Four British riders will be amongst the peloton in Leeds on Saturday when the 2014 Tour de France begins.

Chris Froome, Mark Cavendish, Geraint Thomas and Simon Yates will all begin the three-week event, with Yates completing the British quartet after his Orica-GreenEdge team confirmed its line-up on Tuesday.

Chris Froome will begin the event as defending champion. A win for Froome in 2014 will mean a third successive victory for Team Sky and a third British win in as many years, following Sir Bradley Wiggins’ win in 2012.

Froome will be supported by Geraint Thomas, the 28-year-old Welshman an integral part of the nine-man Team Sky squad focussed intently on general classification honours. Thomas comes into the Tour in great form, winning the Bayern Rundfahrt in May and supporting Froome in the Criterium du Dauphine in June before taking silver in the British time-trial championships.

Mark Cavendish enters the 2014 Tour with the aim of recapturing the green jersey that he last won in 2011. With 25 stage wins to his name, the Manxman, riding for Omega Pharma-Quick Step, will hope to add to his tally on stage one, which finishes in his mother’s home town, Harrogate.

Simon Yates was the final British rider to be named - a surprise addition to the Orica – GreenEdge line-up. The 21-year-old first year professional comes into the Tour after a period of forced rest, following a collarbone break in the Tour of Turkey. 

Yates won bronze in the British Cycling National Road Championships last weekend in Abergavenny after finishing seventh overall and winning the young rider’s jersey in the Tour of Slovenia in June.

Read our interactive stage guide and follow the action here.