Not just Evenepoel and Thomas - Five storylines to follow at the 2025 Tour of Britain

After 19 accomplished years, Geraint Thomas will bid farewell this week from professional racing. The 2018 Tour de France champion made his final appearance at the La Grande Boucle in July, but has chosen his home race to close the final curtain.

It's a race that Thomas has lined up for nine times previously, so this in itself marks a significant landmark for the Ineos rider, making his tenth appearance, with his first back in 2005, and most recent in 2018.

The Tour of Britain will hold extra significance to Thomas based on the route of the 2025 edition. The race enters Thomas’s beloved Wales on the weekend for the final two stages, with key stages for the GC featuring the Tumble climb and Caerphilly Mountain as the race heads to the 39-year-old’s hometown of Cardiff. 

There will be plenty of tributes throughout the race for Thomas, such as the final stage beginning in Newport, outside the Geraint Thomas Velodrome. 

It is set to be a touching and fitting farewell for one of the best to do it from the British Isles, and no doubt will be the most supported rider this week on home roads.

A lot has happened since 19 July, when Remco Evenepoel abandoned the Tour de France on stage 14 on the slopes of the Col du Tourmalet

Most notably, the Belgian has sealed one of the biggest transfers in recent cycling history, swapping the colours of Soudal-QuickStep for Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe for 2026.

Still, there are a few more months until then, and Evenepoel will certainly be looking to end an exceptional seven seasons with the Belgian team on a high. 

Therefore, the Tour of Britain serves as a fine preparation race for Evenepoel for his big Autumn goals of the World and European championships, as well as the Tour of Lombardy.

Evenepoel made his debut at the race twelve months ago, but in a less familiar teammate role, helping Paul Magnier to three stage wins and not featuring in the GC mix, finishing 28th overall.

If Evenepoel were to win the Lloyds Bank Tour of Britain, he would become the fourth male from his nation to do so, and would see Belgium tie Britain with the most GC victories at the race (six).

2025 has been a coming-of-age year for many riders, but not many stand out as much as Oscar Onley. The 22-year-old Kelso-born rider created headlines and inspired many with his epic performance at the Tour de France, where he finished 4th overall. 

It wasn’t just the result that stood out, but the manner of Onley’s performance, blossoming in form and confidence as the race grew older. 

Onley has unfinished business at the Tour of Britain, as he finished 16 seconds behind Stevie Williams (Israel-Premier Tech) in last year’s edition. 

Becoming the eighth British rider to finish in the top 10 in the general classification at the Tour de France, and the youngest to do so, Onley has well and truly put his name on the map and will arrive at the Tour of Britain with many more eyes on him than ever before.

With the impending retirement of Geraint Thomas, British fans will be looking to see who can step up in the Welshman’s footsteps and establish themeselves as a great. 

Matthew Brennan (Visma | Lease a Bike) is one of the most exciting riders in the sport right now, and the neo-pro has enjoyed a remarkable season, taking 11 victories, including four at the WorldTour level, as well as recently beating Tour de France green jersey winner Jonathan Milan twice at the Lidl Deutschland Tour. 

Brennan is set to line up alongside Olav Kooij, who took 4 stages in 2023 as he and Wout van Aert dominated the race. Brennan and Kooij showed they could work well together and share opportunities recently at the Tour of Pologne, where both took a stage win. 

Little over a year ago, Joe Blackmore (Israel-Premier Tech) created history by becoming the first British rider to win the prestigious Tour de l’Avenir. Shortly after, Blackmore impressed on his Tour of Britain debut, finishing fifth overall whilst being a key teammate to Stephen Williams, who sealed the overall victory. 

2025 has seen Blackmore develop further in his first full season racing the WorldTour calendar with a solid classics campaign finishing 14th at the Amstel Gold Race and La Flèche Wallonne, before his debut Tour de France with a highlight of 6th place on stage 10 from the breakaway. Blackmore will believe that he is capable of replicating the result of Williams from twelve months ago.

Could Sam Watson (Ineos Grenadiers) become the first male British champion to win a stage at the Tour of Britain since 2013? You would be brave to write off the 23-year-old who has made a significant step-up in 2025, unlocking the winning formula to take four victories this season, including those national championships in Aberystwyth. 

Former national champion Fred Wright (Bahrain-Victorious) returns to the Tour of Britain for the second time in his career, seven years after his debut back in 2018, where he raced for the Great Britain squad. Wright is one of the most combative riders in the business and also has a fast finish, all of which should serve him well at this year's race.

Ethan Hayter’s talent is undeniable, but the 26-year-old had endured a difficult spell where he had claimed one victory in two years from May 2023 until May 2025. Hayter had already illustrated that he is an elite-level rider, and so he naturally would have been aiming for more during this period. Since his move to Soudal QuickStep, he has seemingly grown in form and confidence, breaking his drought with time trial victories at the Baloise Belgium Tour and national championships.

Hayter is also no stranger to success at the Tour of Britain, winning a stage and finishing second overall in 2021, sandwiched between Wout van Aert and Julian Alaphilippe in one of the most memorable editions in recent times.

The Great Britain squad will also give a chance to see some home riders thrive, as we saw in 2024 with Louis Sutton, who finished sixth on a tough stage to Redcar, just behind Remco Evenepoel and has since earned a move to Spanish team Euskaltel-Euskadi.

Julian Alaphilippe is a former winner back in 2018, and the two-time former World champion showed green shoots at the Tour de France with a combative display in typically entertaining Alaphilippe fashion. He will be accompanied by Matteo Trentin, who, at 36 years of age, remains a class act. 

Groupama-FDJ will have ambitions of winning the general classification with Romain Grégoire, who has been described in the past as the next coming of Julian Alaphilippe. Grégoire has had an excellent season, performing consistently well in the Classics, WorldTour one-week races and the Tour de France. The 22-year-old should thrive on the punchy British hills, which suit him to a tee. Tom Donnenwirth could also be one to watch for the French team, with the 27-year-old landing his first professional win in the Tour de l’Ain recently.

Aurélien Paret-Peintre is another rider who could fly under the radar in the GC, a rider who is well established in both the mountains and hills, as illustrated by a fifth place finish at Liège-Bastogne-Liège in 2024. Former Tour de France stage winner Victor Lafay continues his comeback from injury issues, and if he can find good legs, it could be fun to watch this week.

Pavel Sivakov (UAE Team Emirates-XRG) is set to line up and is a rider who has finished in the top 10 of a Grand Tour as recently as 2024, where he finished 9th at the Vuelta a España. Sivakov also has history at the Tour of Britain, having finished fourth in 2019 racing in the colours of Ineos.