The upcoming Deutschland Tour (August 20-24) and PostNord Danmark Rundt (August 12-16) will welcome a host of big names back to the peloton following the Tour de France, including Wout van Aert, Jonathan Milan, and Jasper Philipsen.
Van Aert, who won the Tour's final stage in Paris, and green jersey winner Jonathan Milan will head to Germany for the five-stage Deutschland Tour. The race begins with a prologue in Essen and features several hilly and sprint-focussed days on the road to Magdeburg.
Rising star Matthew Brennan will join Van Aert in the Visma-Lease a Bike team in Germany, while Tobias Halland Johanessen is also down to race after finishing sixth at the Tour.
Other riders competing include a host of fast finishers – Tour stage winner Kaden Groves (Alpecin-Deceuninck), Pascal Ackermann (Israel-Premier Tech), Paul Magnier (Soudal-QuickStep), and John Degenkolb (Picnic-PostNL) – while Geraint Thomas (Ineos Grenadiers) will also race.
In Denmark, Philipsen is a new addition to the lineup, with race organiser announcing his participation in the five-day race on Wednesday. The Belgian, who won the Tour's opening stage and wore the yellow jersey, will be making his return to racing after suffering a broken rib and collarbone in a crash on stage 3.
He joins Danish Lidl-Trek stars Mads Pedersen and Mattias Skjelmose on the start list, while Arnaud De Lie (Lotto), Dylan van Baarle (Visma-Lease a Bike), and Magnus Cort (Uno-X Mobility) are also down to race.
The Arctic Tour of Norway is also coming up this month, with the four-stage race held from August 7-10. Tom Pidcock (Q36.5) heads up the lineup as he prepares for the Vuelta a España.
The Briton is joined in Norway by former winner Dylan Teuns (Cofidis), plus Eddie Dunbar (Jayco-AlUla), Corbin Strong (Israel-Premier Tech), and XDS-Astana duo Davide Ballerini and Cristian Scaroni.
One rider who won't be taking part in any of these August races, or the Vuelta for that matter, is Movistar's Enric Mas. The Spaniard has ended his season after crashing out of the Tour de France.
Mas has been diagnosed with thrombophlebitis – a blood clot that forms – in his left leg, with his team stating that the origin of the condition is possibly post-traumatic.
"This diagnosis requires specific treatment based on rest and a lack of intense physical activity, which precludes his participation in competitions for the remainder of the season," Movistar announced.
"The medical and technical team will continue to closely monitor his progress, with the aim of ensuring a full recovery."
