Who are the Americans riding the Tour de France 2021?

There is less than a week until the start of the 2021 Tour de France and teams have already started announcing their squad line-ups with some American riders making the cut.

Only four riders from the US have been picked to ride the 108th Tour de France with neither national champion at the race. Road race champion, Joey Rosskopf rides for Rally Cycling, who aren't invited to race and Lawson Craddock (EF Education-Nippo) was not picked by the American team who only went for one rider from their registered country.

Each rider is at a different team with varying levels of expectations going into the race, with some being key support riders with chances of stage wins and good GC placings to riders likely looking to get into a breakaway.

Sepp Kuss

Sepp Kuss (Jumbo-Visma) is probably the biggest name in US cycling at the moment due to his success as a support rider for two time Vuelta a España winner and Tour runner up, Primož Roglič.

However, he has shown that his climbing ability is one of the best in the world, with his time trialing ability potentially keeping him away from the team leader's limelight. Kuss has impressed once again this season with strong climbing performances throughout the season starting at the UAE Tour all the way up to the Critérium du Dauphiné.

Kuss will be the last man in the mountains for Roglič with Steven Kruijswijk, Jonas Vingegaard, Robert Gesink and Wout van Aert expected to be the build-up riders.

Brandon McNulty

Brandon McNulty has shown that he could be the next big general classification rider for the US as he has a very good time trial as well as an amazingly fast kick, which he has used on a few occasions to get surprisingly good stage placings.

The UAE Team Emirates man took the leaders jersey at the Tour of the Basque Country through a breakaway much to the surprise of the likes of Roglič, but he will be one of the key men for defending champion, Tadej Pogačar in the mountains.

Neilson Powless 

Neilson Powless is another talented young rider who shows a lot of promise in the general classification with a strong time trial and good climbing legs on his day. However, the EF Education-Nippo rider does look like he needs work on consistency as he yoyoed about at the recent Tour de Suisse.

Powless, who wore the best young riders jersey for a few stages in Switzerland, will be the key man for leader Rigoberto Urán as well as pocket rocket Sergio Higuita in the high mountains with potential opportunities for break success also coming his way.

Sean Bennett

Sean Bennett is not as well known as the three above but he can still create some very exciting racing for a team that looks set to be in every break at the Tour.

Bennett, who is a bit of a puncher/Classics rider, will hope that he can maybe get into the breaks in the early stages and perhaps get hold of the mountains jersey. There are a few lumpy stages later on in the race that would suit him very nicely too for a potential stage win.

He doesn't really have a leader to support apart from maybe trying to set up Max Walscheid for a tilt in the sprints.

Canada also has three riders at the race with Israel Start-Up Nation leader Michael Woods being the headline name. 

Other names are from the French-speaking side of the country with Hugo Houle lining up for Astana-Premier Tech and Guillaume Boivin joining Woods at Israel Start-Up Nation.

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