Twelve of the world’s top women’s professional teams are due to make an appearance at the Friends Life Women’s Tour in June.

Kicking off in Suffolk on 17 June, teams will include Rabo Liv, Boels Dolmans, Wiggle Honda and Orica AIS. In total seven teams will make their first appearance in the race which will include the newly launched Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International team of Dame Sarah Storey and Joanna Rowsell and the Dutch Liv Plantur squad of Lucy Garner.

Forty three of the world’s top 50 riders will make compete in the race, that was won last year by Marianne Vos.

Commenting on the announcement, Mick Bennett, Race Director said:

“We have once again secured a world-class line-up of teams for the Friends Life Women’s Tour, which surpasses even that of our inaugural event in 2014.  To have attracted so many of the world’s top teams to race in Britain shows the high regard in which the Friends Life Women’s Tour is already held, a regard which we will reward with another exciting and high-profile race this June.”

Joining the professional teams, and also making their debuts, will be the national teams of Germany and the United States, both ranked in the top four nations in the world.

The complete list of teams for the 2015 Friends Life Women’s Tour is:

•    Ale Cipollini (Italy)

•    Bigla Pro Cycling Team (Switzerland)

•    Boels Dolmans Cycling Team (Netherlands)

•    Germany national team

•    Lotto Soudal (Belgium)

•    Matrix Fitness (Great Britain)

•    Optum p/b Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)

•    Orica AIS (Australia)

•    Pearl Izumi Sports Tours International (Great Britain)

•    Poitou-Charentes Futuroscope-86 (France)

•    Rabo Liv Cycling Team (Netherlands)

•    Team Liv Plantur (Netherlands)

•    UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling (USA)

•    USA national team

•    Velocio SRAM (Germany)

•    Wiggle Honda (Great Britain)