Tom Pidcock and Richie Porte line up for Ineos Grenadiers at Tour of Britain

Tom Pidcock and Richie Porte have both been confirmed (opens in new tab) as being part of the Ineos Grenadiers squad for the Tour of Britain. 

Australian rider Porte will end his 13-year professional career at the week-long stage race which gets underway on Sunday 4 September in Aberdeen, Scotland. Porte's long career has seen him take victory at prestigious races such as Paris-Nice as well as the Tour de Suisse in 2018.

23-year-old Pidcock makes his return to the Tour of Britain after last competing at the race in 2018 when he finished 17th overall aged just 20-years-old. Since then the Leeds-born rider has gone on to become one of the biggest stars in professional cycling and is now famous for his success in road racing, cyclocross and mountain biking. 

Earlier this year, the British star rider won his first Tour de France stage on the Alpe d’Huez climb. Since then, Pidcock recently became European Mountain Bike Champion at the recent Euros in Munich.

Andrey Amador, Omar Fraile, Magnus Sheffield and Michael Kwiatkowsi make up the rest of the Ineos squad for the race. 

Polish rider Kwiatkowsi finished second overall in 2014, whereas Spaniard Fraile and American Magnus Sheffield will both be making their Tour of Britain debut. 

The 2022 edition of the race features a summit finish on the opening day at Glenshee Ski Centre, a stage where Pidcock could flourish. The route will then see the riders race in the Scottish Borders as well as stages in North East England, North Yorkshire, Nottinghamshire, Gloucestershire and Dorset. 

Pidcock will now inevitably be widely considered as a strong favourite for the overall victory. Stage four will see the riders travel between Redcar and Duncombe Park, Helmsley on the roads of North Yorkshire which are not far from the 23-year-old's home city of Leeds.

Later on in the week, the final stage eight will see the riders travel to the Isle of Wight for the first time for another hilly finish on 11 September. 

Ineos Grenadiers are one of five WorldTour teams participating in the event. Bora-Hansgrohe, Israel-Premier Tech, Movistar and Team DSM the others. Also confirmed to participate are British domestic teams such as Wiv-SunGod and Saint Piran.

The other WorldTour teams are yet to fully confirm their full line-ups, although the Tour of Britain race organisation has confirmed (opens in new tab) that Belgian puncheur Dylan Teuns will participate for Israel-PremierTech.