Team Sky have announced a strong squad to support Bradley Wiggins at the Criterium du Dauphiné, which starts in France on Sunday.

Wiggins goes into the Dauphiné as defending champion having claimed victory last year in the eight-stage race and Edvald Boasson Hagen, Chris Froome, Christian Knees, Danny Pate, Richie Porte, Michael Rogers and Kanstantsin Siutsou will ride for the British national champion in this year’s edition.

The 32-year-old has taken a break from racing since winning the Tour de Romandie in April, completing a high altitude training camp in Tenerife, and the Dauphiné will be Wiggins’ final race before the Tour de France.

The Dauphiné route follow similar roads to the Tour de France – including the climbs of the Col du Grand Colombier and the Joux Plane – and the race will provide the Tour’s general classification contenders with the opportunity to recce key stages ahead of July’s grande boucle.

“It’s the closest you can get to the Tour in terms of the route, the style of racing, and the roads,” wrote Wiggins in a blog for the Guardian. “The stages mirror those of the Tour, with a prologue, a few flat or rolling ones, a long time trial, and three days in the mountains. It’s the closest you can get to a short version of the Tour, which is why it’s so key for us all.”

Wiggins’ 2011 Dauphiné triumph was his first stage race victory and this year the three-time Olympic track gold medallist has claimed prestigious overall victories in Paris-Nice and the Tour de Romandie.

Wiggins is undoubtedly in the form of his life and will start both the Dauphiné and Tour among the favourites – but the Sky leader is wary about using the former as a judge of form.

“At this stage of the game everyone is at a different level of preparation, guys are hiding their form, bluffing a bit, or just racing strongly because they can,” he added. “Cadel was struggling at the Dauphiné last year but ground it out for second place, which is a mark of just how good he is. Then by the time the Tour came round he was in the form of his life.

“Whatever they do, it’s best not to read too much into it, because it’s six weeks from the end of the Dauphiné to the final phase of the Tour de France. That’s plenty of time for form to develop: you can find form in that time, and you can lose it as well.”

Meanwhile, Michael Barry, Mathew Hayman, Thomas Löfkvist, Lars-Petter Nordhaug, Salvatore Puccio, Luke Rowe, Ben Swift and Xabier Zandio make up Sky’s line-up for the Tour de Suisse on June 9-17.

Mark Cavendish told RCUK this earlier week that he will not race again before the Tour, having completed the Giro d’Italia, but the world champion has been named in the squad for the Ster ZLM Toer in Holland on June 14-17.

Davide Appollonio, Alex Dowsett, Bernhard Eisel, Juan Antonio Flecha, Jeremy Hunt, Ian Stannard and Chris Sutton complete the line-up.