Former Tour of Britain champions Wout van Aert and Gonzalo Serrano, alongside home fan favourite Tom Pidcock, will all compete in next week's race, which starts starts in Greater Manchester on Sunday (3 September) with the announcement of the provisional rider list for the Tour.

The world's elite will be heading to the stunning Shotley peninsula for Stage Five, On Thursday 7 September, racing here between 11.15 and 12.15 from the start at Felixstowe, before heading to East Bergholt.

Having wowed the British crowds by taking four stages en route to overall victory two years ago, van Aert's return headlines the provisional startlist. The Belgian will spearhead a Jumbo – Visma team that is one of the strongest to ever compete in the race. Alongside him will be Dutch sprinter Olav Kooij, already a winner of seven races in 2023, Grand Tour podium finisher Steven Kruijswijk, time trial specialists Jos van Emden and Edoardo Affini, and Nathan Van Hooydonck. 

Spaniard Serrano (Movistar Team) will seek to do what no rider has accomplished in the modern era of the race and defend the title he claimed 12 months ago.  

Van Aert and Serrano are among the historic stage winners set to compete in this year's race. 

Affini (Italy), Sam Bennett (Ireland, BORA – hansgrohe, winner in Caerphilly in 2013), and Kamiel Bonneu (Belgium, Team Flanders – Baloise, who took a surprise victory in Sunderland last year) complete the list. Team dsm – firmenich's line-up includes Patrick Bevin, who won the points competition in 2018. 

Further home interest comes in the form of Jacob Scott (Bolton Equities Black Spoke), the Pinarello king of the mountains competition winner in 2019 and 2021; newly-crowned track world champion Ethan Vernon(Great Britain), Tour de Yorkshire stage winner Harry Tanfield (TDT – Unibet Cycling Team); and Stevie Williams (Great Britain), who won a stage and the general classification at the recent Arctic Race of Norway. 

Rising American star Luke Lamperti (TRINITY Racing), who won the Rutland - Melton CiCLE Classic international one-day race in April; reigning Austrian road race champion Gregor Mühlberger (Movistar Team), and German all-rounders Maximilian Schachmann and Nils Politt (both BORA – hansgrohe) are also set to compete.  

The Tour of Britain 2023 covers eight stages and over 1,200 kilometres of racing around the country. Following the Greater Manchester Grand Départ, the race will visit North Wales, East Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Suffolk, Essex, and Gloucestershire.  

This year's champion will be crowned in historic Caerphilly following an undulating stage in South Wales that takes in some of the country's most famous climbs, including the Bwlch, Rhigos, Bryn Du, and Caerphilly Mountain. 

This is the 19th edition of the race, and it forms part of the prestigious UCI ProSeries. A predicted 1.5 million spectators are expected to watch the 16 teams in action, capitalising on the free-to-attend nature of the event.

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