Tour de France Green Jersey winner Mark Cavendish has confirmed he will be taking part in this year’s Tour of Britain – which comes to Caerphilly on September 14.
The cycling star tweeted: “So happy to announce on this lovely Monday morning that I will be racing in this years #TourOfBritain with my @HTCHighroad team.”
The 26-year-old multiple Tour de France stage winner will lead his HTC Highroad team on The Tour of Britain – which starts on September 10 in Scotland before heading to Wales for stage four.
Cavendish has been confirmed as a member of the HTC Highroad line-up, which also includes fellow members of his sprint team Bernhard Eisel and Mark Renshaw.
“As a team we have worked hard over the past fortnight to ensure that Mark Cavendish rides The Tour of Britain,” said Race Director Mick Bennett.
“We are very pleased that Mark has been given permission by the organisers of the Vuelta a Espana to start The Tour of Britain, and will be able to race in front of home crowds for potentially the final time before the 2012 London Olympics.
“Mark’s addition to the start list will ensure that the sprints are hotly contested. I am sure the spectacle of Mark, Thor Hushovd, Ben Swift and others going head-to-head at stage finishes will draw huge crowds to the roadside once more.”
Cavendish, who has won 20 stages of the Tour de France, last rode The Tour of Britain in 2007, when he won the opening two stages of the race.
Ninety-six professional cyclists will make the 182km ride from Welshpoool to the top of Caerphilly Mountain on September 14 as part of stage four of the national race.
The riders are expected in the county borough in the afternoon and will make their way through Nelson, Tredomen, Ystrad Mynach, Llanbradach, Caerphilly town centre and up on to Caerphilly Mountain. The cyclists will then head down into Castle View before ending at Crescent Road near Caerphilly Castle.