Citroen Ag2R
Stalwart After their stalwart Romain Bardet left for DSM, the French battlers celebrated by wearing brown shorts and hiring a slew of multinational talent. Last year, Ben O’Connor won the stage against Tignes and finished fourth overall. However, they lack depth behind the Australian.
Aurélien Paret-Peintre, Geoffrey Bouchard, Mikal Cherel, Benoit Cosnefroy, Stan Dewulf, Bob Jungels, Oliver Naesen, Ben O’Connor
Ben O’Connor is the main man, a talented climber who must prove that his fourth-place finish last year was not a fluke.
Alpecin-Fenix
Second-division Dutch squad that outperforms their budget thanks to the no-holds-barred racing style of Mathieu van der Poel, the circuit’s most popular cyclist. In 2021, they won two of the first three stages and held the yellow jersey; this year, they are joined by sprinter Jasper Philipsen.
Mathieu van der Poel, Silvan Dillier, Michael Gogl, Alexander Krieger, Jasper Philipsen, Edward Planckaert, Kristian Sbaragli, and Guillaume van Keirsbulck made up the team.
Last year, Mathieu van der Poel won a stage and took the yellow jersey. Great things are on the way in the next 12 months.
Arkéa-Samsic
With former King of the Mountains Warren Barguil, Colombian champion Nairo Quintana, and Belgian sprinter Amaury Capito, this French division-two team has plenty of potential for a stage win. Connor Swift, the British strongman, will likely support his leaders on the flat and infiltrate a break somewhere in his own right.
Warren Barguil, Maxime Bouet, Amaury Capiot, Hugo Hofstetter, Matis Louvel, Lukasz Owsian, Nairo Quintana, and Connor Swift comprise the team.
Nairo Quintana, the 2015 Giro winner, is getting on in years but can still shine in the mountains.
Qazaqstan’s capital, Astana
Over the winter, the Kazakh squad produced one of the worst team raps ever and changed the spelling of its name by substituting Qs for Ks. That’s about as exciting as it gets for this squad; they’ll be in breaks and hoping for a stage win from Dombrowski or Lutsenko, but don’t expect any drama.
Jo Dombrowski, Fabio Felline, Dimitri Gruzdev, Alexei Lutsenko, Gianni Moscon, Alexei Riabushenko, Simone Velasco, and Andrei Zeits made up the team.
Main man Alexey Lutsenko – the Kazakh finished seventh last year and could make the top ten again this year.
Bahrain has won.
Caruso, Haig, Mohoric, Teuns, and Wright are all potential stage winners, but the big question is whether Caruso can replicate his form from last year’s Giro, where he finished second and won a stage. Haig is a talented climber, while Mohoric and Teuns have previously won Tour stages, and Wright is due for a major victory.
Damiano Caruso, Kamil Gradek, Jack Haig, Matej Mohoric, Luis León Sánchez, Dylan Teuns, Jan Tratnik, and Fred Wright comprised the team.
Damiano Caruso is a consistent Italian climber making his Tour debut.
