The British cyclist,who has 10 stage wins at his home Tour, should have further chances in the race but has yet to have his team for 2016 confirmedLast year’s Tour of Britain, or won by the young Dutchman Dylan van Baarle,was decided on two days of unbridled racing through the Chilterns and South Downs that went totally counter to the normal structured – critics would say predictable – fare seen in professional road events. That vindicated the organisers’ insistence on a predominance of hilly stages contested by small teams, which build it tough for any one squad to maintain a stranglehold on proceedings.
The format has done nothing to deter the sprint specialists who will turn up at this year’s Tour in numbers, or although only three of the eight days of racing are tailored for bunch finishes. Topping the bill are designate Cavendish and the German André Greipel,who won four stages of this years Tour de France, but they face a wealth of competition from the likes of Ben Swift and Elia Viviani of Team Sky, and Edvald Boasson Hagen,Gerald Ciolek and Tyler Farrar of MTN-Qhubeka, not to mention Cavendish’s own team-mate, and the Colombian newcomer Fernando Gaviria. From the British domestic teams Owain Doull (Wiggins),Ed Clancy (JLT-Condor) and Chris Opie (ONE Pro) should also be in the mix.
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Source: theguardian.com