2014 Tour de France Team Guide

Of the 198 riders taking part in the Tour de France, only a handful are capable of vying for overall honours. Of those, defending champion Chris Froome (Sky) is the big favourite, with former winner Alberto Contador (Tinkoff Saxo) expected to be his closest challenger. Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) also has Grand Tour victories to his name, having won the 2010 Vuelta a España and the 2013 Giro d'Italia, and he has the capability of becoming only the 6th rider to complete the set by also winning the Tour.

Other riders likely to contend for top-ten places, or better, include: Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), Tejay van Garderen (BMC), Andrew Talansky (Garmin-Sharp), Jurgen van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol), Bauke Mollema (Belkin), Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha), Michał Kwiatkowski (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), and Rui Costa (Lampre-Merida).

The Tour's top sprinters are Mark Cavendish (Omega Pharma-Quick Step), Marcel Kittel (Giant-Shimano), and André Greipel (Lotto-Belisol), though Peter Sagan (Cannondale) is the favourite to win his third green jersey as a result of his talent in hilly terrain. Elia Viviani (Cannondale), Arnaud Démare (FDJ), and Alexander Kristoff (Katusha) are also in with a shout of taking the occasional flat stage victory.

Update: Mark Cavendish's crash on the first stage forced him to abandon the Tour.
Update: Chris Froome's crash on the fifth stage forced him to abandon the Tour.
Update: Alberto Contador's crash on the tenth stage forced him to abandon the Tour.
Update: Andrew Talansky's crashes earlier in the Tour saw him abandon after the eleventh stage.
Update: Rui Costa withdrew before stage 16 after suffering from pneumonia.

Ag2r-La Mondiale France	Astana Pro Team Kazakhstan	Belkin Pro Cycling Team Netherlands	BMC Racing Team United States
Bretagne-Séché Environnement France	Cannondale Italy	Cofidis, Solutions Crédits France	FDJ.fr France
Garmin-Sharp United States	IAM Cycling Switzerland	Katusha Team Russia	Lampre-Merida Italy
Lotto-Belisol Belgium	Movistar Team Spain	Omega Pharma-Quick Step Belgium	ORICA-GreenEDGE Australia
Team Europcar France	Team Giant-Shimano Netherlands	Team NetApp-Endura Germany	Team Sky United Kingdom
Tinkoff-Saxo Denmark	Trek Factory Racing United States