World Champion Thor Hushovd will head up Garmin-Cervelo's squad for the 2011 Tour of Britain, which takes place over September 11-18.
The Norwegian double 2011 Tour de France stage winner will use the race as a warm-up before defending his world title at the UCI World Championships in Copenhagen at the end of September.
Hushovd was controversially not selected to ride for the US-based Garmin-Cervelo team in the Vuelta a Espana, which starts in Benidorm on Saturday (August 20). It was announced last week that Hushovd will switch to the BMC Racing team in 2012.
Riding alongside Hushovd on Garmin's provisional line-up for the Tour will be Britons David Millar, Daniel Lloyd and Roger Hammond. New Zealander Julian Dean and Dutchman Martijn Maaskant complete the team.
"We are very pleased to have such a strong Garmin Cervélo line-up racing at this year's Tour of Britain, and very much look forward to welcoming the current World Champion Thor Hushovd to The Tour," Tour of Britain race director Mick Bennett commented.
"British fans will also be looking forward to seeing Roger Hammond, Dan Lloyd and David Millar in action. We saw during the Eneco Tour that David is currently in great form, so I'm sure he will be highly motivated to do well in the TfL London stage individual time trial."
The 2011 Tour of Britain starts in Scotland on September 11, and then visits the north-west of England, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire Devon, Somerset and East Anglia before finishing in London with a decisive individual time trial stage and criterium on September 18.
Highlights of the race will be shown on British digital channel ITV4 each evening.
More team rosters for the 2011 Tour of Britain are set to be announced later this week.
Tour of Britain 2011: Stages
Sunday September 11, Stage one, Peebles to Dumfries, 170km
Monday September 12, Stage two, Kendal to Blackpool, 130km
Tuesday September 13, Stage three, Stoke-on-Trent to Trentham Gardens, 150km
Wednesday September 14, Stage four, Welshpool to Caerphilly, 180km
Thursday September 15, Stage five, Exeter to Exmouth, 180km
Friday September 16, Stage six, Taunton to Wells, 150km
Saturday September 17, Stage seven, Bury St Edmunds to Sandringham, 200km
Sunday September 18, Stage eight A, London 10km individual time trial
Sunday September 19, Stage eight B, London 80km criterium
Tour of Britain 2011: Teams
An Post-Sean Kelly Cycling Team (Ireland)
Colnago CSF Inox (Italy)
Endura Racing (Britain)
Europcar (France)
Garmin-Cervelo (USA)
HTC-Highroad (USA)
Leopard-Trek (Luxembourg)
Motorpoint (Britain)
NetApp (Germany)
Rabobank (Netherlands)
Raleigh (Britain)
Rapha Condor Sharp (Britain)
Sigma Sport-Specialized (Britain)
Sky Professional Cycling Team (Britain)
Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator (Belgium)
Vacansoleil-DCM (Netherlands)
Tour of Britain: Previous winners
2010 Michael Albasini (Switzerland)
2009 Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway)
2008 Geoffroy Lequatre (France)
2007 Romain Feillu (France)
2006 Martin Pedersen (Denmark)
2005 Nick Nuyens (Belgium)
2004 Mauricio Ardila (Colombia)
Related links
Tour of Britain 2011 route and teams announced
Final day TT for 2011 Tour of Britain
Hushovd to join BMC
Thor Hushovd: Rider Profile
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