Tour de France wildcard selection will boost race's worldwide appeal

Selection of African and German teams for the 2015 Tour de France will increase interest in those countries

Scenery, Tour de France 2013, stage 19

When the Tour de France announced its wildcard teams on Wednesday, it revealed a selection that will help the race's global reach.

For the first time, Tour organiser ASO included an African team, South Africa’s MTN-Qhubeka, on its invitation list. It also re-enforced a deal it made with Germany’s public television broadcaster, ARD, by naming German team Bora-Argon 18.

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Gregor Brown

Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.