French Teams Dominate Tour Wildcard Selections

Jan. 14, 2015 — Twenty-two teams named on Wednesday will take part in the Tour de France, which starts in Utrecht on July 4. The teams are listed below with the team’s likely leaders in July. Seventeen teams are guaranteed spots thanks to their WorldTour status.

peloton/Yuzuru Sunada

Five teams received wild card berths — Bora -Argon 18 (Ger), Bretagne-Séché Environnement (Fra), Cofidis Solutions Crédits (Fra), MTN-Qhubeka (Rsa), Team Europcar (Fra). MTN-Qhubeka is the first team from Africa to ever compete in the Tour. Not surprisingly three of the wildcard spots went to French teams, to give France five teams overall with the USA receiving the second most berths at three.

France (5):
AG2R La Mondiale: Péraud (FRA), Bardet (FRA)
Bretagne-Séché: B. Feillu (FRA), Sepulveda (ARG)
Cofidis: Bouhanni (FRA), Navarro (ESP)
Europcar: Voeckler (FRA), Rolland (FRA)
FDJ.fr: Pinot (FRA), Démare (FRA)

United States (3):
BMC: Van Garderen (USA)
Cannondale: D. Martin (IRL), Talansky (USA)
Trek: Cancellara (SUI), F. Schleck (LUX)

Germany (2):
Bora: Barta (CZE)
Giant: Degenkolb (GER), Kittel (GER), Barguil (FRA)

Belgium (2):
Etixx: Cavendish (GBR), Kwiatkowski (POL)
Lotto: Greipel (GER), Gallopin (FRA)

Russia (2):
Katusha: Kristoff (NOR)
Tinkoff: Contador (ESP), Sagan (SVK)

South Africa (1):
MTN-Qhubeka: Boasson Hagen (NOR), Berhane (ERY)

Australia (1):
Orica: Gerrans (AUS)

Spain (1):
Movistar: Quintana (COL), Valverde (ESP)

Britain (1):
Sky: Froome (GBR), Porte (AUS)

Italy (1):
Lampre: Costa (POR)

Kazakhstan (1):
Astana: Nibali (ITA)

Netherlands (1):
Lotto NL: Gesink (NED)

Switzerland (1):
IAM: Sy. Chavanel (FRA), Frank (SUI)

Now read about MTN-Qhubeka historic wild card selection.