News: Tour de France 2012 at a Glance

The 2012 Tour de France starts on Saturday with British rider Bradley Wiggins one of the favourites along with last year’s winner Cadel Evans.

[Show as slideshow]

Photos from Thomas van Bracht: Click an image to display; Use the Left & Right cursor keys to move between images; Click an image to close.

Will this be Brad’s Year on Tour?

It’s 50 years since Tom Simpson was the first British rider to wear yellow and perhaps 2012 will be Wiggin’s year to be the first British rider to win the Tour de France. Since Armstrong left the cycling scene to fight his battles elsewhere, it’s been Evans, Contador and Schleck with Wiggins learning the ropes close behind.

Wiggins in yellow — it’s happened a lot this year but will the one that really matters be his for the taking in 2012? we’ll see in the next three weeks …

Now, Andy Schleck is injured, Contador is in disgrace waiting for a return to the sport, Frank Schleck has discounted himself (but is that a bluff?) and now it seems like only Evans and Wiggins remain. That won’t be the case as surprises alway lurk in the pack of cards when the race gets tough but this is for sure, Wiggin’s best chance of winning the biggest bike in the world and a history making year for the Olympic champion.

There has been a lot of talking, by the press mainly eager to fill column inches, about who will win what etc but if I’ve learnt one thing over the years, what looks good on paper soon changes when the riders tackle the tarmac. So lets wait patiently for Saturday afternoon and the prologue when the Tour won’t be won, but it certainly could be lost (crash say).

One thing is for sure, the world will start to go mad for a bike race that captures the worlds population like no other bike race. So while racing will carry on in Britain and VeloUK will be travelling the country to cover it, we’ll also have an eye on the Tour to see if it will be Wiggins or Evans who wins… or maybe a joker will merge from the pack…

Your Photos: Going to the Tour de France and taking photos… send us your pictures and we’ll publish the best of them!

Last Years Top 10 & jerseys
1. Cadel Evans
2. Andy Schleck (not riding 2012)
3. Franck Schleck
4. Thomas Voeckler
5. Sami Sanchez
6. Damiano Cunego
7. Ivan Basso
8. Tom Danielson
9. JC Peraud
10. Pierre Rolland

Green Jersey: Mark Cavendish
KoM: Sammy Sanchez
White: Pierre Rolland
Team: Garmin

This Years British Riders
Bradley Wiggins – Team Sky (Overall contender for yellow jersey)
Stephen Cummings – BMC (Supporting his team leader Cadel Evans)
Mark Cavendish – (Stage wins, Green jersey contender, seems to be looking more to the Olympics than Green?)
Chris Froome (supporting team leader Bradley Wiggins but a wild card for the overall if unforseen things happen)
David Millar (supporting team leader)
Dan Martin (Irish licence and sure to make his mark some time during the three weeks)

The Favourites (have a different opinion? Go to VeloUK on Twitter and let us know!

Yellow Jersey: (Overall winner) Contenders: Cadel Evans, Bradley Wiggins, Denis Menchov, Vincenzo Nibali, Levi Leipheimer, Ryder Hesjedal, Frank Schleck … outsiders? Thomas Voeckler, Sammy Sanchez

Green Jersey (Points): Contenders: Mark Cavendish, Peter Sagan, Marcel Kittel, Matt Goss, José Joaquin Rojas, André Greipel, Tyler Farrar, Oscar Freire

Polka Dot Jersey (King of the Mountains): Sammy Sanchez, Dan Martin, Jelle Vanendert, Johnny Hoogerland, David Moncoutié, Mikaël Chérel, Sylvain Chavanel, Matt Lloyd, Rémy Di Gregorio, Thibaut Pinot

Other riders to watch out for on the TV
Fabian Cancellara, Andreas Klöden, Nick Nuyens, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Johnny Hoogerland, Marcel Kittel, Alexander Vinokurov, Jani Brajkovic, Philippe Gilbert, Tejay van Garderen, Pierre Rolland, Samuel Sanchez, Mikel Astarloza, Tom Danielson, Johan Vansummeren, Alessandro Petacchi, Michele Scarponi, Ivan Basso, Jurgen Van den Broeck, Lars Bak, Alejandro Valverde, Juanjo Cobo, Sylvain Chavanel, Tony Martin, Michael Albasini, Simon Gerrans, Robert Gesink, Luis Leon Sanchez, Brice Feillu, Juan Jose Haedo

More Info - the Tour de France website of course!

THE RACE
Prologue 6.4 kmLiège / Liège
Stage 1 — 198 kmLiège / Seraing
Stage 2 — 207.5 kmVisé / Tournai
Stage 3 — 197 kmOrchies / Boulogne-sur-Mer
Stage 4 — 214.5 kmAbbeville / Rouen
Stage 5 — 196.5 kmRouen / Saint-Quentin
Stage 6 — 207.5 kmÉpernay / Metz
Stage 7 — 199 kmTomblaine / La Planche des Belles Filles
Stage 8 — 157.5 kmBelfort / Porrentruy
Stage 9 — 41.5 kmArc-et-Senans / Besançon

Rest day Macon

Stage 10 — 194.5 kmMâcon / Bellegarde-sur-Valserine
Stage 11 — 148 kmAlbertville / La Toussuire – Les Sybelles
Stage 12 — 226 kmSaint-Jean-de-Maurienne / Annonay Davézieux
Stage 13 — 217 kmSaint-Paul-Trois-Châteaux / Le Cap d’Agde
Stage 14 — 191 kmLimoux / Foix
Stage 15 — 158.5 kmSamatan / Pau

Rest day Pau

Stage 16 — 197 kmPau / Bagnères-de-Luchon
Stage 17 — 143.5 kmBagnères-de-Luchon / Peyragudes
Stage 18 — 222.5 kmBlagnac / Brive-la-Gaillarde
Stage 19 — 53.5 kmBonneval / Chartres
Stage 20 — 120 kmRambouillet / Paris Champs-Élysées

Rider List

BMC RACING TEAM / USA
1 EVANS Cadel
2 BURGHARDT Marcus
3 CUMMINGS Stephen
4 GILBERT Philippe
5 HINCAPIE George
6 MOINARD Amaël
7 QUINZIATO Manuel
8 SCHÄR Michael
9 VAN GARDEREN Tejay

RADIOSHACK-NISSAN / LUX
11 SCHLECK Frank
12 CANCELLARA Fabian
13 GALLOPIN Tony
14 HORNER Christopher
15 KLÖDEN Andréas
16 MONFORT Maxime
17 POPOVYCH Yaroslav
18 VOIGT Jens
19 ZUBELDIA Haimar

TEAM EUROPCAR / FRA
21 VOECKLER Thomas
22 ARASHIRO Yukiya
23 BERNAUDEAU Giovanni
24 GAUTIER Cyril
25 GENE Yohann
26 JEROME Vincent
27 KERN Christophe
28 MALACARNE Davide
29 ROLLAND Pierre

EUSKALTEL – EUSKADI / ESP
31 SANCHEZ Samuel
32 ASTARLOZA Mikel
33 AZANZA SOTO Jorge
34 IZAGUIRRE INSAUSTI Gorka
35 MARTINEZ Egoi
36 PEREZ MORENO Ruben
37 TXURRUKA Amets
38 URTASUN PEREZ Pablo
39 VERDUGO Gorka

LAMPRE – ISD / ITA
41 SCARPONI Michele
42 BOLE Grega
43 HONDO Danilo
44 KRIVTSOV Yuriy
45 LLOYD Matthew
46 MARZANO Marco
47 PETACCHI Alessandro
48 STORTONI Simone
49 VIGANO Davide

LIQUIGAS-CANNONDALE / ITA
51 NIBALI Vincenzo
52 BASSO Ivan
53 CANUTI Federico
54 KOREN Kristijan
55 NERZ Dominik
56 OSS Daniel
57 SAGAN Peter
58 SZMYD Sylvester
59 VANOTTI Alessandro

GARMIN – SHARP / USA
61 HESJEDAL Ryder
62 DANIELSON Thomas
63 FARRAR Tyler
64 HUNTER Robert
65 MARTIN Daniel
66 MILLAR David
67 VAN SUMMEREN Johan
68 VANDE VELDE Christian
69 ZABRISKIE David

AG2R LA MONDIALE / FRA
71 PERAUD Jean-Christophe
72 BOUET Maxime
73 CHEREL Mikael
74 DUPONT Hubert
75 HINAULT Sébastien
76 KADRI Blel
77 MINARD Sébastien
78 RIBLON Christophe
79 ROCHE Nicolas

COFIDIS LE CREDIT EN LIGNE / FRA
81 TAARAMAE Rein
82 DI GREGORIO Rémy
83 DUMOULIN Samuel
84 EDET Nicolas
85 FOUCHARD Julien
86 GHYSELINCK Jan
87 MATE MARDONES Luis Angel
88 MONCOUTIE David
89 ZINGLE Romain

SAUR-SOJASUN / FRA
91 COPPEL Jérôme
92 DELAPLACE Anthony
93 ENGOULVENT Jimmy
94 FEILLU Brice
95 JEANDESBOZ Fabrice
96 LEMOINE Cyril
97 LEVARLET Guillaume
98 MARINO Jean Marc
99 SIMON Julien

SKY PROCYCLING / GBR
101 WIGGINS Bradley
102 BOASSON HAGEN Edvald
103 CAVENDISH Mark
104 EISEL Bernhard
105 FROOME Christopher
106 KNEES Christian
107 PORTE Richie
108 ROGERS Michael
109 SIVTSOV Kanstantsin

LOTTO-BELISOL TEAM / BEL
111 VAN DEN BROECK Jurgen
112 BAK Lars
113 DE GREEF Francis
114 GREIPEL André
115 HANSEN Adam
116 HENDERSON Gregory
117 ROELANDTS Jurgen
118 SIEBERG Marcel
119 VANENDERT Jelle

VACANSOLEIL-DCM / NED
121 WESTRA Lieuwe
122 BOECKMANS Kris
123 HOOGERLAND Johnny
124 LARSSON Gustav
125 MARCATO Marco
126 POELS Wouter
127 RUIJGH Rob
128 VALLS FERRI Rafael
129 VAN HUMMEL Kenny Robert

KATUSHA TEAM / RUS
131 MENCHOV Denis
132 CARUSO Gianpaolo
133 FREIRE Oscar
134 GUSEV Vladimir
135 HORRACH Joan
136 KUCHYNSKI Aliaksandr
137 PAOLINI Luca
138 TROFIMOV Yury
139 VORGANOV Eduard

FDJ-BIGMAT / FRA
141 CASAR Sandy
142 FEDRIGO Pierrick
143 HUTAROVICH Yauheni
144 LADAGNOUS Matthieu
145 PINEAU Cedric
146 PINOT Thibaut
147 ROUX Anthony
148 ROY Jérémy
149 VICHOT Arthur

RABOBANK CYCLING TEAM / NED
151 GESINK Robert
152 KRUIJSWIJK Steven
153 MOLLEMA Bauke
154 RENSHAW Mark
155 SANCHEZ Luis-Leon
156 TANKINK Bram
157 TEN DAM Laurens
158 TJALLINGII Maarten
159 WYNANTS Maarten

MOVISTAR TEAM / ESP
161 VALVERDE Alejandro
162 COBO ACEBO Juan Jose
163 COSTA Rui Alberto
164 ERVITI Imanol
165 GUTIERREZ José Ivan
166 KARPETS Vladimir
167 KIRYIENKA Vasili
168 PLAZA MOLINA Ruben
169 ROJAS Jose Joaquin

TEAM SAXO BANK-TINKOFF BANK / DEN
171 CANTWELL Jonathan
172 HAEDO Juan Jose
173 KROON Karsten
174 LUND Anders
175 MORKOV Michael
176 NUYENS Nick
177 PAULINHO Sergio Miguel Moreira
178 SORENSEN Chris Anker
179 SORENSEN Nicki

ASTANA PRO TEAM / KAZ
181 BRAJKOVIC Janez
182 BOZIC Borut
183 FOFONOV Dmitriy
184 GRIVKO Andriy
185 IGLINSKIY Maxim
186 KASHECHKIN Andrey
187 KESSIAKOFF Fredrik
188 KISERLOVSKI Robert
189 VINOKOUROV Alexandre

OMEGA PHARMA-QUICK STEP / BEL
191 LEIPHEIMER Levi
192 CHAVANEL Sylvain
193 DE WEERT Kevin
194 DEVENYNS Dries
195 GRABSCH Bert
196 MARTIN Tony
197 PINEAU Jérôme
198 VELITS Martin
199 VELITS Peter

ORICA GREENEDGE / AUS
201 GERRANS Simon
202 ALBASINI Michael
203 COOKE Baden
204 GOSS Matthew Harley
205 IMPEY Daryl
206 LANCASTER Brett Daniel
207 LANGEVELD Sebastian
208 O’GRADY Stuart
209 WEENING Pieter

TEAM ARGOS-SHIMANO / NED
211 KITTEL Marcel
212 CURVERS Roy
213 DE KORT Koen
214 FRÖHLINGER Johannes
215 GRETSCH Patrick
216 HUGUET Yann
217 SPRICK Matthieu
218 TIMMER Albert
219 VEELERS Tom