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The winners of the Tour of Britain's past two summit finishes will return to the race this September, with Wout Poels (Team Sky) and Edoardo Zardini (Bardiani CSF) confirmed by race organisers as a part of the provisional line-up.
Poels took victory atop the climb of Hartside in Cumbria during the 2015 race and finished second overall behind Edvald Boasson Hagen, while Zardini won on The Tumble in Monmouthshire and led the Tour of Britain for a day in 2014. This year's summit finish in the Tour of Britain comes on Stage Six, Friday 9 September at Haytor on Dartmoor, where Simon Yates claimed victory in 2013. 28-year-old Dutchman Poels helped Chris Froome to victory in this Summer's Tour de France, and won the Liege-Bastogne-Liege classic earlier this year. The climber also won a stage of the Tour of Britain in 2010 between Minehead and Teignouth. Speaking about his return to the race in which he finished fourth overall in 2014, Edoardo Zardini said; "I had the chance to race the Tour of Britain only one time in my career, 2014, and I have great memories. I took my second win as professional and I was honoured to wear the leader's jersey for one day. So far, it was one of the best moments of my career. "2014 was great, I had really a top condition, but during the Tour of Britain I really performed at my highest level. I dreamed also to keep the jersey for few days more and, why not, being on the podium in London but I had to accept the fourth place… well, finishing the race behind Van Baarle, Kwiatkowski and Wiggins was not so bad! "Besides the performance, I had great memories from the race – great organisation, an amazing crowd on the roads and beautiful landscape. I really enjoyed that moment and I look forward to come for a new experience.” The 26-year-old Italian is currently making his comeback from injury, having fractured four vertebrae in a crash at the GP Lugano at the end of February. "Compared to 2014, my 2016 season is not so great. I had serious injury in February and I had to stop for four months. I returned to race at the end of June and only my form grew at a good level. My aim is to be competitive in Britain but, honestly, I think it will be hard to repeat what I did two years ago. "Anyway, I'll be one of the leader of Bardiani CSF and everyone of us want to leave a mark on the race. I'll look to mountain stages and I'll try doing my best on that ground.” Already confirmed for the Tour of Britain are the likes of Olympic medallists Sir Bradley Wiggins, Owain Doull and Mark Cavendish, plus multiple Tour de France stage winners Andre Greipel, Rohan Dennis and Steve Cummings, and former Tour of Britain jersey winners Mark McNally and Boy Van Poppel. Three-hours of live coverage will be broadcast from each stage of the Tour of Britain, with both ITV4 and the BIKE Channel UK showing the race live, while ITV4 will also air a one-hour highlights programme each day. The Tour of Britain is British Cycling's premier road cycling event giving cycling fans the opportunity to see the world's best teams and riders competing on their door step. |
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