Tour de France Green Jersey winner Peter Sagan will be racing into Surrey tomorrow as he leads the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic line-up.
Cannondale Pro Cycling's top sprinter will be heading to Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park for the start of the race, part of the Mayor of London's two-day world-class cycling festival Prudential RideLondon after clinching his second successive Green Jersey in the Tour, awarded to the race's best sprinter.
The Slovakian won stage seven of this year's Tour de France, then took victory over Mark Cavendish by a 97-point margin in the Green Jersey classification, and now leads a world-class line-up for the biggest one-day classic to be held in Britain for over 20 years.
Sagan isn't the only top sprinter coming to London: a brace of Milan-San Remo winners in Matt Goss and Gerald Ciolek, plus Sky Pro Cycling's Ben Swift will all be hoping that the 140-mile race comes down to a bunch sprint for the line on The Mall on Sunday.
Against him will be David Millar, leading the Garmin-Sharp team and knowing that his best chance of success will come from a well-timed breakaway on the testing route through London and Surrey.
Sky Pro Cycling also includes rising star Josh Edmondson, sprinter Chris Sutton and Salvatore Puccio, who led the Giro d'Italia earlier this summer.
The first African rider to lead the Tour de France, Daryl Impey, is also due to ride, as part of the Orica GreenEDGE line-up which looks amongst the strongest in the race.
Joining Impey is Michael Albasini, one of a pair of Tour of Britain winners on the provisional start list, with Vacansoleil DCM's Romain Feillu the other.
Alongside Feillu will be 19-year-old Danny Van Poppel, who this year became the youngest rider to ride the Tour de France since 1945 and finished third on the opening stage.
French squads FDJ.fr and Sojasun and the Dutch Belkin Pro Cycling Team all arrive at Prudential RideLondon having ridden the Tour de France.
In total 13 of the 150 riders due to start the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic will have taken part in this year's Tour de France.
One team not to have ridden in the Tour de France is MTN Qhubeka, Africa's first Pro Continental squad, who will be led by this year's Milan San Remo winner Ciolek, and also features Giro d'Italia stage winner Ignatas Konovalovas.
"This star-studded field, headed by Peter Sagan, in the first year of the Prudential RideLondon-Surrey Classic is testimony to the international standing of the event and our ambitions for the future," said Race Director Mick Bennett.
"The field has a great line-up of top sprinters, classics style riders and the very best domestic and rising stars from Great Britain. It is surely the best field ever assembled for the first year of a new one day race and we are set for an exciting and action-packed race and a thrilling finish on The Mall."
