THERE will be five former champions in the line-up for the men's elite grand prix in Wednesday's night's DM Keith Skoda Otley Town Centre Cycle Races.

Burley-in-Wharfedale's Scott Thwaites, who won the race in 2011 and 2012, will be joined in strong field by last year's champion Adam Blythe, Russell Downing, Graham Briggs and Ian Wilkinson who have all tasted victory on the streets of Otley for a race which forms the first round of British Cycling Elite Circuit Racing Series

And the organisers are still hoping that local favourite Lizzie Armitstead will be able to defend the women's grand prix title she won last year.

Her home-town race comes between Sunday's National Road Race Championship at Lincoln and the start of the Giro Rosa in Slovenia on July 4 where the current World Cup leaders is due to ride for her Boels Dolmans team.

If Armitstead is able to fit it in to her busy schedule she will be guaranteed partisan support from the Otley crowd for a race which has attracted a strong entry, including last year's runner up Dame Sarah Storey.

Race director Giles Pidcock, who has been busily plotting another cycling extravaganza to mark the 30th anniversary of the Otley event, said: "Otley is the event the riders want to ride and it is great that we have a full entry for all our races this year.

"Having five former champions in the men's race is good and it will be nice if Lizzie Armitstead is able to race in the women's grand prix again. It would be particularly good if she came to Otley having just won a national title again."

The evenings racing again features under-14, under-16 and a men's amateur race in addition to the two grand prix. For the first time there will also be an event aimed at the very youngest riders.

There will the opportunity for under-5s to ride balanced bikes along the finishing straight at 5.45pm as part of a join initiative from In Gear Cycle Coaching and Otley Cycling Club.