14 DAY TRIAL // This year's edition of Le Tour de France is announcing to be a spectacular one. And when I say that, I say it from a variety of reasons. For starters, I would only remind Lance Armstrong. His retirement from sport, after winning the last 7 editions of the competition, will leave the fight open to the new contenders. Once the American dynasty is over, the other riders still in the cycling world will now attack on the mountains with less worry, since the Texas Express won't be troubling them on the last meters of the stages. This way, Ivan Basso, Alexander Vinokourov and Jan Ulrich are announcing to be the main contenders for the final win. Lance Armstrong's former team, Discovery, will have minimal chances to hold on to their title, since neither Vladimir Gusev, nor Paolo Savoldelli or Jose Azevedo seem to be up for the challenge.
Another reason for which this year's edition of Le Tour will be a tensioned one is because of the doping scandal arose a few weeks ago. Also known as the "Saiz affair" - after the name of the person involved - the scandal was centered on the whole Liberty Seguros team. The Manolo Saiz team's sponsor withdrawal gave the Kazakh sponsor Astana to step in the ProTour. Still, after continuing talks with Tour manager Jean-Marie LeBlanc, Astana-Wurth finally got the OK for the race. This way, Vinokourov could continue his quest for a maiden win.
Here are the teams that will participate in this year's edition of Le Tour, leaving you the opportunity to choose the one that will make the best of it after the Armstrong Supremacy.
DISCOVERY CHANNEL TEAM
GUSEV Vladimir RUS DEVOLDER Stijn BEL BARRY Micha?l CAN SAVOLDELLI Paolo ITA RUBIERA Jos? Luis ESP POPOVYCH Yaroslav UKR PADRNOS Pavel CZE NOVAL GONZALEZ Benjamin ESP MARTINEZ Egoi ESP HINCAPIE George USA EKIMOV Viatceslav RUS AZEVEDO Jos? POR
TEAM CSC
CUESTA Inigo ESP CANCELLARA Fabian SUI ARVESEN Kurt-Asle NOR ZABRISKIE David USA VOIGT Jens GER VANDEVELDE Christian USA SCHLECK Frank LUX SASTRE Carlos ESP O'GRADY Stuart AUS LOMBARDI Giovanni ITA JULICH Bobby USA BASSO Ivan ITA
T-MOBILE TEA
NARDELLO Daniele ITA IVANOV Serguei RUS BERNUCCI Lorenzo ITA SINKEWITZ Patrik GER SEVILLA Oscar ESP ROGERS Michael AUS MAZZOLENI Eddy ITA KL?DEN Andr?as GER KESSLER Matthias GER HONCHAR Serhiy UKR GUERINI Giuseppe ITA ULLRICH Jan GER
AG2R PREVOYANCE
NAZON Jean-Patrick FRA KRIVTSOV Yuriy UKR CALZATI Sylvain FRA USOV Alexandre BLR MOREAU Christophe FRA GOUBERT Stephane FRA GERRANS Simon AUS DUMOULIN Samuel FRA DESSEL Cyril FRA ASTARLOZA Mikel ESP ARRIETA Jose Luis ESP MANCEBO Francisco ESP
W?RTH TEAM
OSA Aitor ESP BARREDO Carlos ESP BARANOWSKI Dariusz POL SANCHEZ Luis ESP NOZAL Isidro ESP KASHECHKIN Andrey KAZ JAKSCHE Jorg GER DAVIS Allan AUS CONTADOR Alberto ESP BELOKI Joseba ESP BAZAYEV Assan KAZ VINOKOUROV Alexandre KAZ
GEROLSTEINER
ZBERG Beat SUI SCHUMACHER Stefan GER HASELBACHER Rene AUT WROLICH Peter AUT WEGMANN Fabian GER TOTSCHNIG Georg AUT SCHOLZ Ronny GER LANG Sebastian GER KOPP David GER FOTHEN Marcus GER F?RSTER Robert GER LEIPHEIMER Levi USA
RABOBANK
ELTINK Theo NED DE GROOT Bram NED ARDILA Mauricio COL WEENING Pieter NED RASMUSSEN Mickael DEN POSTHUMA Joost NED FREIRE Oscar ESP FLECHA Juan Antonio ESP DEKKER Thomas NED DEKKER Erik NED BOOGERD Michael NED MENCHOV Denis RUS
DAVITAMON - LOTTO
ROESEMS Bert BEL MERTENS Pieter BEL DOCKX Bart BEL VANSUMMEREN Johan BEL VAN BON Leon NED STEEGMANS Gert BEL RODRIGUEZ Fred USA MC EWEN Robbie AUS HORNER Christopher USA BRANDT Christophe BEL AERTS Mario BEL EVANS Cadel AUS
PHONAK HEARING SYSTEMS
ELMIGER Martin SUI PENA Victor Hugo COL MOOS Alexandre SUI MOERENHOUT Koos NED MERCKX Axel BEL MARTIN PERDIGUERO M.Angel ESP JALABERT Nicolas FRA HUNTER Robert RSA GRABSCH Bert GER LANDIS Floyd USA
LAMPRE-FONDITAL
FIGUERAS Giuliano ITA CORIONI Claudio ITA VILA ERRANDONEA Patxi ESP VALJAVEC Tadej SLO TIRALONGO Paolo ITA RIGHI Daniele ITA COMMESSO Salvatore ITA BRUSEGHIN Marzio ITA BENNATI Daniele ITA BALLAN Alessandro ITA CUNEGO Damiano ITA CARRARA Matteo ITA
CAISSE D'EPARGNE-ILLES BALEARS
PRADERA Mikel ESP PEREZ ARRIETA Aitor ESP JULIA CEGARRA Jos? Cayetano ESP ZANDIO Xabier ESP PORTAL Nicolas FRA PEREIRO SIO Oscar ESP KARPETS Vladimir RUS GARCIA ACOSTA Vicente ESP GALVEZ Isaac ESP BRARD Florent FRA ARROYO David ESP VALVERDE Alejandro ESP
QUICK STEP - INNERGETIC
TRENTI Guido USA NUYENS Nick BEL CRETSKENS Wilfried BEL VERHEYEN Geert BEL VASSEUR C?dric FRA TOSATTO Matteo ITA TANKINK Bram NED RUJANO Jos? VEN POZZATO Filippo ITA GARATE Juan Manuel ESP DE JONGH Steven NED BOONEN Tom BEL
CREDIT AGRICOLE
VOGONDY Nicolas FRA FOFONOV Dmitriy KAZ BOTCHAROV Alexandre RUS LE MEVEL Christophe FRA HUSHOVD Thor NOR HINAULT S?bastien FRA HALGAND Patrice FRA ENGOULVENT Jimmy FRA DEAN Julian NZL CHARTEAU Anthony FRA CAUCCHIOLI Pietro ITA BODROGI Laszlo HUN
EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI
PENA Aketza ESP ANTON Igor ESP ALBIZU Joseba ESP ZUBELDIA Haimar ESP VERDUGO Gorka ESP LOPEZ GARCIA David ESP LANDALUZE Inigo ESP ISASI Inaki ESP HERNANDEZ Aitor ESP ETXEBARRIA Unai VEN CAMANO Iker ESP MAYO Iban ESP
COFIDIS CREDIT PAR TELEPHONE
FERNANDEZ Bingen ESP BESSY Fr?d?ric FRA AUGE St?phane FRA WIGGINS Bradley GBR VERBRUGGHE Rik BEL PARRA Ivan Ramiro COL MORENI Cristian ITA COYOT Arnaud FRA CHAVANEL Sylvain FRA CASPER Jimmy FRA BERTAGNOLLI Leonardo ITA MONCOUTIE David FRA
SAUNIER DUVAL - PRODIR
GIL PEREZ Koldo ESP DE LA FUENTE David ESP COBO ACEBO Juan Jose ESP VENTOSO Francisco ESP SIMONI Gilberto ITA RINERO Christophe FRA RICCO Riccardo ITA MILLAR David GBR LOBATO Ruben ESP GOMEZ Jose Angel ESP FRITSCH Nicolas FRA CANADA David ESP
FRANCAISE DES JEUX
LARSSON Gustav SWE GUESDON Fr?d?ric FRA FINOT Fr?d?ric FRA VAUGRENARD Beno?t FRA MOUREY Francis FRA MENGIN Christophe FRA L?VKVIST Thomas SWE JOLY S?bastien FRA GILBERT Philippe BEL EISEL Bernhard AUT DA CRUZ Carlos FRA CASAR Sandy FRA
LIQUIGAS
SPEZIALETTI Alessandro ITA FAILLI Francesco ITA ANDRIOTTO Dario ITA QUINZIATO Manuel ITA PAOLINI Luca ITA MUGERLI Matej SLO GARZELLI Stefano ITA DI LUCA Danilo ITA CARLSTR?M Kjell FIN CALCAGNI Patrick SUI BACKSTEDT Magnus SWE ALBASINI Michael SUI
BOUYGUES TELECOM
MARTIAS Rony FRA KERN Christophe FRA FLICKINGER Andy FRA VOECKLER Thomas FRA SPRICK Matthieu FRA ROUS Didier FRA PINEAU J?r?me FRA LEFEVRE Laurent FRA GESLIN Anthony FRA FEDRIGO Pierrick FRA BROCHARD Laurent FRA BENETEAU Walter FRA
TEAM MILRAM
DEN BAKKER Maarten NED CADAMURO Simone ITA BECKE Daniel GER ZABEL Erik GER VELO Marco ITA SCHR?DER Bj?rn GER SACCHI Fabio ITA POITSCHKE Enrico GER ONGARATO Alberto ITA KNEES Christian GER GRIVKO Andriy UKR CELESTINO Mirko ITA
AGRITUBEL
CANOUET Gilles FRA BUFFAZ Micka?l FRA BERGES St?phane FRA SALMON Benoit FRA PLOUHINEC Samuel FRA MERCADO Juan Miguel ESP MARTINEZ Jos? Alberto ESP LAURENT Christophe FRA GONZALO RAMIREZ Eduardo ESP DUENAS NEVADO Moises ESP COUTOULY C?dric FRA CALVENTE Manuel ESP