Peter Kennaugh, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Alex Peters ride Gran Piemonte today

British national champion Peter Kennaugh is back in action today for Team Sky in the Gran Piemonte road race in Italy.

Kennaugh is joined on Sky's squad for the UCI 1.HC-ranked race by new British Sky recruits Tao Geoghegan Hart and Alex Peters. The 20 and 21-year-olds joined Sky towards the end of the 2015 season as stagiaires, with Peters now signed up on a pro contract with the team for 2016.

Belarusian time trial world champion Vasil Kiryienka, Australian Richie Porte, American Ian Boswell, Czech rider Leopold König and Colombian Sebastián Henao complete Sky's eight-man roster.

>>> Peter Kennaugh beats Chris Boardman’s 22-year-old Isle of Man record

The start list (see below) predominantly features Italian riders, looking to make a good end-of-season show for the home crowds.

Michele Scarponi (Astana), Damiano Cunego (Nippo-Vini Fantini), Matteo Trentin (Etixx-QuickStep), Diego Ulissi (Lampre-Merida), Giovanni Visconti (Movistar), Davide Villella (Cannondale-Garmin), Daniele Bennati (Tinkoff-Saxo) and Fabio Felline (Trek Factory Racing) are among the Italians seeking to make their mark on the race.

The 185-kilometre route can be broadly chopped into two halves with different characters: the first half from the start in San Francesco al Campo is relatively flat, the ideal terrain for a breakaway to shape up; the second half is much more hilly with the two key climbs of Alice Superiore and Prascorsano before a finishing circuit to the line in Ciriè.

The race - formerly known as the Giro del Piemonte - returns to the calendar after a two-year absence. The last winner was Colombian Rigoberto Uran (riding for Sky) in 2012.

Gran Piemonte is the second of the three races included in the trittico di autunno, which also comprises yesterday's Milano-Torino, won by Diego Rosa (Astana), and Sunday’s Il Lombardia.

>>> Il Lombardia 2015 preview

Gran Piemonte 2015 start list

Ag2r-La Mondiale

1 BAKELANDTS Jan (BEL)

2 BERARD Julien (FRA)

3 BONNAFOND Guillaume (FRA)

4 DOMONT Axel (FRA)

5 CAMPISTROUS Romain (FRA)

Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec

11 CHICCHI Francesco (ITA)

12 BANDIERA Marco (ITA)

13 BENFATTO Marco (ITA)

14 ZILIOLI Gianfranco (ITA)

15 FRAPPORTI Marco (ITA)

16 GATTO Oscar (ITA)

17 DALL'ANTONIA Tiziano (ITA)

18 TVETCOV Serghei (ROU)

Astana

21 SCARPONI Michele (ITA)

22 AGNOLI Valerio (ITA)

23 CATALDO Dario (ITA)

24 GUARDINI Andrea (ITA)

25 LANDA MEANA Mikel (ESP)

26 LOPEZ MORENO Miguel Angel (COL)

27 ROSA Diego (ITA)

28 VANOTTI Alessandro (ITA)

Bardiani-CSF

31 COLBRELLI Sonny (ITA)

32 BARBIN Enrico (ITA)

33 BONGIORNO Francesco Manuel (ITA)

34 SIMION Paolo (ITA)

35 PIRAZZI Stefano (ITA)

36 STERBINI Simone (ITA)

37 RUFFONI Nicola (ITA)

38 ZARDINI Edoardo (ITA)

Bora-Argon 18

41 BENEDETTI Cesare (ITA)

42 BUCHMANN Emanuel (GER)

43 KONRAD Patrick (AUT)

44 POSTLBERGER Lukas (AUT)

45 NERZ Dominik (GER)

46 PIMENTA COSTA MENDES José J. (POR)

47 SALERNO Cristiano (ITA)

48 VOSS Paul (GER)

Colombia

51 RUBIANO CHAVEZ Miguel Angel (COL)

52 AVILA VANEGAS Edwin Alcibiad (COL)

53 CANO ARDILA Alex (COL)

54 DUQUE Leonardo Fabio (COL)

55 MOLANO Sebastian (COL)

56 RAMIREZ BOTERO Carlos Mario (COL)

57 QUINTERO Carlos Julian (COL)

58 VALENCIA Juan Pablo (COL)

Etixx-QuickStep

61 BOUET Maxime (FRA)

62 BRAMBILLA Gianluca (ITA)

64 GOLAS Michal (POL)

65 SABATINI Fabio (ITA)

66 TRENTIN Matteo (ITA)

67 VERONA QUINTANILLA Carlos (ESP)

68 WISNIOWSKI Lukasz (POL)

IAM Cycling

71 AREGGER Marcel (SUI)

72 CHEVRIER Clement (FRA)

73 DEGAND Thomas (BEL)

74 FUMEAUX Jonathan (SUI)

75 LANG Pirmin (SUI)

76 REICHENBACH Sébastien (SUI)

77 SCHELLING Patrick (SUI)

78 WARBASSE Lawrence (USA)

Lampre-Merida

81 ULISSI Diego (ITA)

82 CIMOLAI Davide (ITA)

83 DURASEK Kristijan (CRO)

84 FENG Chun Kai (TPE)

85 MODOLO Sacha (ITA)

86 MORI Manuele (ITA)

87 POLANC Jan (SLO)

88 XU Gang (CHN)

Movistar

91 VISCONTI Giovanni (ITA)

92 CAPECCHI Eros (ITA)

93 HERRADA LOPEZ José (ESP)

94 MORENO BAZAN Javier (ESP)

95 ROJAS GIL Jose Joaquin (ESP)

96 SOLER GIMENEZ Marc (ESP)

97 SÜTTERLIN Jasha (GER)

98 VENTOSO ALBERDI Francisco J. (ESP)

MTN-Qhubeka

101 TEKLEHAIMANOT Daniel (ERI)

102 BERHANE Natnael (ERI)

103 JANSE VAN RENSBURG Jacques (RSA)

104 JIM Songezo (RSA)

105 SBARAGLI Kristian (ITA)

106 MEINTJES Louis (RSA)

107 VAN ZYL Johann (RSA)

108 VENTER Jacobus (RSA)

Nippo-Vini Fantini

111 CUNEGO Damiano (ITA)

112 BERLATO Giacomo (ITA)

113 GROSU Eduard Michael (ROU)

114 DE NEGRI Pier Paolo (ITA)

115 CHAPARRO LOPEZ Didier Alonso (COL)

116 MALAGUTI Alessandro (ITA)

117 NIBALI Antonio (ITA)

118 YAMAMOTO Genki (JPN)

Southeast

121 BELLETTI Manuel (ITA)

122 BUSATO Matteo (ITA)

123 CONTI Samuele (ITA)

124 FEDI Andrea (ITA)

125 RODRIGUEZ MARTIN Cristian (ESP)

126 GAVAZZI Francesco (ITA)

127 PONZI Simone (ITA)

128 WACKERMANN Luca (ITA)

Cannondale-Garmin

131 VILLELLA Davide (ITA)

132 BETTIOL Alberto (ITA)

133 BOVENHUIS Jasper (NED)

134 DOMBROWSKI Joseph Lloyd (USA)

136 MARANGONI Alan (ITA)

137 MULLEN Ryan (IRL)

138 SLAGTER Tom Jelte (NED)

Katusha

141 GUARNIERI Jacopo (ITA)

142 LAGUTIN Sergey (RUS)

143 LOSADA ALGUACIL Alberto (ESP)

144 MACHADO Tiago (POR)

145 TROFIMOV Yury (RUS)

146 VICIOSO ARCOS Angel (ESP)

147 VORGANOV Eduard (RUS)

148 ZAKARIN Ilnur (RUS)

LottoNL-Jumbo

151 KELDERMAN Wilco (NED)

152 BENNETT George (NZL)

153 BOUWMAN Koen (NED)

154 KRUIJSWIJK Steven (NED)

155 LINDEMAN Bert Jan (NED)

156 ROOSEN Timo (NED)

157 TANKINK Bram (NED)

158 VAN WINDEN Dennis (NED)

Novo-Nordisk

161 CHERHAL Corentin (FRA)

163 HENTTALA Joonas (FIN)

164 LEFRANCOIS Nicolas (FRA)

165 LOZANO RIBA David (ESP)

166 MEGIAS LEAL Javier (ESP)

167 PERON Andrea (ITA)

168 PLANET Charles (FRA)

Team Sky

171 KIRYIENKA Vasil (BLR)

172 BOSWELL Ian (USA)

173 HART GEOGHEGAN Tao (GBR)

174 HENAO GOMEZ Sebastian (COL)

175 KENNAUGH Peter (GBR)

176 KONIG Leopold (CZE)

177 PETERS Alex (GBR)

178 PORTE Richie (AUS)

Tinkoff-Saxo

181 BENNATI Daniele (ITA)

182 GROSSCHARTNER Felix (AUT)

183 HANSEN Jesper (DEN)

184 HERNANDEZ BLAZQUEZ Jesus (ESP)

185 KISERLOVSKI Robert (CRO)

186 PIRES Bruno (POR)

187 POLJANSKI Pawel (POL)

188 SÖRENSEN Chris Anker (DEN)

Trek Factory Racing

191 FELLINE Fabio (ITA)

192 ALAFACI Eugenio (ITA)

193 COLEDAN Marco (ITA)

194 DIDIER Laurent (LUX)

195 MOLLEMA Bauke (NED)

196 NIZZOLO Giacomo (ITA)

197 POPOVYCH Yaroslav (UKR)

198 REKITA Szymon (POL)