Mar 2, 2006
Tour de France Announces 22 Teams
22 Teams will compete in the Tour de France this year, a record number of teams compared to years past. ASO organizers of the Tour de France joined the Giro D’Italia organizers RCS in announcing the lineup for the Grand Tours. The top 20 ProTour teams are included in both races. The Giro invitied Panaria and Selle Italia two teams that have traditionally performed well at the Corsa Rosa.
ASO should be happy with the ProTour offering of five French teams, but that did not seem like enough French teams to fill out the roster. AG2R do not have to worry about a wild card entry, so the two extra teams that are invited are a slight surprise. Agributel, the small French team and Communidad Valenciannca (Used to be Kelme) got the nod for the Tour. Interesting choices as ASO chose to Fench up the race a bit more than to extend an invite to teams such as Unibet. So this year there will be a total of SIX Fench teams in the Tour de France. If a Fench riders does not win a stage even by accident it will be a surprise.
The 22 teams:
AG2R Prevoyance, Agritubel, Bouygues Télécom, Caisse d’Epargne – Illes Balears, Cofidis, Comunidad Valenciana, Crédit Agricole, Team CSC, Davitamon – Lotto, Discovery Channel Team, Euskatel – Euskadi, FDJeux.com, Gerolsteiner, Lampre, Liberty Seguros Würth Team, Liquigas, Team Milram, Phonak Hearing Systems, Quick Step, Rabobank, Saunier Duval – Prodir et T -Mobile Team.