Katusha: the year for Rodriguez
For the first time in his career, the 34-year-old Spanish veteran Joaquim Rodriguez has made the Tour de France his main priority for the season. This will be the second time he has contested the French Grand Tour (following his stage-winning appearance in 2010) but the world's number-one ranked rider in 2012 led both the Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España last year – finishing second and third overall, respectively.
Rodriguez will have strong support in his domain, the mountains, from compatriot Daniel Moreno who won la Flèche Wallonne this April and, more recently, finished fourth overall in the Criterium du Dauphiné.
Considering the nature of the route for the 100th Tour de France, Rodriguez should be considered a contender for the title in 2013.
The selection: Pavel Brutt (RUS), Alexander Kristoff (NOR), Aliaksandr Kuchynski (BLR), Alberto Losada (ESP), Daniel Moreno (EPS), Joaquim Rodriguez (ESP), Gatis Smukulis (LAT), Yuriy Trofimov (RUS), Eduard Vorganov (RUS)
Detailed team presentation sheet
Lotto-Belisol: a two-pronged attack, GC and sprints
Jurgen van den Broeck is the best Belgian on GC since Lucien van Impe thanks to his fifth in 2010 and fourth last year. In 2011 he crashed out of the Tour in the second week but he'll be one of the leaders of this team for the 100th edition. The second leader will be one of the triple stage winners from last year, the recently crowned German champion André Greipel. This is a team that is chasing two objectives: another good overall result for van den Broeck and stage wins – and possibly the green jersey – for Greipel. With an impressive lead-out combination, including Giro stage winner Adam Hansen, New Zealand veteran Greg Henderson, and Germany's Marcel Sieberg we can expect to see Lotto-Belisol at the front for the sprint stages… and VDB staying with the GC specialists on the mountainous days.
The selection: Lars Bak (DEN), Bart De Clercq (BEL), André Greipel (GER), Adam Hansen (AUS), Greg Henderson (NZL), Jürgen Roelandts (BEL), Marcel Sieberg (GER), Jurgen van den Broeck (BEL), Frederik Willems (BEL)
Detailed team presentation sheet
Cannondale Pro Cycling: Sagan… even better than last year?
Considering in impressive Tour debut in 2012 and his consistency in all manner of terrain, it's obvious that the leader of this team is the Slovakian champion Peter Sagan. The winner of three stages last year is the first rider born in the 1990s to claim a Tour de France stage victory. Aside from the prologue winner of the 99th Tour (Fabian Cancellara), Sagan was the only rider to lead the points classification. He has had a strong start to the season, with podium finishes in Milan-San Remo (2nd), Gent-Wevelgem (1st) and the Tour of Flanders (2nd) as well as stage wins in the Tour of Oman, Tirreno-Adriatico, Tour of California and Tour de Suisse.
The popular American, Ted King makes his Tour debut in 2013 and so does the Italian sensation Moreno Moser... but their role will be to ride as part of Sagan's support cast as he attempts to win the green jersey for a second successive season.
The selection: Maciej Bodnar (POL), Alessandro De Marchi (ITA), Kristijan Koren (SLO), Alan Marangoni (ITA), Moreno Moser (ITA), Fabio Sabatini (ITA), Peter Sagan (SLO), Ted King (USA), Brian Vandborg (DEN)
Detailed team presentation sheet
Vacansoleil: Options for a versatile team…
This Dutch team returns to the Tour de France for its third successive appearance and the tactics will remain the same: to chase opportunity. The selection includes the Belgian strongman who was third overall in the Giro d'Italia in 2012, Thomas De Gendt, recently crowned Dutch champion Johnny Hoogerland, and Spanish veteran Juan Antonio Flecha who joined the team in 2013.
The line-up includes Boy van Poppel, the 19-year-old son of the team's directeur sportif (Jean-Paul van Poppel), as well as his brother Danny. Both siblings make their debut in the Tour this year.
The selection: Kris Boeckmans (BEL), Thomas de Gendt (BEL), Juan Antonio Flecha (ESP), Johnny Hoogerland (NED), Sergey Lagutin (UZB), Wout Poels (NED), Boy van Poppel (NED), Danny van Poppel (NED), Lieuwe Westra (NED)
Detailed team presentation sheet
Cofidis: GC hopes in a season of opportunity
This French wildcard recipient includes two Frenchman who have been the best from their country in the Tour's GC in recent years: Le Mével (10th in 2010) and Coppel (14th in 2011) but the leaders for the 100th Tour de France are likely to be Spanish recruit Daniel Navarro and the Estonian Rein Taaramae. This presence of this quartet indicates that Cofidis could do more than it has in recent participations at the Tour when they main quest was to chase opportunities; this year, a good result in the general classification could be achieved. Some days in the yellow jersey would be a dream scenario and a top 10 on GC should be achievable.
The selection: Yoann Bagot (FRA), Jérôme Coppel (FRA), Egoitz Garcia (ESP), Christophe Le Mével (FRA), Guillaume Levarlet (FRA), Luis Angel Maté (ESP), Rudy Molard (FRA), Daniel Navarro (ESP), Rein Taaramae (EST)
Detailed team presentation sheet
*Roster submitted by the team, awaiting reception of the official registration forms by the organisers.
