The second edition of the Aviva Women's Tour, begins in Suffolk on Wednesday 17 June.
Twelve of the world's top thirteen teams make up the sixteen team roster, with the rider list containing seven of the world's top ten ranked riders, headlined by World Road Race Champion Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, who will lead the Rabo Liv team subject to passing a fitness test after a recent spell out injured.
The current first and second placed riders in the UCI Women's World Cup will also take part, with first overall and Commonwealth Games Road Race Champion Lizzie Armitstead leading the Boels Dolmans team, and second placed rider Elisa Longo Borghini part of the six-rider Wiggle Honda team that also includes double World Champion Giorgia Bronzini.
The provisional list includes eleven reigning national road race champions, led by British Champion and double Olympic Gold medallist Laura Trott of the Matrix Fitness team.
Trott's fellow London 2012 Team Pursuit Champions Dani King (Wiggle Honda) and Joanna Rowsell (Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International) will also ride, with the latter's team including former World Track Champion Katie Archibald and Britain's most successful Paralympic athlete Dame Sarah Storey.
Among the national champions racing are Lisa Brennauer of Germany (also World Time Trial Champion), recently crowned American champion Megan Guarnier and Emma Johansson of Sweden who won the first ever stage of the Women's Tour in 2014.
The final start list will be published after 5pm on Tuesday coinciding with the team presentation event.
Fans will have their first chance to see the teams in the Aviva Women's Tour team presentation, which will take place in Bury St Edmunds from 5pm tomorrow, Tuesday 16 June, before the town hosts the opening stage start the following morning.
Stage One on Wednesday 17 June will finish at Aldeburgh on the Suffolk Coast, before the race again passes through Suffolk a day later between Braintree and Clacton in Essex.
The third stage comes in Northamptonshire, from Oundle to Kettering before Stage Four on Saturday 20th June from Waltham Cross to Stevenage in Hertfordshire, and then the final leg through Buckinghamshire, the Chiltern Hills and Dacorum on Sunday 21st June.
Highlights of every stage will be shown on ITV4 at 8pm daily, with a repeat the following morning on the same channel.
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The national road race champions due to ride in the Aviva Women's Tour are as follows:
- Lisa Brennauer, Germany, Velocio SRAM
- Julian D'hoore, Belgium, Wiggle Honda
- Pauline Ferrand-Prevot, France, Rabo Liv
- Megan Guarnier, USA, Boels Dolmans
- Emma Johansson, Sweden, Orica AIS
- Leah Kirchmann, Canada, Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies
- Lotta Lepistö, Finland, Bigla Pro Cycling
- Christine Majerus, Luxembourg, Boels Dolmans
- Iris Slappendel, Netherlands, Bigla Pro Cycling
- Laura Trott, Great Britain, Matrix Fitness
- Linda Villumsen, New Zealand, UnitedHeathcare Pro Cycling
The Aviva Women's Tour
Created by SweetSpot Group, the Aviva Women's Tour is the UK's first ever international stage-race, bringing the world's top riders to compete over five days in Great Britain.
SweetSpot are an event organiser and sports marketing company behind the organisation of the Tour of Britain, the UK's biggest professional cycle race and the country's largest free-to-watch sporting event, and the creation of the unique Tour Series races.
The 2014 edition of the race, won by Marianne Vos, saw hundreds of thousands of spectators turn out at the roadside, with many more around the UK watching the ITV4 highlights.
The Aviva Women's Tour will run from Wednesday 17th to Sunday 21st June 2015.
- Stage One, Wednesday 17 June, Bury St Edmunds to Aldeburgh
- Stage Two, Thursday 18 June, Braintree to Clacton
- Stage Three, Friday 19 June, Oundle to Kettering
- Stage Four, Saturday 20 June, Waltham Cross to Stevenage
- Stage Five, Sunday 21 June, Marlow to Hemel Hempstead
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