After a mention this week in Samuel Sanchez’s race schedule for the rest of the season, the organisers of the Tour of Britain have announced today that the Spaniard will indeed make his debut in the race.
The 2008 Olympic road race champion is seeking to have a strong end of season after crashing out of the Tour de France and being forced to miss his Olympic title defence.
He will use the Tour of Britain as his final tune-up for the world road race championships, his top end of season target.
The rest of the Euskaltel Euskadi team has also been named, although Sanchez’s team-mates will be officially confirmed closer to the race. The current list includes former Vuelta a España stage winner and King of the Mountains Egoi Martinez, who was seventeenth overall in this year’s Tour de France.
Also slated to appear are Victor Cabedo, Miguel Minguez, Adrian Saez and Pablo Urtasun.
Tour of Britain race organisers also confirmed the participation of the French Saur Sojasun team. Four Days of Dunkirk winner Jimmy Engoulvent will be part of the setup, as will Tour de Romandie stage winner Jonathan Hivert, Jérémie Galland, Cyril Lemoine, Jean-Marc Martino and Rony Martias.
More details of this year’s lineup will be issued later this month. The race will begin in Ipswich on September 9th and last eight days.