Lizzie Armitstead will return home to a hero’s welcome when round six of the British Cycling Women’s Road Series visits Otley on Wednesday 2 July.

The current UCI Women’s Road World Cup leader will top the bill at the long-running evening races but Otley-born Armitstead's presence won’t overshadow the close battle for overall series supremacy.

Nicola Juniper leads the series by just four points from Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International’s Katie Archibald after the Curlew Cup on 22 June.

Archibald took the win in Northumberland to narrow the gap to the leader but Juniper produced an excellent second place to keep herself at the head of the table and followed it up with an impressive top-ten finish at the national road championships.

With Archibald not starting in Otley, Juniper can press home her advantage. However competition is likely to come from Wiggle Honda riders Laura Trott and 2013 winner Elinor Barker.

Trott lies in third in the series, 38 points behind Juniper, following a commanding performance at the CDNW Surf and Turf 2 Day, where she won all three stages. Trott’s form and confidence will be high, just days after collecting the senior British road title in Abergavenny.  

The Women’s Road Series has seen a mixture of road and closed circuit events but Otley will see the first town centre criterium of the series, giving the advantage to the street-race specialists on the roster.

Of the contenders, Gabriella Shaw was the top-placed rider in the Matrix Fitness Grand Prix series earlier in the year, with her team Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International winning the team prize in the five-round town centre series.  

Shaw lies fourth in the Women’s Road Series on 80 points and has ambitions on the title, supported by multiple Paralympic and world champion Dame Sarah Storey and Lauren Creamer.

The event is part of a whole evening of racing, run alongside the opening round of the British Cycling Elite Circuit Series and a packed schedule of youth and regional races.

With the Tour de France passing through the town just a few days later, the profile of the Otley event is bigger than ever, with Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme, five-time Tour de France winner Bernard Hinault and Welcome to Yorkshire chief executive Gary Verity in attendance.