Tour de France (2012) Photos Jun 30 - Jul 22

« Tour de France 2012 Live Dashboard

It wasn't necessary for Philippe Gilbert to be the first to show up, he already had a seat reserved for him	RadioShack's Dirk Demerol, Johan Bruyneel and Alain Gallopin	Thor Hushovd wore the Yellow Jersey for seven days last July. The 2012 route might be good for him as well.
Alexander Vinokourov just can't leave the sport. After announcing his retirement for the second time earlier in the year, Vino plans to continue racing for Astana.	Frank and Andy Schleck	The 2012 Yellow Jersey was on unveiled by Bernard Hinault and former French tennis star Yannick Noah
Christian Prudhomme, general director of the Tour de France, announcing his 7th Tour de France route since taking over in 2005	However, the route wasn't a surprise. Like the Giro d'Italia, the official site mistakenly posted it (briefly) a week prior to the official announcement.	The 2012 Tour de France. More hilly stages and time-trialing but less of the high mountains.
Initial rider reactions	It's not a good route for the Schleck brothers with fewer high mountain stages and 96 km of individual time trialing. Andy will have to wait another year to improve on his three runner-ups.	But, defending champion Cadel Evans likes this route. It even favors him more than last year.
Alberto Condator multitasking as he arrives on stage much to the amusement of Cadel Evans and Philippe Gilbert who especially like the route	Post presentation photo-op	Expect lots of stage wins and Yellow Jerseys from this group in 2012

Stage 2:  Teams Presentation  Full Results and Report

It was a less spectacular teams presentation in Li�ge then at previous Tours	How times have changed. Once labeled a defensive rider, defending Tour de France champion Cadel Evans is now a wily veteran and the man to beat	BMC Racing
RadioShack-Nissan	Euskaltel - Euskadi	Samuel Sanchez (left) is one of the favorites standing next to Mikel Astarloza (right), who is making his return to the Tour de France after testing positive after the 2009 race
Lampre-ISD	Liquigas-Cannondale	GC favorite Vincenzo Nibali next to Ivan Basso
Sprint finish favorites Peter Sagan and his domestique, Daniel Oss, who forget about the pre-race haircut routine	Garmin-Sharp	Just eight riders because David Millar was absent
Dave Zabriskie modeling the new kit after Sharp came on board earlier this week	Team Sky has the most talented nine man squad for this year's Tour	Green Jersey favorite, Mark Cavendish and GC favorite, Bradley Wiggins
Bradley Wiggins getting serious about his chances	Saxo Bank also got a new sponsor this week, Tinkoff Bank, hence the new kit	Katusha's Denis Menchov has three Grand Tour wins so don't count him out even though he's had a very quiet year. If Bradley Wiggins and Cadel Evans falter, he could win his fourth. In other words, he has a good shot at least the third podium spot.
Rabobank	GC Podium spot this year? Robert Gesink is another dark horse.	It's great to see Alejandro Valverde back at the Tour
Saur - Sojasun	Omega Pharma QuickStep's Levi Leipheimer is another dark horse	Orica-GreenEdge
Aussie RR champ and winner of the Tour Down Under, Simon Gerrans is the team leader	Argos-Shimano's sprinter, Marcel Kittel, arrived on his new ride