All evidence points to a bunch sprint in Doncaster in the opening stage of the 2018 Tour de Yorkshire on Thursday.
A peloton of 137 riders will roll out of Beverley at 2pm and cover 182km as the blue touchpaper is lit for the fourth edition of the UCI 2.1 contest.
And the race will be on to get into the breakaway with jerseys up for grabs on the dash from East Riding to South Yorkshire.
The day’s sole categorised climb, the Cote de Baggaby Hill, comes after 89.5km and will decide who pulls on the red mountains jersey.
Two intermediate sprints also feature on a flat opening day. They come in Pocklington after 92.5km and Howden after 125.5km.
These will carry three bonus seconds apiece, so the winner will propel themselves up the general classification provided they finish in the bunch.
The stage victor in Doncaster will snatch 10 bonus seconds and the race lead, though. While they will also top the sprints classification.
Serge Pauwels is back to defend his crown, while his Dimension Data team-mate Mark Cavendish will be eyeing these flatter stages.
Greg van Avermaet leads the BMC charge and Team Sky feature Brits Owain Doull, Jon Dibben, Chris Lawless and Ian Stannard.
Click here to check out the Canyon Eisberg squad and the thoughts of sports director Tim Elverson ahead of the start of the Tour de Yorkshire.
For the full startlist, visit procyclingstats.com
