Southend cyclist Dean will race on his hometown streets on 25 June

Southend cyclist Dean Shannon says he cannot wait for the Tour Series to hit the streets of Essex.

The 10-race street-circuit series comes to a conclusion with one-hour races in both Colchester and Southend on 18 and 25 June respectively.

BMC UK Racing Team rider Shannon, 29, told BBC Essex he was expecting a "buzzing atmosphere" on his home turf.

"It'll be absolutely out of this world; we'll have so many people cheering for us, you can't ask for more," he said.

"When we've been to other cities, you've had people cheering other teams and as Colchester and Southend are so local to us, it's going to be absolutely out of this world," he added.

The inaugural Tour Series has drawn some of Britain's top professional and semi-professional teams and riders to cities around the country, such as Milton Keynes, Exeter and Blackpool.

Experienced rider Shannon, whose largely Essex-based team are also in their debut season, believes the county's two circuits will provide a real challenge to the riders.

"Colchester's got a bit of drag up the high street, so that's going to be really, really hard on the legs," he predicted.

"I reckon Southend will come to a bunch sprint, but the Colchester one will probably split."

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