AS Warrington gears up to host a stage finish of cycling's Tour of Britain next week, home team INEOS Grenadiers have chosen an Olympic medalist as their co-leader.

Ethan Hayter, who won silver on the track for Team GB in the madison in Tokyo, will lead INEOS – formerly known as Team Sky – alongside Poland's former world champion Michal Kwiatkowski.

They will carry the British team's hopes for the nine-stage race which begins in Cornwall on Sunday and arrives in Warrington during stage five on Thursday, with a sprint finish expected in front of the iconic Golden Gates.

On the road, Hayter is fresh from winning the Tour of Norway and has won stages and finished in the top 10 overall in four of the five stage races he has started to date in 2021.

Milan-Sanremo winner Kwiatkowski returns to the Tour of Britain looking to add to his 2014 stage win into Bristol and go one better than his second place overall in the same year. He will be competing in his third edition of the race.

Welshman Owain Doull, Spain's Carlos Rodriguez and Australian pair Richie Porte and Rohan Dennis complete the Grenadiers line-up.

Legendary British sprinter Mark Cavendish and reigning road world champion Julian Alaphilippe are among riders from other teams also confirmed to be racing next week.