Tom Pidcock leads Ineos Grenadiers as Richie Porte bows out at Tour of Britain

This article originally appeared on Velo News

Tom Pidcock will lead the lineup for Ineos Grenadiers at the Tour of Britain (September 4-11), with the Tour de France stage winner making his first road appearance since July. Pidcock raced to fourth at the recent UCI mountain bike world championships.

Alongside Pidcock for the Tour of Britain will be Richie Porte, the veteran Australian set to make his final road appearance before retiring at the end of the season. Porte, 37, has not raced since coming down with illness at the Giro d'Italia in May and leaving the race in the final week. The former Tour de Suisse and Criterium du Dauphine winner turned professional back in 2008 and has enjoyed a career that has spanned three decades.

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At one time Porte was recognised as one of the pound-for-pound best week-long stage racers of his generation. He also helped several riders to grand tour success including Bradley Wiggins, Chris Froome and Alberto Contador.

Omar Fraile, Michal Kwiatkowski; Magnus Sheffield and Andrey Amador make up the rest of the six-rider squad for the race. Amador is set to leave Ineos Grenadiers at the end of the season and link up with Richard Carapaz at EF-Education EasyPost.

Pidcock missed out on a medal at last weekend's worlds due to a combination of sickness and mid-race mistakes, but he has still enjoyed a stellar last twelve months with an Olympic gold medal from Tokyo last year and victory in the UCI World Cyclo-Cross Championships in February.

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• Tom Pidcock tempers own exponential expectations ahead of MTB worlds: 'I can't take winning for granted'

• An insider's view of Tour de France stage winner Tom Pidcock: 'A bit special ... very driven, extremely good'

This summer Pidcock won stage 12 of the Tour de France to the summit of Alpe d'Huez. He finished 16th overall in his maiden Tour before focusing on his mountain biking schedule. Pidcock is also set to race the UCI Road World Championships later this month in Australia.

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