BRADLEY Wiggins, above, will return to competitive action tomorrow for the first time since winning gold in the Olympic time trial as the Tour of Britain gets under way in Ipswich.
The 2012 Tour de France champion will lead the Sky team alongside world champion Mark Cavendish, with Samuel Sanchez (Euskaltel-Euskadi) and Ivan Basso (Liquigas-Cannondale) among the pro-cycling big guns who will be targeting the general classification title.
Cavendish, in his final race in the rainbow jersey, will be looking to secure victory in the points competition, where the potentially strongest threat will come from Garmin-Sharp sprinter Tyler Farrar.
It is expected that Sky will ride for Cavendish, for whom wins in the bunch sprints in the early stages, including into Dumfries on Tuesday, is the likely goal.
For Wiggins, the race will provide an unofficial extended lap of honour on the back of his Tour de France and Olympic Games victories.
Jonathan Tiernan-Locke (Endura Racing), who was one of the standout performances of the 2011 Tour of Britain, winning the king of the mountains title and finishing fifth overall, could prove the dark horse in the general classification.
No British rider has won their home tour in almost two decades and the Livingston-based outfit are determined to change that.
Brian Smith, general manager of Endura Racing, said: "We've got a strong team. I'm confident Jon has the preparation and ability to win the Tour of Britain."
In the absence of David Millar (Garmin-Sharp), Evan Oliphant of Raleigh-GAC is the lone Scot in this year's race. The Wick-born rider is something of a Tour of Britain veteran, this marking his seventh outing in the eight-day race.
He told Herald Sport: "I want to get a podium place on one of the stages. I will try to get away in a break, too. It would be great if I could do that on the Scottish stage, but I'm not specifically targeting that.
"The route from Jedburgh to Dumfries is probably the one that best suits me, but I think everyone will be expecting me to do it then, so it may lack the element of surprise."
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