The four wild-card invitees of the Tour de France 2012
Tour de France undoubtedly is the most anticipated race of the year mainly because of its history which is more than a 100 years old.
A total number of 22 teams are invited at the 2012 version of the race with 9 cyclists on each side.
All the 18 World Tour teams are automatically invited to the event including the professional continental teams.
Three out of four teams are French including Team Cofidis, Team Saur-Sojasun and Team Europcar with one Dutch squad, Team Argos-Shimano.
Team Europcar is a definite favourite amongst the four mentioned sides and with the return of Thomas Voeckler in its side, the team is a definite favourite to climb the podium after the final general classifications.
Voeckler rode brilliantly in the past season and stayed in the yellow jersey for ten consecutive stages, through stage 10-19.
He was looking good to claim the podium but could not match the likes of Cadel Evans, Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck and had to settle for the fourth overall spot.
The trio secured the top three positions in the respective order with the French finishing 3 minutes and 20 seconds behind.
Thomas had a knee injury which made him abandon the Criterium du Dauphine and the Route du Sud.
The full squad for the four Tour de France wild-card invitees is as below,
Team Argos-Shimano:
Roy Curvers (Ned), Koen De Kort (Ned), Johannes Frohlinger (Ger), Patrick Gretsch (Ger), Yann Huguet (Fra), Marcel Kittel (Ger), Matthieu Sprick (Fra), Albert Timmer (Ned) and Tom Veelers (Ned).
Team Europcar:
Giovanni Bernaudeau (Fra), Anthony Charteau (Fra), Sébastien Chavanel (Fra), Damien Gaudin (Fra), Cyril Gautier (Fra), Vincent Jerome (Fra), Christophe Kern (Fra), Pierre Rolland (Fra) and Thomas Voeckler (Fra).
Team Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne:
Yohan Bagot (Fra), Rémy Di Gregorio (Fra), Samuel Dumoulin (Fra), Leonardo Duque (Col), Nicolas Edet (Fra), Julien Fouchard (Fra), Jan Ghyselinck (Bel), Luis Angel Mate Mardones (Spa), David Moncoutie (Fra), Rein Taaramae (Est), Tristan Valentin (Fra) and
Romain Zingle (Bel).
Team Saur – Sojasun:
Jerome Coppel (Fra), Anthony Delaplace (Fra), Jimmy Engoulvent (Fra), Brice Feillu (Fra), Jonathan Hivert (Fra), Fabrice Jeandesboz (Fra), Cyril Lemoine (Fra), Guillaume Levarlet (Fra), Jean-Marc Marino (Fra), Maxime Mederel (Fra), Stéphane Poulhies (Fra)
and Julien Simon (Fra).
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