Olympic champion and Tour de France stage winner Tom Pidcock will make his eagerly-anticipated return to the Tour of Britain in Aberdeen this weekend.
Pidcock will be part of home fan-favourites INEOS Grenadiers’ line-up at the race, which gets under way in Aberdeen on Sunday.
The Granite City marks the start of the race, which will begin on Union Street before heading out to Inverurie, Alford, Ballater and finishing at the Glenshee Ski Centre, for a total distance of 181.3km.
The 23-year-old sealed his reputation as one of the world’s most exciting riders in the sport when he soloed to win atop the famed climb of Alpe d’Huez during last month’s Tour de France.
That victory added to his triumphs in the Olympic Games cross country mountain bike race at Tokyo 2020 and UCI World Cyclo-Cross Championships in February.
Pidcock previously competed in his national tour in 2018, when he finished sixth atop Whinlatter Pass in Cumbria en route to placing 17th overall aged just 20.
This year’s Tour will visit Durham, the city in which he soloed to a memorable win in the 2017 edition of the Tour Series aged just 17, on stage three.
The race will then return to his home county of Yorkshire for the first time since 2009 a day later.
He will line-up alongside his INEOS Grenadiers team-mate Richie Porte at the race. Porte, whose participation was confirmed on Friday, will end his 13-year professional career at the UK’s leading cycling event.
Former world champion Michael Kwiatkowsi, who finished second overall in 2014, and Andrey Amador, a top-10 finisher three years ago, will both return to the race to play a supporting role for Pidcock.
The team’s line-up is completed by debutants Omar Fraile, a two-time King of the Mountains winner at the Vuelta a Espana, and Magnus Sheffield.
The 2022 race starts in Aberdeen on Sunday September 4 and culminates with what promises to be a spectacular finale on the Isle of Wight eight stages later on September 11.
Along the way riders will tackle stages in the Scottish Borders, North East England, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset.
