Team NetApp-Endura will line up most of their A team at the Tour of Britain. Sam Bennett will target the sprints, Leopold König will focus on the general classification and Jan Barta will try to win the time trial on the final day.

After a total of 18 multi-stage races, the Tour of Britain will be the final tour for the NetApp-Endura Team in 2014. It will kick off on September 5th in Liverpool. Seven stages and a total of 1,375.7 racing kilometers later, the Tour, which is being held for the first time in the “Hors” category, will wrap up with a time trial and a subsequent circular course in London. Team NetApp-Endura has two former Tour of Britain stage winners in its lineup. Leo König won the stage to Caerphilly in 2012, and Sam Bennett claimed a stage win last year as well as two second-place finishes for his first professional contract.

“The Tour of Britain is a very demanding tour, with long stages and very stiff competition. Just like in previous years, only six riders per team are allowed, which makes it more difficult to manage the race. We've put together a strong team and are equipped with options for each stage. We thus intend to go for stage wins and a good result in the general classification. We’ll enter each individual stage staying focused, and we’ll try to get the best out of them,” says Sport Director Enrico Poitschke, looking ahead to the Tour.

The Tour will start out with a 105-kilometer flat circuit race through Liverpool. The second stage will be considerably more demanding, because the last third of it has three mountain classifications, which will deliver the first time gaps. The third stage, with a mountain finish on “The Tumble,” will show who the Tour favorites are. However, the two subsequent stages will permit a very open race at the end. The reason for that are the completely demanding race profiles, with category-two mountain classifications right before the finish line. With its undulating final section, the sixth stage could suit the classics specialists and sprinters.

Climbers will find the course once more to their liking on the penultimate day because the seventh stage, from Camberley to Brighton, includes two category-one mountains that have to be crossed during the final 20 kilometers. Nevertheless, the Tour will no doubt be decided on the final day. Climbers in particular will risk losing decisive seconds on the 8.8-kilometer time trial through London. And then sprinters will again be called upon, especially since the Tour will wrap up with a stage on an 89-kilometer circular course through the heart of London, which almost certainly will conclude with a sprint royal.