The 101st Tour de France begins Saturday and runs through July 27. The race begins in Leeds, England and concludes under the arches at Champs-Elysees in Paris.
The race will cover over 3,664 kilometers (2,277 miles) and is made up of 21 stages. A total of 22 teams will be competing for the coveted yellow jersey, given to the overall leader after each stage. Of the 22 teams, four make their Tour de France debut.
The race will feature nine flat stages, five hill stages, six mountain stages, one individual time trial and two rest days (July 15 and 21).
Christopher Froome is back to defend his title for Team Sky. He is one of three former champions in the race - Andy Schleck (Luxembourg) and two-time winner Alberto Contador (Spain). Froome's countryman and former champion Bradley Wiggins will miss the month-long event because of an illness. Wiggins won the Tour de California earlier this year and is a three-time Olympic individual gold medalist.
Among the other top riders is Contador, who won in 2010, only to see his title stripped because of a doping violation. The 31-year-old Spaniard posted victories in 2009 and 2007.
Schleck, who rides alongside his brother Frank for team Trek Factory Racing, finished second to Contador in 2010, but was awarded the title after Contador's dismissal.
Two Americans have a good chance to lead the pack into Paris - Tejay Van Garderen and Andrew Talansky.
Van Garderen, who rides for BMC Racing, won the 2012 white jersey, given to the best young rider 25 years or younger in the general individual time classification. He had a very disappointing race last year, but has come on strong to become the team leader over former champion Cadel Evans.
Talansky might be America's best hope for the yellow jersey. He's 25 and rides for Garmin-Sharp and finished 10th last year. Talansky outdueled former champions Contador and Froome to win the Criterium du Dauphine last month.
The "Manx Missile" Mark Cavendish, who rides for the Belgian Omega Pharma Quick-Step team. Cavendish has the most Tour stage victories (25) of any active rider.
The fastest man on a bike Peter Sagan of Slovakia is the favorite to win his third green jersey, given to the leader of the points classification. The points are won on the intermediate sprints and at the stage.
The following is a listing of the 22 teams and nine-man roster for the Tour de France.
AG2r-LA MONDIALE (FRA)
Romain Bardet, FRA; Mikael Cherel, FRA; Samuel Dumoulin, FRA; Ben Gastauer, LUX; Blel Kadri, FRA; Sebastien Minard, FRA; Matteo Montaguti, ITA; Jean- Christope Peraud, FRA; Christophe Riblon, FRA
ASTANA (KAZ)
Jakob Fuglsang, DEN; Andriy Grivko, UKR; Dmitriy Gruzdev, KAZ; Maxim Iglinskiy, KAZ; Tanel Kangert, EST; Vincenzo Nibali, ITA; Michele Scarponi, ITA; Alessandro Vanotti, ITA; Lieuwe Westra, NED
BELKIN CYCLING TEAM (NED)
Bauke Mollema, NED; Lars Boom, NED; Stef Clement, NED; Laurens Ten Dam, NED; Steven Kruijswijk, NED; Thomas Leezer, NED; Bram Tankink, NED; Sep Vanmarcke, BEL; Maarten Wynants, BEL
BMC RACING (USA)
Darwin Atapuma, COL; Marcus Burghardt, GER; Amael Moinard, FRA; Daniel Oss, ITA; Michael Schar, SUI; Peter Stetina, USA; Greg van Avermaet, BEL; Tejay van Garderen, USA; Peter Velits, SVK
CANNONDALE (ITA)
Maciej Bodnar, POL; Alessandro De Marchi, ITA; Edward King, USA; Kristijan Koren, SLO; Marco Marcato, ITA; Jean Marc Marino, FRA; Fabio Sabatini, ITA; Peter Sagan, SVK; Elia Viviani, ITA
FDJ.FR (FRA)
William Bonnet, FRA; Mickael Delage, FRA; Arnaud Demare, FRA; Arnold Jeannesson, FRA; Matthieu Ladagnous, FRA; Cedric Pineau, FRA; Thibaut Pinot, FRA; Jeremy Roy, FRA; Arthur Vichot, FRA
GARMIN SHARP (USA)
Janier Acevedo, COL; Jack Bauer, NZL; Alex Howes, USA; Ben King, USA Sebastian Langeveld, NED; Ramunas Navardauskas, LTU; Tom Jelte Slagter, NED; Andrew Talansky, USA; Johan Van Summeren, BEL
IAM CYCLING (SUI)
Sylvain Chavanel, FRA; Martin Elmiger, SUI; Matthias Frank, SUI; Heinrich Haussler, AUS; Reto Hollenstein, SUI; Roger Kluge, GER; Jerome Pineau, FRA; Sebastien Reichenbach, SUI; Marcel Wyss, SUI
KATUSHA (RUS)
Vladmir Isaichev, RUS; Alexander Kristoff, NOR; Luca Paolini, ITA; Alexander Porsev, RUS; Joaquin Rodriguez Oliver, ESP; Egor Silin, RUS; Gatis Smukulis, LAT; Simon Spilak, SLO; Yury Trofimov, RUS
LAMPRE-MERIDA (ITA)
Davide Cimolai, ITA; Rui Costa, POR; Kristijan Durasek, CRO; Christopher Horner, USA; Sacha Modolo, ITA; Nelson Oliveira, POR; Maximiliano Ariel Richeze, ARG; Jose Rodolfo Serpa Perez, COL; Rafael Valls Ferri, ESP
LOTTO BELISOL (BEL)
Jurgen van den Broeck, BEL; Bart de Clercq, BEL; Tony Gallopin, FRA; Andre Greipel, GER; Adam Hansen, AUS; Greg Henderson, NZL; Jurgen Roelandts, BEL; Marcel Sieberg, GER; Lar Ytting Bak, DEN
MOVISTAR TEAM (ESP)
Imanol Erviti, ESP; Jesus Herrada, ESP; Benat Intxausti, ESP; Ion Izaguirre, ESP; John Gadret, FRA; Ruben Plaza, ESP; Jose Joaquin Rojas, ESP; Alejandro Valverde (ESP); Giovanni Visconti, ITA
OMEGA-PHARMA-QUICK STEP (BEL)
Jan Balelants, BEL; Mark Cavendish, GBR; Michal Golas, POL; Michal Kwiatkowski, POL; Tony Martin, GER; Alessandro Petacchi, ITA; Mark Renshaw, AUS; Niki Terpstra, NED; Matteo Trentin, ITA
ORICA GREENEDGE (AUS)
Michael Albasini, SUI; Simon Clarke, AUS; Luke Durbridge, AUS; Simon Gerrans, AUS; Matthew Hayman, AUS; Jens Keukeleire, BEL; Michael Matthews, AUS Svein Tuft, CAN; Simon Yates, GBR
TEAM SKY (GBR)
Bernhard Eisel, AUT; Christopher Froome, GBR; Vasil Kiryienka, BLR; David Lopez Garcia, ESP; Mikel Bieve Ituralde, ESP; Danny Pate, USA; Richie Porte, AUS; Geraint Thomas, GBR; Xabier Zandio Echaide, ESP
GIANT-SHIMANO (NED)
Roy Curvers, NED; John Degenkolb, GER; Dries Deveyns, BEL; Tom Dumoulin, NED; Ji Cheng, CHN; Marcel Kittel, GER; Koen de Kort, NED; Albert Timmer, NED; Tom Veelers, NED
EUROPCAR (FRA)
Yukiya Arashiro, JPN; Bryan Coquard, FRA; Cyril Gautier, FRA; Yohann Gene, FRA Alexandre Pichot, FRA; Perrig Quemeneur, FRA; Kevin Reza, FRA; Pierre Rolland, FRA; Thomas Voeckler, FRA
TINKOFF-SAXO (RUS)
Daniele Bennati, ITA; Alberto Contador, ESP; Jesus Hernandez, ESP; Rafal Majka, POL; Michael Morkov, DEN; Sergio Paulinho, POR; Nicolas Roche, IRL; Michael Rogers, AUS; Matteo Tosatto, ITA
TREK FACTORY RACING (USA)
Matthew Busche, USA; Fabian Cancellara, SUI; Markel Irizar, ESP; Gregory Rast, SUI; Andy Schleck, LUX; Frank Schleck, LUX; Danny van Poppel, NED; Jens Voigt, GER; Haimar Zubeldia, ESP
COFIDIS (FRA)
Nicolas Edet, FRA; Egoitz Garcia, ESP; Luis Angel Mate, ESP; Cyril Lemoine, FRA; Rudy Molard, FRA; Daniel Navarro, ESP; Adrien Petit, FRA; Julien Simon, FRA; Rein Taaramae, EST
BRETAGNE-SECHE ENVIRONMENT (FRA)
Florian Vachon, FRA; Armindo Fonseca, FRA; Arnaud Gerard, FRA; Anthony Delaplace, FRA; Brice Feillu, FRA; Jean-marc Bideau, FRA; Florian Guillou, FRA; Romain Feillu, FRA; Benoit Jarrier, FRA
NETAPP-ENDURA (GER)
Jan Barta, CZE; David de la Cruz, ESP; Zakkari Dempster, AUS; Bartosz Huzarski, POL; Leopold Konig, CZE; Tiago Machado, POR; Jose Mendes, POR; Andreas Schillinger, GER; Paul Voss, GER
[SportsNetwork.com]
