Brussels – Last year's Tour de France winnner Bradley Wiggins will be the star name on the start line of the Eneco Tour, which begins in Koksijde on the North Sea coast of Belgium on Monday.
Fresh from his return from injury and illness at the Tour of Poland, which ended a week ago, Wiggins will continue his preparation for September's World Championships, in which he is aiming to claim time trial gold.
He is joined by a strong field including Tour of Poland winner Pieter Weening, the recent winner of the Tour fo Denmark Wilco Kelderman as well as last year's winner of this event Lars Boom and reigning world road race champion Philippe Gilbert.
The event, formerly known as the Tour of Benelux, takes the peloton through Belgium and the Netherlands over seven stages and 1,080km, including a 13.2km individual time trial on next Friday's fifth stage.
Although unimpressive on his comeback in Poland, finishing 48th overall, Wiggins blitz to victory in the final stage time trial, beating race-against-the-clock specialist Fabian Cancellara by almost a minute over 37km. – Sapa-AFP