The biggest race of the season, the 2021 Tour de France begins on Saturday, June 26 in the city of Brest in the region of Brittany, 184 riders will be on the start line ready to tackle the three weeks.
Reigning champion, Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) is returning to try and defend his title over the 21 days of racing to Paris but he and his team will face a tough battle for the Maillot Jaune.
One of the biggest names expected to challenge is last year's second-place overall and fellow Slovenian, Primož Roglič (Jumbo-Visma), he lost out to Pogačar on the penultimate day when the UAE Team Emirates man snatched yellow away from him to win the race in the final time trial.
Third in the line of race favourites is the overall winner in 2018, Geraint Thomas or Ineos Grenadiers. He won't be alone in the push by his team either as the 2020 and 2019 Giro d'Italia winners, Tao Geoghegan Hart and Richard Carapaz, as well as last year's third-place overall at the Tour, Richie Porte, will all be ready to take it to the Slovenian stars.
One rider who will be desperate to go one better than his previous two second places overall will be Colombian Nairo Quintana (Arkéa-Samsic). He won't be the only Colombian battling for the GC though as Rigoberto Urán, Sergio Higuita (both EF Education-Nippo), Esteban Chaves (BikeExchange) and Miguel Ángel López (Movistar) are all set to lead their teams.
In the French corner, the sole hopes seem to lay at the feet of David Gaudu (Groupama-FDJ) who looks to pick up the mantle dropped by team-mate Thibaut Pinot and become a real GC threat for the overall title.
But it isn't all about the overall standings and the battle for yellow at the Tour de France, multiple riders are aiming for stages and the other jerseys available.
World champion, Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck - Quick-Step) has said his dream is to take a stage win while wearing the rainbow jersey, however, in the last couple of years, the French star has shown himself to be a viable option for the GC.
His team are likely to be focusing on the sprint stages though with surprise selection Mark Cavendish looking to add to his 30 stage wins at the great race, maybe edge a little bit closer to Eddy Merckx's record of 34 wins. Cavendish was picked due to last year's green jersey winner, Sam Bennett, getting injured in training.
The fight for green, then, is even more wide open than previously thought with Grand Tour debutant Mathieu van der Poel (Alpecin-Fenix) looking for stage wins, potentially with a hit out at green but he is expected to leave the race to focus on the Olympics where he is riding the cross-country mountain bike race.
Wout van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) has also said he will go for some stages and have a bit more freedom but said he does not want to focus on the green jersey and put himself in danger during the mass sprints.
But they will be coming up against a stacked sprinters field and seven-time green jersey winner Peter Sagan (Bora-Hansgrohe) who comes to the race after winning the points jersey and a stage at the Giro d'Italia in the spring.
The main sprinting name at the race, though, is Caleb Ewan (Lotto-Soudal) who is looking to become the fourth rider in history to win a stage in all three Grand Tours. He managed two wins at the Giro before crashing out with a swollen knee.
Other sprinters who will be racing are former French champion Arnaud Démare (Groupama-FDJ), André Greipel (Israel Start-Up Nation), Nacer Bouhanni (Arkéa-Samsic), Tim Merlier (Alpecin-Fenix), Cees Bol (DSM), Sonny Colbrelli (Bahrain Victorious), Michael Matthews (BikeExchange) among quite a few others.
The squads for the 2021 Tour de France are now fully confirmed with the full startlist with race numbers below...
Tour de France 2021 complete start list
UAE Team Emirates
1.POGAČAR Tadej
2. BJERG Mikkel
3. COSTA Rui
4. FORMOLO Davide
5. HIRSCHI Marc
6. LAENGEN Vegard Stake
7. MAJKA Rafał
8. MCNULTY Brandon
Team Jumbo-Visma
11. ROGLIČ Primož
12. GESINK Robert
13. KRUIJSWIJK Steven
14. KUSS Sepp
15. MARTIN Tony
16. TEUNISSEN Mike
17. VAN AERT Wout
18. VINGEGAARD Jonas
Ineos Grenadiers
21. THOMAS Geraint
22. CARAPAZ Richard
23. CASTROVIEJO Jonathan
24. GEOGHEGAN HART Tao
25. KWIATKOWSKI Michał
26. PORTE Richie
27. ROWE Luke
28. VAN BAARLE Dylan
Israel Start-Up Nation
31. FROOME Chris
32. BOIVIN Guillaume
33. GOLDSTEIN Omer
34. GREIPEL André
35. HOLLENSTEIN Reto
36. MARTIN Dan
37. WOODS Michael
38. ZABEL Rick
Trek-Segafredo
41. NIBALI Vincenzo
42. BERNARD Julien
43. ELISSONDE Kenny
44. MOLLEMA Bauke
45. PEDERSEN Mads
46. SKUJINS Toms
47. STUYVEN Jasper
48. THEUNS Edward
Deceuninck - Quick-Step
51. ALAPHILIPPE Julian
52. ASGREEN Kasper
53. BALLERINI Davide
54. CATTANEO Mattia
55. CAVENDISH Mark
56. DECLERCQ Tim
57. DEVENYNS Dries
58. MØRKØW Michael
Movistar Team
61. LÓPEZ Miguel Ángel
62. ARCAS Jorge
63. ERVITI Imanol
64. GARCÍA Iván
65. MAS Enric
66. SOLER Marc
67. VALVERDE Alejandro
68. VERONA Carlos
Bora–Hansgrohe
71. SAGAN Peter
72. BUCHMANN Emanuel
73. KELDERMAN Wilco
74. KONRAD Patrick
75. OSS Daniel
76. POLITT Nils
77. PÖSTLBERGER Lukas
78. SCHELLING Ide
Groupama-FDJ
81. GAUDU David
82. ARMIRAIL Bruno
83. DÉMARE Arnaud
84. GUARNIERI Jacapo
85. KONOVALOVAS Ignatas
86. KÜNG Stefan
87. MADOUAS Valentin
88. SCOTSON Miles
Cofidis
91. MARTIN Guillaume
92. FERNÁNDEZ Rubén
93. GESCHKE Simon
94. HERRADA Jesús
95. LAPORTE Christophe
96. PEREZ Anthony
97. PERICHON Pierre-Luc
98. WALLAYS Jelle
Alpecin-Fenix
101. VAN DER POEL Mathieu
102. DILLIER Silvan
103. MERLIER Tim
104. MEURISSE Xandro
105. PHILIPSEN Jasper
106. RICKAERT Jonas
107. SBRAGLI Kristian
108. VAKOČ Petr
EF Education-Nippo
111. URÁN Rigoberto
112. BISSEGGER Stefan
113. GUERREIRO Ruben
114. HIGUITA Sergio
115. VALGREN Michael
116. CORT Magnus
117. POWLESS Neilson
118. RUTSCH Jonas
AG2R-Citroën Team
121. COSNEFROY Benoît
122. GODON Dorian
123. NAESEN Oliver
124. O'CONNOR Ben
125. PARET-PEINTRE Aurélien
126. PETERS Nans
127. SCHÄR Michael
128. VAN AVERMAET Greg
Team Arkéa-Samsic
131. BARGUIL Warren
132. BOUHANNI Nacer
133. DELAPLACE Anthony
134. GESBERT Élie
135. MCLAY Dan
136. QUINTANA Nairo
137. RUSSO Clément
138. SWIFT Connor
Team DSM
141. KRAGH ANDERSEN Søren
142. BENOOT Tiesj
143. BOL Cees
144. DONOVAN Mark
145. EEKHOFF Nils
146. NIEWENHUIS Joris
147. PEDERSEN Casper
148. SÜTTERLIN Jasha
Lotto-Soudal
151. EWAN Caleb
152. DE BUYST Jasper
153. DE GENDT Thomas
154. GILBERT Philippe
155. KLUGE Roger
156. SWEENY Harry
157. VAN DER SANDE Tosh
158. VAN MOER Brent
Bahrain Victorious
161. HAIG Jack
162. BILBAO Pello
163. COLBRELLI Sonny
164. HALLER Marco
165. MOHORIČ Matej
166. POELS Wout
167. TEUNS Dylan
168. WRIGHT Fred
Team BikeExchange
171. MATTHEWS Michael
172. CHAVES Esteban
173. DURBRIDGE Luke
174. HAMILTON Lucas
175. JANSEN Amund Grøndahl
176. JUUL-JENSEN Chris
177. MEZGEC Luka
178. YATES Simon
Astana-Premier Tech
181. FUGLSANG Jakob
182. ARANBURU Alex
183. DE BOD Stefan
184. FRAILE Omar
185. GRUZDEV Dmitriy
186. HOULE Hugo
187. IZAGIRRE Ion
188. LUTSENKO Alexey
Team Qhubeka-NextHash
191. HENAO Sergio
192. BARBERO Carlos
193. BENNETT Sean
194. CAMPENAERTS Victor
195. CLARKE Simon
196. DLAMINI Nic
197. GOGL Michael
198. WALSCHEID Max
Team TotalEnergies
201. LATOUR Pierre
202. BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
203. CABOT Jérémy
204. DE LA PARTE Victor
205. DOUBEY Fabien
206. RODRÍGUEZ Cristián
207. SIMON Julien
208. TURGIS Anthony
Intermarché-Wanty Gobert Matériaux
211. MEINTJES Louis
212. BAKELANTS Jan
213. KOCH Jonas
214. ROTA Lorenzo
215. VAN POPPEL Boy
216. VAN POPPEL Danny
217. VLIEGAN Loïc
218. ZIMMERMANN Georg
B&B Hotels p/b KTM
221. COQUARD Bryan
222. BARTHE Cyril
223. BONNAMOUR Franck
224. CHEVALIER Maxime
225. ROLLAND Pierre
226. GAUTIER Cyril
227. PACHER Quentin
228. LEMOINE Cyril
-
-
From piste to peloton - Anna Henderson's rapid rise through the ranks
Jumbo Visma's British time trial champion Anna Henderson talks budget bikes, team dynamics and ski school
-
2023 Tour de France to start in the Basque Country
The Grand Départ will consist of three road stages in the autonomous community in northern Spain
