Defending double champion Lizzie Deignan is set to be joined by recently-crowned world time trial champion Ellen van Dijk, former winner Kasia Niewiadoma, and Tokyo 2020 medallists Marlen Reusser and Lisa Klein for the Women's Tour which starts next Monday.

The UCI World Tour race is set to visit Warwickshire next Wednesday (October 6) with all over the top nine teams to contest the 10 mile individual time trial.

Atherstone will host the first ever ITT the race has included, having previously been a stage starting point three times.

The anti-clockwise loop will start in the town, pass through Bentley, Birchley Heath, Mancetter and then return to Atherstone.

Trek–Segafredo star Deignan became the Women's Tour's first two-time champion when she triumphed in June 2019's race, the most recent edition of the event to take place owing to the pandemic.

She will be joined on the start line by her team-mate van Dijk, who is set to wear the famous world champion's rainbow jersey for the first time.

Cllr Izzi Seccombe, leader of Warwickshire County Council, said: "It will be so exciting for fans of cycling in Warwickshire to have such a unique opportunity to see cyclists of such a high calibre competing in the county when Atherstone hosts the Women's Tour's first ever time trial in just over a week.

"Warwickshire has a rich history in hosting high-level cycling events having previously played host to legs of both the men's and women's Tour of Britain over the last few years and has also been selected as the location for the Commonwealth Games Road Race in 2022 demonstrating that the county is a world-class location for cycling and cyclists

Find out more about being a spectator at the Atherstone Time Trial here.