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Post by Panda on Jun 28, 2013 14:47:38 GMT 1
The 100th Tour de France starts tomorrow with Chris Froome favourite to become Britain's second winner after Sir Bradley Wiggins' triumph last year. Froome was set to lead Team Sky in the race but with Wiggins not defending his title due to illness and injury, he is the undisputed number one in the team.
With Giro d'Italia winner Vincenzo Nibali sitting out the race, Froome's main rival is likely to be Joaquim Rodriguez. Former winners Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Alberto Contador are also in the field, though all seem to be past their best, particularly Contador, who seems a shadow of his former self now he's laying off the drugs contaminated meat. Others to watch out for include Nairo Quintana, Alejandro Valverde, Tejay Vangarderen and Ryder Hesjedal.
Mark Cavendish is aiming to become only the second man to win the Giro red jersey and the Tour de France green jersey in the same year. He's also set the target of wearing the yellow jersey early in the race. His main rivals will include last year's green jersey winner Peter Sagan, Andre Greipel and Marcel Kittel. Cavendish rides for Omega Pharma-Quickstep in this year's race after spending last year with Team Sky - however he will start the race in British colours after winning the national road race championship earlier this month.
The race will start on the island of Corsica - the first time the Tour has gone there. The route is likely to favour the climbers, with the organisers making no secret of the fact it was chosen to try and limit the dominance shown by Sky last year. It includes a rare mountain time trial and a brutal stage that will see the riders climb the Alpe d'Huez twice in one day.
Teams and riders: (riders are French unless stated)
SKY (GB) Froome (GB), Boassen Hagen (Norway), Kennaugh (GB), Kiryienka (Belarus), Lopez Garcia (Spain), Porte (Australia), Siutsou (Belarus), Stannard (GB), Thomas (GB)
CANNONDALE (ITALY) Sagan (Slovakia), Bodnar (Poland), de Marchi (Italy), King (USA), Koren (Slovenia), Marangoni (Italy), Moser (Italy), Sabatini (Italy), Vandborg (Denmark)
LOTTO-BELISOL (BELGIUM) van den Broeck (Belgium), Bak (Denmark), de Clercq (Belgium), Greipel (Germany), Hansen (Australia), Henderson (New Zealand), Roelandts (Belgium), Sieberg (Germany), Willems (Belgium)
BMC (USA) Evans (Australia), Bookwalter (USA), Burghardt (Germany), Gilbert (Belgium), Moinard, Morabito (Switzerland), Quinziato (Italy), Schar (Switzerland), van Garderen (USA)
RADIOSHACK LEOPARD (LUXEMBOURG) A Schleck (Luxembourg), Bakelants (Belgium), Didier (Luxembourg), Gallopin, Irizar (Spain), Kloden (Germany), Monfort (Belgium), Voigt (Germany), Zubeldia (Spain)
EUROPCAR (FRANCE) Rolland, Arashiro (Japan), Cousin, Gautier, Gene, Malacarne (Italy), Reza, Veilleux (Canada), Voeckler
ASTANA (KAZAKHSTAN) Brajkovic (Slovenia), Bazayev (Kazakhstan), Fuglsang (Denmark), Gasparotto (Italy), Gavazzi (Italy), Kashechkin (Kazakhstan), Kessiakoff (Kazakhstan), Lutsenko (Kazakhstan), Muravyev (Kazakhstan)
FDJ.FR (FRANCE) Pinot, Bonnet, Bouhanni, Fedrigo, Fischer (Brazil), Geniez, Jeannesson, Roy, Vichot
AG2R LA MONDIALE (FRANCE) Peraud, Bardet, Bouet, S Dumoulin, Dupont, Gadret, Kadri, Minard, Riblon
SAXO-TINKOFF (DENMARK) Contador (Spain), Bennati (Italy), Hernandez (Spain), Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Noval (Spain), Paulinho (Portugal), Roche (Ireland), Rogers (Australia), Tosatto (Italy)
KATUSHA (RUSSIA) Rodriguez (Spain), Brutt (Russia), Kristoff (Norway), Kuchynski (Belarus), Losada (Spain), Moreno (Spain), Smukulis (Latvia), Trofimov (Russia), Vorganov (Russia)
EUSKALTEL-EUSKADI (SPAIN) Anton (Spain), Astarloza (Spain), G Izaguirre (Spain), J Izaguirre (Spain), Lobato (Spain), Nieve (Spain), Oroz (Spain), Perez (Spain), Sicard
MOVISTAR (SPAIN) Valverde (Spain), Amador (Costa Rica), Castroviejo (Spain), Costa (Portugal), Erviti (Spain), Gutierrez (Spain), Plaza (Spain), Quintana (Colombia), Rojas (Spain)
COFIDIS (FRANCE) Taaramae (Estonia), Bagot, Coppel, Garcia (Spain), Le Mevel, Levarlet, Mate (Spain), Molard, Navarro (Spain)
LAMPRE-MARIDA (ITALY) Cunego (Italy), Bono (Italy), Cimolai (Italy), Favilli (Italy), Ferrari (Italy), Malori (Italy), Mori (Italy), Niemiec (Poland), Serpa (Colombia)
OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP (BELGIUM) Cavendish (GB), Chavanel, Kwiatkowski (Poland), T Martin (Germany), Pineau, Steegmans (Belgium), Terpstra (Netherlands), Trentin (Italy), Velits (Slovakia)
BELKIN (NETHERLANDS) Boom (Netherlands), Gesink (Netherlands), Leezer (Netherlands), Mollema (Netherlands), Nordhaug (Norway), Tankink (Netherlands), ten Dam (Netherlands), Vanmarcke (Belgium), Wynants (Belgium)
GARMIN-SHARP (USA) Hesjedal (Canada), Bauer (New Zealand), Danielson (USA), Dennis (Australia), D Martin (Ireland), Millar (GB), Navardauskas (Lithuania), Talansky (USA), Vandevelde (USA)
ORICA GREENEDGE (AUSTRALIA) Gerrans (Australia), Albasini (Switzerland), Clarke (Australia), Goss (Australia), Impey (South Africa), Lancaster (Australia), Meyer (Australia), O'Grady (Australia), Tuft (Canada)
ARGOS-SHIMANO (NETHERLANDS) Degenkolb (Germany), Curvers (Netherlands), de Kort (Netherlands), T Dumoulin (Netherlands), Frohlinger (Germany), Geschke (Germany), Kittel (Germany), Timmer (Netherlands), Veelers (Netherlands)
VACANSOLEIL-DCM (NETHERLANDS) Poels (Netherlands), Boeckmans (Belgium), de Gendt (Belgium), Flecha (Spain), Hoogerland (Netherlands), Lagutin (Uzbekistan), B van Poppel (Netherlands), D van Poppel (Netherlands), Westra (Netherlands), Lindeman (Netherlands)
SOJASUN (FRANCE) Feillu, Delaplace, El Fares, Hivert, Lemoine, Marino, Mederel, Simon, Vuillermoz
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