| AG2R-La Mondiale: France. Ag2r Group is a French-based interprofessional insurance and supplementary retirement fund group, and the La Mondiale Group is a French-based international group for supplementary pension and estate planning insurance. Rinaldo Nocentini led last year’s Tour for eight days.
Top riders: Dimitri Champion, Nocentini, Nicolas Roche.
Bike: Kuota |
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| Astana: Kazakhstan. Sponsored by the Astana group, a coalition of state-owned companies from Kazakhstan and named after its capital city Astana. Last year, the team had trouble making its payroll, until the Kazakh government stepped in. The Tour’s defending champion, Alberto Contador, rides for Astana, but half last year’s team bolted for the new Radio Shack squad.
Top riders: Contador, Alexander Vinokourov.
Bike: Specialized |
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| Bbox Bouyges Telecom: France. Bouygues is a mobile telephone company. Bbox is the bundled Internet, TV, and telephone package offered to Bouygues customers. Last year, Thomas Voeckler and Pierrick Fédrigo won stages of the Tour.
Top riders: Voeckler, Fédrigo, Pierre Rolland.
Bike: Colnago |
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| BMC Racing Team: USA. BMC is a Swiss bike company. The team is brand new, having competed in some domestic races last year, but won a wild card berth to the TdF this year. They’ve made their presence known in some of the earlier races this season, and have a strong stable of riders.
Top riders: US Champion George Hincapie, Alessandro Ballan, World Champion Cadel Evans.
Bike: BMC |
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| Caisse d’Epargne: Spain. The team is registered to Spain, but the sponsor is the fourth-largest French banking company. Their top rider, Alejandro Valverde, is suspended for ties to doping. Still, Caisse is always one of the strongest teams in the Tour.
Top riders: Luis Leon Sanchez, Juan Mauricio Soler, Juan Jose Cobo.
Bike: Pinarello. |
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| Cervelo Test Team: Switzerland. Cervelo is the Canadian bike company. The team made quite an impact last year, when it debuted in the tour.
Top riders: Carlos Sastre (2008 TdF winner), Thor Hushovd.
Bike: Cervelo |
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| Cofidis: France. Consumer Credit. Le Credit En Ligne (online). Offers customized consumer loans either by phone or over the Internet. The company had planned this to be its last year, but now will be around through 2012. They are probably the weakest of the French teams.
Top riders: David Moncoutie, Samuel Dumoulin, Amaël Moinard.
Bike: Look. |
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| Euskaltel-Euskadi: Basque. Basque telephone company. Euskadi is the Basque word for Basque. The Basque Country is an autonomous region in the north of Spain. Basques are ethnically different from Spaniards, and there’s been some separation sentiment for years. Euskaltel is the unofficial national team of the Basques. The team is known for its strong mountain riding. Team leader Mikel Astarloza is under a two-year doping suspension.
Top riders: Samuel Sanchez, Amets Txurruka, Egoi Martinez.
Bike: Orbea. |
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| Footon-Servetto: Spain. Footon makes insoles to correct bad posture. Servetto is an Italian wardrobe company. The team was formerly Saunier-Duval, which got caught up in a doping scandal. They claim the jersey is gold – most observers regard it as nude.
Top riders: Martin Pedersen, Michele Merlo and Manuel Cardoso.
Bike: Fuji |
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| Francaise de Jeux: France. The French national lottery. This team has been around since 1997. The team had a good year in 2009, but couldn’t win the big one, and are under some pressure to win their own country’s big race.
Top riders: Christophe Le Mevel, Sandy Casar, Thibault Pinot.
Bike: Lapierre. |
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| Garmin-Transitions: USA. Garmin is the top maker of GPS gear, Transitions makes eyeglasses that shade with the sun. The team won 29 races last year.
Top riders: Tyler Farrar, Christian VandeVelde, Robbie Hunter.
Bike: Felt |
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The Tour starts on Saturday. What a noob.
Right. I knew that. Saturday. That’s July 3rd.
Ah, the world cup of cycling. I wonder why more countries don’t sponsor teams. Are professional cyclists that mercenary?
Great post. Can’t wait for SATURDAY.
Great idea. Thanks.
Thanks for the team roundup! I look forward to reading more of your TdF posts.
Fyi: Oscar Pereiro was left off of Astana’s 2010 TdF team.
The first time I saw a “footon” rider I did think he was partially naked.. got to be the most “butt ugly” kit I’ve ever seen.
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Hi,
Good post! A couple of comments thought. Saying Basques are “ethnically” different from Spanish is a bit of a joke. What do you mean by that? Are they oriental looking? or do they have a sixth finger?
Also, saying Euskatel is the “unofficial” national team of the Basque Country is another big joke, when they have riders from all around Spain, and their team leader for the Tour (Samuel Sanchez) is from Asturias, another region in the north.
I wonder about the consistency of your listing when you mention the procedence of the teams. Is Euskatel a Spanish team or not? If you mention regions, say that Caisse D’Epargne comes from the Balearic Islands, Cofidis comes from Lyon, etc. Otherwise, your listing is not consistent if you mix regions with countries.