ALL of the top five cycling teams in the UCI WorldTour rankings have confirmed they will race in Tynedale next month.

The current top five of Quick-Step Floors, Team Sky, BMC Racing, Movistar Team and Orica Scott will submit teams in this year's OVO Energy Tour of Britain, with the second leg of the series starting at Kielder Water and Forest Park and passing through Bellingham, Otterburn and Elsdon on Monday, September 4.

The full line-up of 20 teams were announced today (August 7) with a further five UCI WorldTour teams, and three other squads which have competed in one of the two Grand Tours so far this year.

Some names provisionally confirmed for the race are European Championship Road Race winner Alexander Kristoff and his Team Katusha Alpecin teammate Tony Martin, the World Time Trial champion.

The world's top sprinters are expected too with Team Dimension Data's Mark Cavendish to return to the district following his return from injury, while Sky's Elia Viviani and Geraint Thomas have both hinted they will turn out.

The tour's race director Mick Bennett said: "We are delighted with this year's line-up of teams for the OVO Energy Tour of Britain and, with riders of the calibre of Geraint Thomas, Mark Cavendish and Alexander Kristoff coming out to say they will be targeting the tour, this bodes for a fantastic spectacle for fans at the roadside and watching at home on television.

"The combination of teams from all three levels of the sport, plus the presence of a Great Britain national team and the continuation of six-man teams, will continue to make for open and aggressive racing."

The full list of teams is as follows:

An Post Chain Reaction (Ireland); Bardiani CSF (Italy); BIKE Channel Canyon (Great Britain); BMC Racing Team (USA); Cannondale Drapac Pro Cycling (USA); CCC Sprandi Polkowice (Poland); Cylance Pro Cycling (USA); Great Britain national team (Great Britain); JLT Condor (Great Britain); Lotto Soudal (Belgium); Madison Genesis (Great Britain); Movistar Team (Spain); ONE Pro Cycling (Great Britain); Orica Scott (Australia); Quick-Step Floors (Belgium); Team Dimension Data (South Africa); Team Katusha Alpecin (Germany); Team Lotto NL – Jumbo (Netherlands); Team Sky (Great Britain); Wanty Groupe Gobert (Belgium).