Tour De France Team Leaders Supporting Cast

TOUR DE FRANCE TEAMS

With the steam building up to this year’s Tour De France and a lot of star names participating this year, this edition will be one to watch. Here’s a look at how some of the teams are shaped up to support their leaders in the battle for the Maillot Jaune (Yellow Jersey). We have included the teams of the Big 4 and three other teams, which we feel could prove invaluable to their leaders who are outside favorites.

Having names like Alejandro Valverde and Nairo Quintana, Movistar is one of the strongest competitors for the Tour De France title. The Colombian ‘specialist’ climber having missed out on last year’s edition is in every mood to show his dirth on the climbing after winning the Tirreno-Adriatico back in March. This will be Alejandro’s 7 time participating in Tour De France and will provide a supporting role to Quintana, providing the team with a plan B. Being one of the more experienced competitors. This year’s team consist of :-

Nairo Quintana (Colombia)

Alejandro Valverde (Spain)

Winner Anaconda (Colombia),

Jonathan Castroviejo (Spain)

Alex Dowsett (Great Britain)

Imanol Erviti (Spain)

Gorka Izagirre (Spain)

José Herrada (Spain)

Adriano Malori (Italy)

There will be keen eyes watching the Astana Pro Team as Vincenzo Nibali strives to defend his title against much tougher opponents in this year’s edition. Although an Achilles tendon injury had curtailed his winter schedule after winning the Italian national road race, he said, “I had a problem that I’ve never spoken about. This winter I hadan Achilles problem, which I have now thankfully got over”.

This year’s Astana line up consists of:-

Vincenzo Nibali (Italy)

Lars Boom (Netherlands)

Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark)

Andrei Grivko (Ukraine)

Dmitriy Gruzdev (Kazakhstan)

Tanel Kangert (Estonia)

Michele Scarponi (Italy)

Rein Taaramae (Estonia)

Lieuwe Westra (Netherlands)

Chris Froome is in full gear to take the Yellow Jersey and hopefully take home the title of a second time. Making a full recovery after crashing in the 5 stage of the 2014 edition but the question being asked is, ”Is the Team Sky strong enough?”. The Sky Team consists of:-

Chris Froome (Great Britain)

Peter Kennaugh (Great Britain)

Leopold Konig (Czech Republic),

Wout Poels (Netherlands)

Richie Porte (Australia)

Nicolas Roche (Ireland)

Luke Rowe (Great Britain)

Ian Stannard (Great Britain)

Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)

The name to look out for in this team’s line-up is Alberto Contador. Remember this name very well because if he succeeds, it will be the first time anyone has won the Giro d’Italia and Tour de France in the same season after Marco Pantani in 1998. But he will have to retain his under much fresher opponents. The Tinkoff-Saxo team for this year is:-

Alberto Contador (Spain)

Ivan Basso (Italy)

Daniele Bennati (Italy)

Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic)

Rafal Majka (Poland)

Michael Rogers (Australia)

Peter Sagan (Slovakia)

Matteo Tosatto (Italy)

Michael Valgren (Denmark)

As Quintana was reported saying, “This Tour won’t be a four-way battle. Watch out for Pinot, Bardet, and [American Tejay] Van Garderen. A single attack from one of these guys, and the Tour could be over if we don’t respond quickly enough.” Tejay Van Garderen is one to look out for. He’ll have to ride smart and keep his cool if he has to make a podium finish. The BMC Racing Team consists of:-

Tejay van Garderen (United States)

Damiano Caruso (Italy)

Rohan Dennis (Australia)

Daniel Oss (Italy)

Manuel Quinziato (Italy)

Samuel Sánchez (Spain)

Michael Schär (Switzerland)

Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)

Danilo Wyss (Switzerland)

Pierre Rolland burst onto the scene a couple of years ago with a famous mountaintop victory on the Alpe d’Huez. Since then he has attacked again and again and finished in the Tour’s top 10 on general classification a couple of times.

Team Europcar consists of:-

Bryan Coquard (France)

Pierre Rolland (France) and Thomas Voeckler (France)

Cyril Gautier (France)

Yohann Gène (France)

Bryan Nauleau (France)

Perrig Quemeneur (France)

Romain Sicard (France)

Angelo Tulik (France)

One of the strongest contendors is Thibaut Pinot. His third place finish in the 2014 edition and impressive form at the Tour de Suisse has made him an upbeat choice for the 102 edition of this race. The FDJ lineup is:-

Thibaut Pinot (France)

William Bonnet (France)

Sébastien Chavanel (France)

Arnaud Démare (France)

Alexandre Geniez (France)

Matthieu Ladagnous (France)

Steve Morabito (Switzerland)

Jérémy Roy (France)

Benoît Vaugrenard (France)