Mark Cavendish/Edvald Boasson Hagen (Dimension Data)

Defending champion Steve Cummings will not race, having fractured two vertebrae at the Tour de France, but 2015 winner Edvald Boasson Hagen is in action.

And in a race billed as one for the sprinters and rouleurs, he certainly fits the profile to be in contention for this year’s green jersey.

All eyes will be on Mark Cavendish, in his first race since crashing out of the Tour de France, but with the Manxman short of race fitness, Boasson Hagen could lead their sprinting charge.

Dimension Data have picked a strong sprinting line-up, with Mark Renshaw and Bernie Eisel on lead-out duties too, and Yorkshireman Scott Thwaites also in the team.

British fans will want to see Cavendish winning stages – adding to the record ten stage wins he has in the modern race – but Boasson Hagen’s all-round ability makes him a storng contender for overall siccess.

Elia Viviani (Team Sky)

Elia Viviani has been in brilliant form of late, ending his time with Team Sky by racking up some notable wins.

Viviani won the Cyclassics Hamburg race, grabbed two stage wins at the Tour du Pointou Charentes and then won the Bretagne Classic-Ouest France.

The Italian, 28, won three stages of the 2015 race and with up to six opportunities for a bunch sprint in this year’s race, he will hope for a repeat performance.

Should he win at least one, he would become only the fourth rider to win stages in three or more editions of the modern Tour of Britain.

Chris Lawless (Great Britain)

British under-23 champion Chris Lawless will ride for Team Sky in 2018 after signing his first WorldTour contract, and the 21-year-old has the chance to impress in national colours at the Tour of Britain.

Lawless was a stage winner at the Tour de l’Avenir, and with sprint stages and rolling stages likely, he could be a dark horse for sprinting honours at this year’s race.

The last rider to win a stage of the Tour of Britain while riding for the national team was Simon Yates in 2013, but Lawless has been in good form again this season.

Alexander Kristoff (Kautusha-Alpecin)

Katusha-Alpecin are not just bringing the world time trial champion, in Tony Martin, but also the newly-crowned European road race champion Alexander Kristoff.

After a disappointing Tour de France, without a stage win again, Kristoff won on his last race on British soil – the RideLondon-Surrey Classic just a week after the Tour.

That race heralded an upturn in form for the Norwegian, who went on to claim the European title and win a stage of the Arctic Race of Norway too.

He was fourth at Cyclassics Hamburg and second at the Bretagne Classic-Ouest-France to prove his form and he will be one of the leading sprinters in this year’s race.

Other sprinters looking for stage wins are three men who have enjoyed success on British soil before too – Dylan Groenewegen (LottoNL-Jumbo), who won a stage at last year’s Tour of Britain, as well as each of the last two Tours de Yorkshire; Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott), another stage winner in last year’s race; and Fernando Gaviria (QuickStep Floors), a Tour of Britain stage winner in 2015.