Former British champion Hannah Barnes leads the home challenge as she chases the best in the world - and the cash - in the Prudential RideLondon Classique.
Barnes arrives in the capital on the back of a career-best stage victory at the Giro Rosa and a top three finish at the Tour of Britain earlier this year, including a second place in the London stage finale.
The richest women's one day race on the calendar will see 120 riders in close-quarter action around a 5.5km circuit that snakes around London's postcard landmarks and concludes with a likely sprint finish in the shadow of Buckingham Palace.
Barnes, 24, was ninth last year but her recent form means she's in the shape to crack the podium.
"After the Giro I took a bit of a break and training has been going really well for this weekend and the rest of the season," she said.
"The course is more a criterium than a road race. There's lots of corners and it can be tricky to negotiate, so you need to stay sharp and focussed.
“It's the sort of course that can really zap your energy, if you get yourself into bad positions.
"It will be a very fast race and I'm anticipating a lot of action at the start. I'm in the form of my career but I'm not 100 percent sure how the legs will be.
"I just loving racing on this course and it's a rare chance for all my family, including my grandparents, to see me in action.
"I've raced in every edition and every year it's come down to a bunch sprint but anything can happen.
“It's a really special event to be a part of, especially as a Brit who very rarely gets the opportunity to race at home."
Olympic champions Dani King, Elinor Barker and Katie Archibald - the latter two combining with Laura Kenny and Joanna Rowsell Shand to win team pursuit gold in Rio 12 months ago - also line up but Lizzie Deignan, the national road race champion, is absent.
Defending champion Kirsten Wild - second behind Archibald in the omnium at this year's track worlds - will again be the one to beat, while Marianne Vos, who won Olympic gold on these roads in 2012, returns to UK racing just seven weeks after breaking her collarbone during the Tour of Britain.
That injury forced the 30-year-old out of the women's Giro but after a difficult season she's ready to bounce back on roads she knows so well.
"I hope I'm all healed and recovery has gone well," she said.
"I'm back in shape and racing in London brings back those memories of the Olympics. I've had some great success here.
"It's an open race and should suit the sprinters and it'll be about getting in a good position. It's going to be really fast and against the best sprinters in the world it'll be a difficult task."
Sportsbeat 2017