Tour de France 2012

Le Tour de France 2012

With only a few weeks left until the start of the 2012 Tour de France, we thought we’d take a quick look at the teams and kit the riders will be using this year.

After Alberto Contador’s disqualification last year, the win was handed to Andy Schleck and although he won on paper, he’s going to want cross the line first this time.  With the tour this year having more emphasis on time trials and less on the mountain stages, you can’t rule out 2010 winner Cadel Evans and Bradley Wiggins and Team Sky will certainly be looking for the yellow jersey this year.

Give us your predictions – who’s going to win?

What about the tech we might see starting to surface this year? Will it be the first year we a tour bike running disk brakes? Maybe not in the TT, but the extra modulation on the mountain descents might give a more confident and therefore faster ride.

What do you think? What are we going to see emerging in this year’s tour?

Runners and riders:

TEAM: Sky Pro Cycling

Country of origin: UK

Website:  http://www.teamsky.com/

Bike: Pinarello

Groupset: Shimano

Notable riders: Bradley Wiggins | Mark Cavendish | Edvald Boasson Hagen | Geraint Thomas

Other sponsors: Shimano | Kask | Pro | Oakley | Fi’zi:k |Elite | Park tool

TEAM: Omega Pharma Quickstep

Country of origin: Belgium

Website:  http://www.omegapharma-quickstep.com

Bike: Specialized

Groupset: SRAM

Notable riders: Tom Boonen | Levi Leipheimer | Matthew Brammeier | Sylvain Chavanel

Other sponsors: Oakley | Powerbar | 2XU | Tacx | Zipp | SRAM | Look

TEAM: Rabobank

Country of origin:  Netherlands

Website:  http://www.rabosport.com

Bike: Giant

Groupset:  Shimano

Notable riders: Lars Boom |Marc Goos | Robert Gesink | Theo Bos

Other sponsors: AGU | SIS | Giro | Polar | Skins | Tacx | Fi’zi:k

TEAM: Garmin-Barracuda

Country of origin:  USA

Website:  http://www.slipstreamsports.com

Bike: Cervelo

Groupset:  Rotor rings/rider specific

Notable riders: David Millar | Tyler Farrar | Christian Vande Velde | Dan Martin

Other sponsors:  Castelli | Mavic | Giro | Clif Bar | Camelbak | 3T

Check out the rest of the teams here

JT

James has been a cyclist for over fifteen years and in that time he’s raced off road in both the UK and Europe. He’s a Cytech level 2 mechanic, qualified cycle coach, guide and has extensive cycle industry experience.JT rides both road and mountain although refuses to commute by bike because he lives so close to work. You’ll also see his mug on most of our Tredz TV productions.

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