OLYMPIC silver medallist and recent Tour of Norway winner Ethan Hayter, alongside former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski, will lead INEOS Grenadiers at this year’s Tour of Britain.

Silver in the Madison at Toyko 2020 was one of a number of fine performances that the London-born rider has produced this year: he has won stages and finished in the top 10 overall in four of the five stage races he has started to date in 2021, capped off by a flawless performance in the four-day Tour of Norway on Sunday.

The fourth stage of the eight-part Tour of Britain will be held on a 215km route between Ceredigion and Conwy on September 8, visiting Llanrwst, Llandudno Junction, Conwy and finishing with a steep climb up Great Orme.

Hayter has previously started two Tours of Britain, notably recording four top-10 stage finishes en route to 16th overall aged just 19 in the 2018 edition.

Polish rider Kwiatkowski will co-lead with Hayter; the Milan-Sanremo winner returns to the Tour of Britain looking to add to his 2014 stage win into Bristol and go one better than his second place overall in the same year. He will be competing in his third edition of the race this September.

They will be joined by prolific individual and former Team GB rider Mark Cavendish, and Welsh rider Owain Doull, who placed third overall in 2015 and won gold at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games as part of the Great British men’s team pursuit squad.

Australians Rohan Dennis, a former UCI time trial world champion and stage winner into Bristol five years ago, and Tour de France podium finisher Richie Porte, who returns to the race for the first time since placing fifth in 2010, will also line-up for the team in Penzance.

Hotly-tipped Spanish rider Carlos Rodriguez, who recently finished second overall in the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir stage race for under-23s, completes the line-up.

This year’s Tour of Britain begins in Cornwall on Sunday 5 September, and includes a team time trial in Carmarthenshire (stage three), hill-top finish on the Great Orme, Llandudno (stage four) and a first-ever finish in Edinburgh (stage seven). The 2021 champion will be crowned in Aberdeen on Sunday 12 September. Live coverage will be available on ITV4 in the UK, as well as in over 150 countries worldwide.