Tour de France 2012 Route and Teams

Mark June 30th on your calendar, as the 2012 Tour de France will kick off that day at Povince de Liege. Us Canucks can watch it on TSN2 and here is the full viewing schedule. As always, we will be cheering on Ryder Hesjedal the only Canadian competing in the tour cycling for team GARMIN-Barracuda. Ryder finished 7th in the 2010 Tour de France.

There will be...

• 9 flat stages
• 4 medium mountain stages - one with a summit finish
• 5 mountain stages - two with a summit finish
• 2 individual time-trial stages
• 1 prologue
• 2 rest days

The Following 18 teams are the officially selected teams that will compete...

• AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
• Astana Pro Team (Kaz)
• BMC Racing Team (USA)
• Euskaltel – Euskadi (Esp)
• FDJ – Big Mat (Fra)
• Garmin – Barracuda (USA)
• Greenedge Cycling Team (Aus)
• Katusha Team (Rus)
• Lampre – ISD (Ita)
• Liquigas – Cannondale (Ita)
• Lotto Belisol Team (Bel)
• Movistar Team (Esp)
• Omega Pharma – Quickstep (Bel)
• Rabobank Cycling Team (Hol)
• Radioshack – Nissan (Lux)
• Sky Procycling (Gbr)
• Team Saxo Bank (Dan)
• Vacansoleil – DCM Pro Cycling Team (Hol)

In addition to these eighteen teams, the organisers have issued four invitations, meaning twenty-two teams will be present at the start of the 99th edition of the Tour de France. They are:

• Argos – Shimano (Hol)
• Cofidis, le crédit en ligne (Fra)
• Saur – Sojasun (Fra)
• Team Europcar (Fra)