Ashleigh Moolman Pasio wins the most aggressive rider at Aviva Women's Tour 2016 - Stage 3(Image credit: Sean Robinson/Velofocus)
WorldTour leader Elisa Longo Borghini (Wiggle-High5) (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Lisa Brennauer (Canyon-SRAM) in the race lead(Image credit: Bert Geerts/dcp-bertgeerts@xs4all.nl)
The fourth edition of the Ovo Energy Women's Tour will kick off next Wednesday, June 7, with a star line-up that is set to include all of last year's podium finishers and the other two former winners. Also set to line-up in Daventry next week will be Olympic champions Anna van der Breggen (Boels Dolmans) and Katie Archibald (Team WNT).
Lizzie Deignan (Boels Dolmans) will be looking to defend her title against an in-form Ashleigh Moolman-Pasio (Cervelo-Bigla), who finished runner-up to Deignan last season. The South African has enjoyed a strong run in recent weeks with three consecutive victories. Another rider looking to capitalise on a streak of good form is Marianne Vos (WM3 Pro Cycling). Vos enjoyed a spell in the leader's jersey last season after taking a stage win, but she will be looking for a much more time in it this time out.
Wiggle-High5 have last year's third place finisher Elisa Longo Borghini, and sprinters Jolien D'hoore and Giorgia Bronzini. 2015 winner Lisa Brennauer completes the line-up of former winners and will be racing alongside British Champion Hannah Barnes in the colours of Canyon-SRAM.
"This is an incredible line-up of the very best athletes in the world," said race director Mick Bennett. "The line-up for the OVO Energy Women's Tour is exceptional, and fans can now look forward to watching five days of action-packed, exciting racing as these riders battle for the OVO Energy green jersey.
"With such a depth of field of high-quality riders, it is very hard to predict a likely winner. In addition to our three former champions we have eight stage winners from previous editions of the race, so it really will go down to the wire with our final stage at the heart of London on the 11 June."
The five-day Women's Tour is the 11th round of the 2017 Women's WorldTour and sets off with a stage from Daventry to Kettering. For the first time, the race is set to finish in the British capital London.
For the 2017 Ovo Energy Women's Tour start list, click here.
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