Deignan among stars announced for 2017 Tour de Yorkshire

Taking place from April 28-30, the Tour de Yorkshire will take in many of the county's towns and cities on a 173km route, starting in Bridlington and ending in Sheffield, while the women's event will take place over a 122km distance.

Racing for Boels-Dolmans, Deignan headlines the women's race, in which she will be joined by reigning Olympic champion Anna van der Breggen and Tour of Flanders winner Coryn Rivera (Sunweb) as well as inaugural winner Kirsten Wild (Cyclance).

In the men's race, Luke Rowe will be joined by Owain Doull and Jonathan Dibben in racing for Team Sky, in a line-up that also features the likes of Nacer Bouhanni (Confidis), Thomas Voeckler (Direct Energy) and Caleb Ewan (Orica-Scott).

Also racing for Orica-Scott will be Mat Hayman, who won Paris-Roubaix a year ago, while Dutch champion Dylan Groenewegen will race for LottoNL-Jumbo.

British champion Adam Blythe and Lars Petter Nordhaug, the very first winner of the Tour de Yorkshire in 2015, start for Aqua Blue Sport, while Yorkshire's very own Scott Thwaites will ride for Dimension Data.

"It is exciting to be able to unveil this first wave of big-name riders and the strength of this list demonstrates how highly the Tour de Yorkshire is regarded," said Gary Verity, Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive.

"The third edition will be the biggest and best one yet, and with World champions, Olympic gold medallists and Grand Tour stage winners on the start list, we can guarantee three days of great racing.

Sportsbeat 2017