SIR Bradley Wiggins and UK national champion Mark Cavendish will head a record field as the Tour of Britain gets under way in Peebles today.
Wiggins will lead Team Sky's six-man squad, while Cavendish's Omega Pharma-Quick-Step squad has been built around assisting the Manx rider in his challenge on the sprint stages.
The line-up for the eight-day race also features Irishman Dan Martin (Garmin-Sharp), the nephew of the great Stephen Roche, and Colombian rider Nairo Quintana (Movistar), who won King of the Mountains at this year's Tour de France.
Wiggins, the 2012 Tour de France and Olympic champion, will be joined by fellow British riders Josh Edmondson and Ian Stannard alongside Australian Mathew Hayman, Spaniard David Lopez and Austrian Bernhard Eisel.
Cavendish said: "I'm proud to be British and can't wait to wear the colours of national champion on the roads of Britain. We have a strong team here, with a lot of different options for all eight stages.
"The weather in the first two days of racing will be a factor for sure. I hope to do well against some really strong guys at this race, and I'm sure my team-mates are as motivated as I am."
Wiggins and Quintana aim to use the Tour as part of their preparations for the World Road Race Championships in Italy this month.
Spanish rider Jose Joaquin Rojas (Movistar) and his British team-mate Alex Dowsett, Alessandro Petacchi (Omega Pharma-QuickStep), Giro d'Italia King of the Mountains Stefano Pirazzi (Bardiani Valvole CSF Inox) and 2013 Milan-San Remo winner Gerald Ciolek (MTN Qhubeka) will also start.
The Scottish contingent includes this year's British Cycling Premier Calendar champion Evan Oliphant (Team Raleigh) and Ben Greenwood (Team IG Sigma Sport).
This 10th anniversary edition of the Tour will see the event's largest field with 114 riders from 19 teams, including MTN Qhubeka, Africa's first pro-continental cycling team, and Scottish-German squad NetApp-Endura.
The opening 130-mile stage departs from Peebles before heading south- west to finish with a one-lap circuit at Drumlanrig Castle, Dumfriesshire.
As in previous years it looks likely to be a route that will favour the sprinters, Cavendish having won the Scottish stage in 2011 and 2012. This year he will face competition from the likes of Rojas, Elia Viviani (Cannondale) and Sacha Modolo (Bardiani Valvole CSF Inox).
The Tour will depart from Carlisle to Kendal on stage two tomorrow, before finishing in London a week today.
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