Mark Cavendish to renew battle with Andre Greipel at Tour of Britain

Mark Cavendish will lineup for Etixx-Quick-Step at the Tour of Britain, starting on September 6, renewing his rivalry with Lotto-Soudal's Andre Greipel.

Greipel outsprinted Cavendish in three of the four stages the German won at the Tour de France, with the Manxman picking up one stage in week one.

Since the Tour the duo's results have been poles apart, with Greipel winning a stage at the Eneco Tour and taking victory at the Vattenfall Cyclassics, while Cavendish was held up by a crash at Vattenfall and finished 44th at the RideLondon-Surrey Classic.

"I'm excited to ride the Tour of Britain," Cavendish said. " It's my home tour and it's always something special to ride in front of your national crowd. It's already my 8th time at the race and year-by-year I can see how cycling is growing in this nation.

"We are at the start to try to be successful as we were last year. We have a strong team and we are ready to race. This year the course is extremely difficult. It will be also a good final preparation for the UCI World Championships in Richmond.”

Cavendish was named alongside the likes of Chris Froome and Geraint Thomas in the Great Britain squad for the World Championships in Virginia between September 20-27.

Etixx also named Tour de France stage winner Zdenek Stybar in their squad for the eight-day race, which departs from Anglesey and concludes with a circuit race around Central London.