It won’t just be Geraint Thomas who will feel very much at home when the OVO Tour of Britain kicks-off with a Grand Depart in Carmarthenshire on Sunday.

The Tour de France winner will be joined by Chris Froome in the Team Sky squad that will launch their bid for yet another major title when the eight stage event starts this weekend. Thomas’s father, Howell, hails from Bancyfelin, just 20 miles away from the race start at Pembrey Country Park.

But for Newport-based Steve Williams, who has been named in the Great Britain team for the event, the race will end in his adopted city, giving the 22-year-old rising star of Welsh and British cycling the chance to make a big impression over the 174km first stage.

Williams – who hails from Aberystwyth – has enjoyed a stellar 2018, becoming the first British rider to win the Ronde de l’Isard and he also bagged a stage win, and a day in the maglia rosa, on his way to fifth overall at the Under 23 Giro d’Italia.

Now, after two seasons racing with the Dutch Continental-level SEG Racing Academy, Williams is all set to step up to the World Tour with Vincenzo Nibali’s Bahrain-Merida team. He joined as a stagiaire for the rest of this season before turning pro next year.

“I’m so happy to be joining Bahrain-Merida and I’m over the moon to be turning pro and moving to the highest level of cycling. This will give me the opportunity to race the biggest races in the world,” said Williams.

“I’ve looked up to Vincenzo Nibali for a number of years now, and to be able to race alongside him for the next few years is something special for me.”

Williams first came to prominence riding with JLT-Condor in 2016, when he was third at the New Zealand Cycle Classic. He joined SEG Racing Academy last year but it was this season when results kicked on and he attracted the attention of several teams.

Carmarthen’s Scott Davies will also be relishing racing one home roads when he lines-up at Pembrey Country Park for Team Dimension Data who will be without Britain’s 2011 world champ Mark Cavendish who has been advised to take a break from cycling due to a virus.