20 teams to participate in both men's and women's events
Overall Tour de Yorkshire winner Serge Pauwels (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Organisers of the Tour de Yorkshire have announced the 40 teams that will participate in the men's four-day race from May 3-6 and the women's two-day race on May 3 and 4.
There will be 20 teams competing in the men's race, including six WorldTour teams: Astana, BMC Racing, Dimension Data, Katusha-Alpecin, Team Sky and Team Sunweb.
Seven Pro Continental teams will include Aqua Blue Sport, Cofidis, Direct Energie, Euskadi Basque Country-Murias, Rally Cycling, Roompot-Nederlandse Loterij and Vital Concept.
The peloton will also include six Continental teams, with British teams Canyon Eisberg, JLT Condor, Madison Genesis, One Pro Cycling and Vitus Pro Cycling, along with the Irish-registered team Holdsworth Pro Racing. The British national team will also field a squad for the four-day race.
The Asda Tour de Yorkshire Women's Race will expand its field compared to previous years to 20 teams. Seven of the 12 top-ranked teams in the world will compete along with five further European and eight British squads.
"The demand from teams looking to compete in the Tour de Yorkshire is always high, and that reflects the esteem in which our race is regarded," said Welcome to Yorkshire Chief Executive Sir Gary Verity.
"Reducing the number of riders per team from eight to seven in the men's event meant we could invite more squads than ever before, and we also upped the number of women's teams from 18 to 20 to ensure parity."
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Wiggle High5 will lead the list of British teams alongside Boompods EDCo, Drops Cycling Team, NCC Group-Kuota-Torelli, Storey Racing, Team GB, Team OnForm, Team Jadan Weldtite and Team WNT.
Other internationally ranked teams include Ale Cipollini, Bepink Cogeas, Boels Dolmans, Canyon-SRAM, Experza-Footlogix, FDJ Nouvelle Aquitaine Futuroscope, Hitec Products, Doltcini-Van Eyck Sport, Movistar Team, Sunweb and Parkhotel Valkenburg.
Tour de Yorkshire unveiled host cities in December. The men's race increased from three to four stages. Stage 1's 128km race will start in Beverley and finish in Doncaster. Stage 2 is a 149km race from Barnsley to Ilkley. Stage 3 is 184km from Richmond to Scarborough. The race will conclude with stage 4's 189km from Halifax to Leeds.
The women's race will overlap with the first two stages of the men's race. Stage 1 will be 132.5km from Beverley to Doncaster and stage 2 is 124km from Barnsley to Ilkley.
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