Britain's top riders will line up on May 8 for the 50th Lincoln International GP, and will have to fend off strong overseas competition to take out the second of Britain's three UCI-ranked one-day races this year.
UK riders on the start list include Olympic and world championships medalists such as Rob Hayles, Paul Manning and Chris Newton (Lincoln winner in 2000) while an obvious favourite is John Tanner, who took out April's Archer Grand Prix and won in Lincoln in 1997 and 2001. He will be looking for a third win backed up by team mates Mark Lovatt, winner in 2003 and 1996 winner Kevin Dawson.
The evergreen Malcolm Elliott, winner way back in 1983, will also race this year, alongside Julian Winn, the Downing brothers, Robin Sharman (2nd last year), Matthew Stephens and around 100 others.
From mainland Europe, the Marco Polo Racing Team and the BRC Kennemerland have been part of the Lincoln GP since 1999 and are expected to bring strong riders to the race. A new team this year is from Belgium, the Diametal Colnago squad which includes Tjarco Cuppens who competed alone last year to finish in 14th place. Irish Team Cycleways are another new team of good riders including Eugene Moriarty who has been going well in early season races.
Canada's Jet Fuel Team return after racing in Lincoln two years ago. This year's race will be their first in Europe this year before going off to Spain and Ireland for further international racing. There is also a sprinkling of riders from Latvia, USA, New Zealand, Australia and Commonwealth Games hopefuls from Wales, Scotland, Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey, all hoping for good performances.
