With the official start list available, the 22 teams of the the Tour de France are now confirmed. Here’s the list of each squad with info on the sponsors, bikes and some thoughts on what they might do in the race.
Tour de France Prize List
For one of the biggest sporting events in the world the prize list is surprisingly modest. A total of €2,022,900 in prizes will be paid out and teams also share a pot of over one million Euros in expenses.
The amount is unchanged from last year. So thanks to inflation it is worth less and for non-European riders the Euro has fallen 20% against the US dollar since last summer. Not that anyone is counting, the ultimate prize is standing on the podium in Paris. Here is a breakdown of the Tour de France prize list.
How To Beat Wiggins
Luxembourg’s Le Quotidien has a good piece on how to beat Wiggins, asking several team managers for their suggestions
Whilst Wiggins is the great favourite for the race I think the next three weeks can bring plenty of surprises. But let’s run with the idea that Wiggins is the rider to beat, here are the suggestions from the team managers plus some extra ideas.
Tour de France iCal
You can now download summary details of the Tour de France for your electronic diary on a phone or computer: inrngTourDeFranceCalendar.ics.
Riders Blocked From Racing
It looks like the perfect picture for a cycling team. A smiling rider stands tall on the podium, dressed in yellow with the team logos in evidence as the girls hold their pose for the cameras. Even his sunglasses are perched just right on the team-issue baseball cap. But there’s something wrong with the picture.
I’m not talking about the composition of the image. You might notice the podium girls haven’t zipped up their jerseys fully but it’s not that. No, the problem here is that Radioshack-Nissan’s Jakob Fuglsang has won a race and bizarrely this could prove damaging for the interests of his team.
Who Will Finish Third in the Tour?
The odds on Bradley Wiggins winning the Tour de France are now so short that the some bookmakers price him as a safer pick than Lance Armstrong in 2003. Cadel Evans is a close second but as the table above from oddschecker.com shows, everyone else is far out. Madness?
Possibly and we should note that the odds are a price and not a probability, it is likely that a lot of people have been putting a lot of money on Evans and Wiggins and this has shortened the odds. But precision apart, Wiggins and Evans are the two prime contenders. Who are the others capable of finishing on the podium?
Boyer Fired From Cofidis
Eric Boyer has had happier times in July. That’s him in the picture “reaching out” to a fan on the last stage of the 1992 Tour de France. This year he faces sitting at home after being fired as manager of the Cofidis team.
Oleg Tinkov Returns
The Saxo Bank team unveiled a new co-sponsor today: Tinkoff Bank. The team will now be called Saxo Bank – Tinkoff Bank, a mouthful that will be awkward to pronounce and type.
It marks the return of Oleg Tinkov to the sport. A Russian entrepreneur, he is a lively character with a past unlike almost anyone else in the sport.
2012 National Championships Summary
Saturday Shorts
It’s the weekend of the national championships across Europe. Whilst America, Asia and Australia have different weekends, pretty much everywhere in Europe sees simultaneous national championships. In some European countries these races can take on a strange feel with several teams of 25 riders starting, making the tactics completely different from your usual race.