Bermuda will be awash with cycling talent when the Conyers, Dill and Pearman Grand Prix hits the streets later this week.

The event begins on Thursday with the focal race, the Front Street Grand Prix, continues on Friday with the time trial at Southside, St. David's, followed by the 60-mile road race on Saturday, also at Southside, and concludes with Sunday's timed criterium on Front Street.

More than 70 riders are taking part in this year's event, making it the biggest field in its history.

What is more, some of them will arrive on Bermuda's shores in top form.

Leading the star names taking part this week is US Postal rider George Hincapie, team-mate of the legendary Lance Armstrong.

Hincapie was on the west coast of the USA at the weekend competing in the prestigious San Francisco Grand Prix.

Hincapie, the defending champion, led much of the race but faded in the next-to-last lap to finish 15th.

However, he did capture the WebCor King of the Mountain award. Only 49 of the 180 riders finished the 109-mile course which had a total elevation of 7,700 feet.

Second across the line was Australian Henk Vogels of the Mercury team. Vogels will also be racing in Bermuda and as a result of his finish in the US moved to top spot in the 2002 Pro Cycling Tour point standings.

Another top name making the trek is Canada's Gord Fraser, described as "the winningest rider in the world" over the past three years.

His 2002 record shows wins at the McLane Pacific Bicycle Classic Criterium and Sea Otter Classic, both in California, and the Valley of the Sun race in Arizona.

He is joined by fellow high profile Canadian rider Andrew Randell, winner of the 2002 Road National Championships in Ontario.

Chris Spence, from Jersey, will lead the United Kingdom's challenge. He competed at the recent Commonwealth Games, as did the Isle of Man's Andrew Roche, who came 32nd in the road race in Manchester.

Former winner Chris Wherry will also be locking wheels with his rivals.

On the women's side it had been feared that a clash of dates with a major stage race in Canada could hit the turn-out.

But that event was recently cancelled and it has led to many riders turning their attention to Bermuda.

Organisers are expecting five teams to be at the start on Thursday with Bermuda's Melanie Claude and Julia Hawley in the thick of it in a composite team also comprising US riders Catherine Powers and Laura Schmidt.

Thursday night's event will also feature a junior exhibition race, one of the highlights of last year's spectacle.