Last year's winner of the Chorley Grand Prix Edmund Bradbury to return to defend title

Cyclist Edmund Bradbury will take part in the race as part of Britain’s longest standing professional cycling team, JLT Condor.

He will be joined by Preston’s Ian Bibby, who won the Grand Prix in 2015 and who has recently announced his engagement.

Edmund, who is from Surrey, is looking forward to coming back to Chorley, marking one of the first races of the season in the UK for him.

He said: “The Chorley GP course is one of the toughest circuits in the series - with the climb each lap lasting between eight-12 minutes followed by a high speed descent.

“These tough courses suit the strengths of our riders well, and towards the end of the 180km race this should start to become very decisive.

“With already a couple of international stage races in my legs this year before the Chorley GP, I certainly hope to be fighting for the win on the final lap.

“The crowds last year watching the race were absolutely phenomenal, despite the awful weather - and as bike riders we really appreciate the support on the roadside.”

He has been racing in Australia in the five-day Herald Sun Tour where he had been in the mix and climbing well with three time tour winner, Chris Froome.

However he was affected by a couple of crashes.

He said: “The start of my season has been going well, although I did suffer from two crashes towards the end of the Herald Sun Tour in Australia at the start of February.

“Crashing sometimes in an inevitability in the sport, and I was very lucky to walk away from these largely unharmed, but with significantly less skin than usual.

“When you hit the tarmac at over 75km/h - I considered this lack of serious injury a real result.”