THE 2015 Aviva Tour of Britain will feature the biggest line-up of UCI WorldTeams to race in the UK as nine of the world's best teams compete this September.
Headlining the 20-strong list is Team Sky fresh from Chris Froome's historic second Tour de France win at the weekend.
Cannondale Garmin, who won the 2014 Tour of Britain with Dylan Van Baarle, and the Etixx Quick-Step team of Mark Cavendish and world champion Michal Kwiatkowski are also confirmed to race.
The other six UCI WorldTeams confirmed for the event – the first time the race has been sponsored by Aviva, the largest insurer in the UK – are BMC Racing, IAM Cycling, Lotto Soudal, Movistar, Lotto NL Jumbo and Tinkoff-Saxo.
Those nine, alongside African-based UCI ProContinental team MTN Qhubeka, have most recently been in action in the Tour de France.
Scotland is set to host to two stages of the 2015 Aviva Tour of Britain this autumn.
The event will come to Kelso and Edinburgh, marking its debut visit to the capital and the first time that it will be on Scottish soil twice within the same race.
A host of top names have taken part in recent years including 2012 Tour de France and Olympic champion Sir Bradley Wiggins and former world champion Cavendish.
The eight-day stage race gets under way in Wales on September 6 and will arrive in Scotland two days later.
Stage three will begin in Cumbria on September 8 before winding its way north-east through Dumfries and Galloway towards Kelso in the Scottish Borders where the final kilometres of the race will take place in the grounds of 18th century Floors Castle.
The following day racing will resume in Edinburgh with stage four departing from Holyrood Park through the city streets into East Lothian and the Scottish Borders before finishing in Blyth, Northumberland.
"This is undoubtedly the strongest line-up of teams to have appeared in the Aviva Tour of Britain," said race director Mick Bennett.
"The Aviva Tour of Britain presents a fantastic opportunity for British fans to see what will be the best line-up of teams and riders to race in this country this year.
"In 2014 we saw Michal Kwiatkowski, Sir Bradley Wiggins and the BMC Racing Team all go on to win world titles immediately after the race and are sure that this year's Tour will provide an equal platform for riders going on to target the World Championships."
Fans of the domestic racing scene will also be able to get behind all six of the country's UCI Continental teams, including 2015 Pearl Izumi Tour Series champions Madison Genesis and last year's Elite Road Series winning squad Team Raleigh GAC.
Three squads, ONE Pro Cycling, co-owned by former England cricketer Matt Prior, Team WIGGINS, the personal team of World Hour Record holder Sir Bradley Wiggins, and Cult Energy will make their Aviva Tour of Britain debuts.
They will also be joined in action by UCI ProContinental outfit Team Novo Nordisk and a Great Britain Cycling Team.
Details of the provisional six rider line-ups for each team will be announced in the coming weeks.
The full list of teams for the Aviva Tour of Britain is as follows:
UCI WorldTeams
BMC Racing (USA)
Etixx Quick-Step (Belgium)
IAM Cycling (Switzerland)
Lotto Soudal (Belgium)
Movistar Team (Spain)
Team Cannondale – Garmin (USA)
Team Lotto NL Jumbo (Netherlands)
Team Sky (Great Britain)
Tinkoff – Saxo (Russia)
UCI Pro Continental teams
Cult Energy Pro Cycling (Denmark)
MTN Qhubeka (South Africa)
Team Novo Nordisk (USA)
UCI Continental teams
An Post Chain Reaction (Ireland)
JLT Condor presented by Mavic (Great Britain)
Madison Genesis (Great Britain)
NFTO (Great Britain)
ONE Pro Cycling (Great Britain)
Team Raleigh GAC (Great Britain)
Team WIGGINS (Great Britain)
National Teams
Great Britain Cycling Team
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