ONE of the UK'S hottest cycling stars of last year will compete in arguably the greatest ever National Road Race Championships field at Abergavenny this June.

Mark Cavendish, winner of four Tour de France stages last summer, is set to join 12 other stars who will form the new Great Britain cycling team.

The first get-together of the proposed team will take place midway through the 2009 Abergavenny Festival of Cycling as they base themselves in Newport.

Ten of the side have already confirmed to Great Britain National Endurance coach Rod Ellingworth that they will be attending the Abergavenny event, with the intention of winning the National Championships/Robert Price Grand Prix of Wales on Sunday June 28.

With the Great Britain men's Under-23 also confirming their entries, and containing an Olympic bronze medalist in their squad, plus the cream of Britain's other senior road teams and riders rubbing shoulders on the start line, the men's title is wide open.

The proposed GB squad - all the riders will be pedaling for their own respective teams at present - include three ex-national champions and four Tour de France riders.

Joining the line-up will be Wales' own Geraint Thomas, who completed Le Tour at his first attempt in 2007, plus David Millar, a Tour de France stage winner in 2002 and 2003 and National Road Race champion in 2007.

Also racing will be Roger Hammond, double national champion in 2003 and 2004 when the race was held around Newport and who went on to ride alongside American legend Lance Armstrong for the Discovery Channel team.

Double British road title holder Jeremy Hunt will also compete, alongside Chris Froome, the Kenya-born rider who has transferred his allegiance from South Africa to Britain and rode in the Barloworld team in the Tour de France last summer. Froome is riding the Nationals for the first time.

The side will also contain stars in Ben Swift, Jonny Bellis, Ian Stannard and Dan Lloyd, the latter second behind Millar over the Abergavenny course in the 2007 Nationals.

Coach Ellingworth said, "One of my roles is putting the team together for the professional road race World Championships in September and the main objective is to be winning the World Championships in three or four years.

"This year's Nationals is the first opportunity for us to come together. We will be coming down midweek and staying through in South Wales to the race itself on June 28.

"Of course, all the riders will be going into the race to try and win it but our aim is to try and get some understanding of what the British professional team will be all about."

The Abergavenny course is a tremendous all-round test of a rider's ability, with tough undulations from Monmouth to the foot of the legendary Tumble Mountain and then a sprint to the line, which Cavendish will relish.

Ellingworth added, "It's a major objective of riders on the Continent to win their national jersey and wear it with pride throughout the year."

The GB Under-23 side, which will run under the team name of 100% ME, contains Cavendish's Isle of Man colleague Peter Kennaugh, himself achieving terrific things on a bike now, plus Steven Burke, who won bronze in the Individual Pursuit at the Beijing Olympics.

Double Beijing gold medalist Bradley Wiggins has already confirmed his entry to the Nationals and with women's Olympic road race gold medalist and reigning world champion Nicole Cooke riding in the women's event on Saturday June 27, the town will be literally buzzing with cycling stars.

Festival organiser Bill Owen said, "With the Junior National Championships also taking place in Abergavenny on the same weekend - that will be all three happening in the same town for the first time - it really is an incredible prospect.

"To have so many riders who could win the men's race all going for the biggest title in the country at the same time gives us, I believe, the best road race field the National Championships has ever had.

"This just goes to prove that road racing is catching up rapidly on the track dominance and we cannot predict at all which one of Mark Cavendish, Roger Hammond, Bradley Wiggins, Geraint Thomas, Jeremy Hunt, Chris Froome or anyone else, like Russell Downing, Rob Hayles or even one of the youngsters, will cross the line first. We cannot wait."