Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quickstep) and reigning champion Bradley Wiggins (Team Sky) have both been confirmed as taking part in this year's Tour of Britain, which starts on 7 September in Liverpool.
Cavendish is back racing following the accident that put him out of the Tour de France on the opening stage, having recovered from shoulder surgery, but was left out of the Omega Pharma-Quickstep team for the Vuelta a Espana.
Meanwhile at Team Sky, Bradley Wiggins has also been omitted form his team's squad for the Vuelta leaving him free to defend his title. Team Sky boss Dave Brailsford has confirmed that Wiggins will take on the Tour in order as part of his preparations for an attempt on the time trial world championship title at the end of September.
"He'll go to an altitude camp, then do a couple of one-day races then ride Tour of Britain. Hopefully that will give him the right preparation for the World Championships," Brailsford told the BBC.
The inclusion of two of British Cycling's biggest stars comes as Tour of Britain organisers revealed the final entry list of 20 teams who will compete for the Friends Life Yellow Jersey. Once again a strong field will take to the starting line, with ten of the teams having raced in the Tour de France, including Movistar Team, Giant-Shimano, Belkin, and Peter Sagan's new team Tinkoff-Saxo.
Six of the world's top 10 teams will participate, with four of the top five ranked squads competing.
"Every year we get a very positive response from teams wishing to ride the Friends Life Tour of Britain and this year that has been even more so the case", said Race Director Mick Bennett.
"Not only do we have a very strong line-up of teams, half of whom raced in the Tour de France, we are confident that they will be bringing their best possible squads, meaning fans can look forward to seeing the world's top riders, some exciting racing and maybe a few surprises this September."
The Friends Life Tour of Britain gets underway in Liverpool on Sunday 7 September, finishing eight days later in central London, with 120 riders taking the start in the opening city centre stage at 14:15. Claimed to be Britain's biggest free to spectate live annual sporting event, all eight days of the Tour will feature both live coverage and highlights on ITV and British Eurosport.
There will be nine stages in all, with the final day in London featuring an 8.8 km time trial in the morning followed by an 89 km crit-style circuit race.
Domestically, the Great Britain national team are joined by the UK's five UCI Continental squads, led by Pearl Izumi Tour Series Champions Rapha Condor JLT, and debutants NFTO Pro Cycling, who won the recent RideLondon Classic with Adam Blythe. NFTO Pro Cycling currently lead British Cycling's Elite Road Series team classification.
Two further teams will be making their ToB debuts: UCI Pro Team BMC Racing and UCI Pro Continental squad Team Novo Nordisk, a global all diabetes professional cycling team.
The complete list of teams that will be competing in the 2014 Friends Life Tour of Britain is as follows:
UCI Pro Teams
• Belkin Pro Cycling (NED)
• BMC Racing Team (USA)
• Garmin Sharp (USA)
• Movistar Team (SPA)
• Omega Pharma Quick-Step (BEL)
• Team Giant Shimano (NED)
• Team Sky (GBR)
• Tinkoff Saxo (RUS)
UCI Pro Continental Teams
• Bardiani CSF (ITA)
• IAM Cycling (SWI)
• MTN Qhubeka (RSA)
• Team NetApp Endura (Ger)
• Team Novo Nordisk (USA)
UCI Continental Teams
• An Post Chain Reaction (IRL)
• Madison Genesis (GBR)
• NFTO Pro Cycling (GBR)
• Giordana Racing Team (GBR)
• Rapha Condor JLT (GBR)
• Team Raleigh (GBR)
National Teams
• Great Britain (GBR)
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