Janse van Rensburg is one of three Africans in the team, with Eritrean champion Daniel Teklehaimanot, who won the Criterium du Dauphine King of the Mountains title for the second time this month, also selected.

Fellow Eritrean Natnael Berhane will make his Tour de France debut, meanwhile, and the team is completed by former Team Sky man Bernie Eisel, who serves as road captain, and Belgian Serge Pauwels who will target stage wins in the mountains.

Cavendish will bid to add to his 26 stage wins in the race, before going off to ride the omnium at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games and head of performance Rolf Aldag is confident the team will feature at the sharp end on the early sprint stages.

Cummings races on the back of winning the final stage of the Criterium du Dauphine after a 50km solo break – his third WorldTour stage win of the season.

Both he and Boasson Hagen bagged stage wins in the race, alongside Teklehaimanot – who pulled on the polka dot jersey early in last year’s Tour – being crowned King of the Mountains.

Cavendish, meanwhile, has four wins to his name since joining the team in the winter though his road racing has been balanced with commitments to the track.

Team principal Douglas Ryder added: “This was a really tough decision to make as all of the riders on the squad have stepped up and shown their potential to be in the Tour de France.

“This is a fantastic team of experienced riders we are hoping can deliver on our performance goals of winning stages, being competitive and visible every day, to raise our profile to even greater heights in the incredibly demanding stages of the 2016 Tour de France.”

Team Dimension Data for 2016 Tour de France

Mark Cavendish (GBR)
Steve Cummings (GBR)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (NOR)
Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (RSA)
Daniel Teklehaimanot (ERI)
Natnael Berhane (ERI)
Mark Renshaw (AUS)
Bernie Eisel (AUT)
Serge Pauwels (BEL)