellow top sprinter André Greipel, from Germany, and former UCI world hour record holder Rohan Dennis, from Australia, will also take part.

Cavendish, who has 30 stage victories in the Tour de France, won his first Olympic medal on Tuesday, taking silver in the Omnium track event.


Mark Cavendish gets ready to compete in Rio. The Tour of Britain starts on Sunday 5 September and will visit Cumbria the following day.

The Cumbria stage of the race starts in Carlisle, passes through Grasmere, Ambleside, Windermere and Bowness and finishes at the top of Beast Banks in Kendal.

Mick Bennett, Tour of Britain race director, said: "In Mark Cavendish and André Greipel we have two of the world's top sprinters, who are both already multiple Tour of Britain stage winners, while we are delighted that BMC Racing Team will be bringing two outstanding time trialists in Rohan Dennis and Taylor Phinney to the race.

"This is the first of several exciting rider announcements that fans can look forward to and will build excitement for what will be another world-class edition of the Tour of Britain."

Cavendish has been confirmed as a part of the Team Dimension Data provisional roster alongside Steve Cummings, who won stage seven of the Tour de France this summer.

Further announcements of provisional rider line-ups will follow next week ahead of the publication of the full provisional rider list for the Tour of Britain.