Nikolai Trusov won the 2007 South West stage after a sprint finish (Getty)

The South West stage of the Tour of Britain will start at Chard in Somerset and finish at Burnham-on-Sea, crossing Exmoor for a second successive year.

Organisers are hoping to draw 30,000 spectators to the event on 9 September.

Team Plowman Craven's Simon Richardson told BBC Somerset: "It's a hard stage and should mean the race splits up and the stronger guys come to the front.

"This year there are no long, steady climbs like Porlock Hill, but there are lots of much shorter, steeper ones."

He added: "In particular the climb over the Quantocks with 12 kilometres to go should really see the hammer go down."

The rolling road block system will be used again to temporarily close the route to motor vehicles.

Last year's race was a huge success in terms of spectators, with numbers in Somerset estimated at over 70,000.

But businesses in Taunton complained about loss of trade because the town centre was closed to through traffic for most of the day.