Two of the standout British riders of 2025, Matthew Brennan and Oscar Onley, will ride the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, as the race's provisional start list was released on Thursday evening.
The race begins next Tuesday, 2 September, with the start list now fleshed out around the already announced Remco Evenepoel (Soudal Quick-Step), Julian Alaphilippe (Tudor Pro Cycling) and Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers).
Visma-Lease a Bike's Brennan has won 11 professional races this year, in his debut season, one of the most successful ever. He most recently won two stages and the points jersey at the Deutschland Tour, and comes to dovetail on the sprint stages with his teammate Olav Kooij, who won four consecutive stages of the race and the points jersey on his last appearance at the race, in 2023.
Meanwhile, Onley of Picnic PostNL is likely a favourite for overall victory, given his recent fourth place at the Tour de France. He finished second and won the best young rider jersey 12 months ago at the Tour of Britain.
Thomas will be bowing out of professional cycling after the Tour of Britain, and will ride in a specially designed Ineos Grenadiers jersey. Joining Thomas for Ineos will be two-time Tour stage winner this year Thymen Arensman.
A second British Grand Tour winner will be at the race in Tao Geoghegan Hart (Lidl-Trek), who will be present for the first time in eight years.
The riders third, fourth, and fifth in the general classification last year all return alongside Onley – Tom Donnenwirth (Groupama FDJ), Mark Donovan (Q36.5 Pro Cycling), and Joe Blackmore (Israel–Premier Tech).
Among the more experienced riders at the race are John Degenkolb (Picnic PostNL) and Alexander Kristoff (Uno-X Mobility), who boast Monuments and Grand Tour stage wins between them.
In total, nine former Tour of Britain Men stage winners are on the provisional start list: Kooij, Edoardo Affini and Julian Vermote (all Visma-Lease a Bike), Alaphilippe and Matteo Trentin (both Tudor Pro Cycling), Sam Bennett (Decathlon AG2R La Mondiale), Matevž Govekar (Bahrain Victorious), Ben Swift (Ineos Grenadiers) and Rasmus Tiller (Uno-X Mobility).
"Everything is in place for what will be another incredible edition of the Lloyds Tour of Britain Men, and following on from the high quality line up we had at the Lloyds Tour of Britain Women, it’s great to be able to welcome this world-class line-up of teams and riders to the race and it is testament to the status of the event," Jonathan Day, managing director of British Cycling Events, said.
"Like the fans, we now cannot wait for the racing to start in East Suffolk next week, and look forward to the joy and excitement that each of the six stages will bring to communities and spectators along the route, plus all of those watching the live broadcast at home, and around the world."
This year's race will be held over six stages, running from September 2 to Sunday 7 September. The race begins in East Suffolk, before moving to the middle of the country and then finishing in Wales after a couple of hilly stages.
The full start list can be seen on British Cycling's website.
