The 103rd Tour de France is just around the corner! Twenty-two teams consisting of nine riders each will depart from enchanting Mont Saint-Michel on July 2 with hopes of riding into Paris on the Champs-Élysées in the yellow jersey.
Below is all the personnel information you’ll need, from who’s competing to who the favorites are for the yellow jersey.
MORE: What to know for this year's Tour | Tour de France winners since 1999 | 2016 TDF TV schedule
Who are the contenders for this year’s Tour de France?
Chris Froome: It should be no surprise last year's winner tops the list of favorites. Everyone will be gunning for the Brit as he goes for his third Tour win in four years. Froome, who won in 2013 and 2015, is fresh off a victory at the Critérium du Dauphiné, which he won prior to winning the Tour both years. Seems like a pattern here...
Nairo Quintana: One of these days, Quintana will best Froome. He has inched closer each time — 4 minutes, 20 seconds behind in 2013 and 1 minute, 12 seconds back in 2015 — and will benefit from nine mountain stages this year. Could this be the year?
Alberto Contador: Though he humbly said this year's Tour will be a duel between Froome and Quintana, don't count out Contador. He's a two-time winner (2007 and 2009) and is well-rested heading into this year's race.
You'll notice two big names are absent from the favorites list: Vincenzo Nibali and Alejandro Valverde. In any other year, both would be team leaders and gunning for a win. But this is an Olympic year, and since the road cycling event begins just two weeks after the Tour ends, Nibali and Valverde are going for gold instead of yellow. They will play second-fiddle as super-domestiques to their teammates Fabio Aru — who could be a dark horse — and Nairo Quintana, respectively.
Also, keep your eye on Thibaut Pinot, Romain Bardet and Richie Porte. The French are banking on Pinot or Bardet to win the first Tour for the host nation in 31 years. Both are young — Pinot is 26, Bardet is 25 — and each have had strong showings on the Tour. Pinot won best young rider at the 2014 Tour in addition to a podium finish (third), and Bardet finished sixth in 2014 and ninth last year.
Porte, who helped Froome to victory in 2013 and 2015 and Bradley Wiggins in 2012, is stepping out of the shadows and finally getting a chance to lead a team. He's a co-leader of BMC Racing alongside Tejay van Garderen, the top American.
How many riders and teams are from the United States?
The three United States-based teams from last year return, albeit with slightly different sponsors: BMC Racing, Cannondale Pro Cycling and Trek-Segafredo.
As for riders, we see an increase in American participation from 2015 — up from three to five — but it's still a thin U.S. corps. Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Brent Bookwalter (BMC), Lawson Craddock (Cannondale), Alex Howes (Cannondale), Peter Stetina (Trek-Segafredo) are the five riders, with van Garderen sporting the best shot at the yellow jersey. He finished fifth in 2012 and 2014 and has the most Tour experience (six starts) of any American rider.
Where can I find a full list of participants?
Right here, of course:
AG2R La Mondiale (France): Won team classification in 2014
Team leader: Romain Bardet (France)
Other riders: Jan Bakelants (Belgium), Mikaël Chérel (France), Samuel Dumoulin (France), Ben Gastauer (Luxembourg), Cyril Gautier (France), Alexis Gougeard (France), Domenico Pozzovivo (Italy), Alexis Vuillermoz (France)
Astana Pro Team (Kazakhstan)
Team leader: Fabio Aru (Italy)
Other riders: Jakob Fuglsang (Denmark), Andriy Grivko (Ukraine), Tanel Kangert (Estonia), Alexey Lutsenko (Kazakhstan), Vincenzo Nibali (Italy), Diego Rosa (Italy), Luis Leon Sanchez (Spain), Paolo Tiralongo (Italy)
BMC Racing Team (United States)
Team leaders: Richie Porte (Australia), Tejay van Garderen (United States)
Other riders: Brent Bookwalter (United States), Marcus Burghardt (Germany), Damiano Caruso (Italy), Rohan Dennis (Australia), Amaël Moinard (France), Michael Schär (Switzerland), Greg Van Avermaet (Belgium)
Bora-Argon 18 (Germany)
Team leaders: Sam Bennett (Ireland), Emanuel Buchmann (Germany)
Other riders: Shane Archbold (New Zealand), Jan Barta (Czech Republic), Cesare Benedetti (Italy), Bartosz Huzarski (Poland), Patrick Konrad (Austria), Andreas Schillinger (Germany), Paul Voss (Germany)
Cannondale Pro Cycling Team (United States)
Team leader: Pierre Rolland (France)
Other riders: Matti Breschel (Denmark), Lawson Craddock (United States), Kristijan Koren (Slovenia), Ramunas Navardauskas (Lithuania), Sebastian Langeveld (Netherlands), Alex Howes (United States), Dylan Van Baarle (Netherlands), Tom-Jelte Slagter (Netherlands)
Cofidis, Solutions Credits (France)
Team leader: Arnold Jeannesson (France), Daniel Navarro (Spain)
Other riders: Borut Bozic (Slovenia), Jérôme Cousin (France), Nicolas Edet (France), Christophe Laporte (France), Cyril Lemoine (France), Luis Angel Mate (Spain), Geoffrey Soupe (France)
Direct Energie (France)
Team leaders: Sylvain Chavanel (France), Bryan Coquard (France), Romain Sicard (France), Thomas Voeckler (France)
Other riders: Antoine Duchesne (Canada), Yohan Gène (France), Fabrice Jeandesboz (France), Adrien Petit (France), Angelo Tulik (France)
Etixx-Quick Step (Belgium)
Team leader: Marcel Kittel (Germany)
Other riders: Julian Alaphilippe (France), Iljo Keisse (Belgium), Dan Martin (Ireland), Tony Martin (Germany), Maximiliano Richeze (Argentina), Fabio Sabatini (Italy), Petr Vakoc (Czech Republic), Julien Vermote (Belgium)
FDJ (France)
Team leader: Thibaut Pinot (France)
Other riders: William Bonnet (France), Matthieu Ladagnous (France), Steve Morabito (Switzerland), Cédric Pineau (France), Sébastien Reichenbach (Switzerland), Anthony Roux (France), Jeremy Roy (France), Arthur Vichot (France)
Fortuneo-Vital Concept (France)
Team leader: Eduardo Sepulveda (Argentina)
Other riders: Vegard Breen (Norway), Anthony Delaplace (France), Armindo Fonseca (France), Brice Feillu (France), Dan McLay (Great Britain), Pierre-Luc Périchon (France), Chris Anker Sorensen (Denmark), Florian Vachon (France)
IAM Cycling (Switzerland)
Team leader: Mathias Frank (Switzerland)
Other riders: Jérôme Coppel (France), Stef Clement (Netherlands), Dries Devenyns (Belgium), Martin Elmiger (Switzerland), Reto Hollenstein (Switzerland), Sondre Holst Enger (Norway), Oliver Naesen (Belgium), Jarlinson Pantano (Colombia)
Lampre-Merida (Italy)
Team leader: Rui Costa (Portugal), Louis Meintjes (South Africa)
Other riders: Yukiya Arashiro (Japan), Matteo Bono (Italy), Davide Cimolai (Italy), Kristijan Durasek (Croatia), Tsgabu Grmay (Ethiopia), Luka Pibernik (Slovenia), Jan Polanc (Slovenia)
Lotto Soudal (Belgium)
Team leader: André Greipel (Germany)
Other riders: Lars Bak (Denmark), Thomas De Gendt (Belgium), Jens Debusschere (Belgium), Tony Gallopin (France), Adam Hansen (Australia), Greg Henderson (New Zealand), Jürgen Roelandts (Belgium), Marcel Sieberg (Germany)
Movistar Team (Spain): Won team classification in 2015
Team leader: Nairo Quintana (Colombia)
Other riders: Winner Anacona (Colombia), Imanol Erviti (Spain), Jesús Herrada (Spain), Gorka Izagirre (Spain), Ion Izagirre (Spain), Dani Moreno (Spain), Nelson Oliveira (Portugal), Alejandro Valverde (Spain)
Orica GreenEDGE (Australia)
Team leaders: Simon Gerrans (Australia), Michael Matthews (Australia), Adam Yates (Great Britain)
Other riders: Michael Albasini (Switzerland), Luke Durbridge (Australia), Mathew Hayman (Australia), Daryl Impey (South Africa), Chris Juul-Jensen (Denmark), Ruben Plaza (Spain) and Adam Yates (Great Britain)
Team Dimension-Data (South Africa)
Team leader: Mark Cavendish (Great Britain)
Other riders: Natnael Berhane (Eritrea), Edvald Boasson Hagen (Norway), Steve Cummings (Great Britain), Bernhard Eisel (Austria), Reinardt Janse van Rensburg (South Africa), Serge Pauwels (Belgium), Mark Renshaw (Australia), Daniel Teklehaimanot (Eritrea)
Team Giant Alpecin (Germany)
Team leader: Warren Barguil (France)
Other riders: Roy Curvers (Netherlands), John Degenkolb (Germany), Tom Dumoulin (Netherlands), Simon Geschke (Germany), Georg Preidler (Austria), Laurens ten Dam (Netherlands), Ramon Sinkeldam (Netherlands), Albert Timmer (Netherlands)
Team Katusha (Russia)
Team leaders: Alexander Kristoff (Norway), Joaquim Rodriguez (Spain)
Other riders: Jacopo Guarnieri (Italy), Marco Haller (Austria), Alberto Losada (Spain), Michael Morkov (Denmark), Jurgen Van den Broeck (Belgium), Angel Vicioso (Spain), Ilnur Zakarin (Russia)
Team Lotto NL-Jumbo (Netherlands)
Team leader: Wilco Kelderman (Netherlands)
Other riders: George Bennett (New Zealand), Dylan Groenewegen (Netherlands), Bert-Jan Lindemen (Netherlands), Paul Martens (Germany), Timo Roosen (Netherlands), Sep Vanmarcke (Belgium), Robert Wagner (Germany) and Maarten Wynants (Netherlands)
Team Sky (Great Britain)
Team leader: Chris Froome (Great Britain)
Other riders: Sergio Henao (Colombia), Vasil Kiryienka (Belarus), Mikel Landa (Spain), Mikel Nieve (Spain), Wout Poels (Netherlands), Luke Rowe (Great Britain), Ian Stannard (Great Britain) and Geraint Thomas (Great Britain)
Tinkoff-Saxo (Russia)
Team leader: Alberto Contador (Spain), Peter Sagan (Slovakia)
Other riders: Maciej Bodnar (Poland), Oscar Gatto (Italy), Robert Kiserlovski (Croatia), Roman Kreuziger (Czech Republic), Rafal Majka (Poland), Matteo Tosatto (Italy), Michael Valgren (Denmark)
Trek-Segafredo (United States)
Team leader: Fabian Cancellara (Switzerland)
Other riders: Markel Irizar (Spain), Bauke Mollema (Netherlands), Gregory Rast (Switzerland), Fränk Schleck (Luxembourg), Peter Stetina (United States), Jasper Stuyven (Belgium), Edward Theuns (Belgium), Haimar Zubeldia (Spain)
