Argos-Shimano, Cofidis, Saur-Sojasun and Europcar in Tour de France

Argos-Shimano, Cofidis, Saur-Sojasun and Europcar in Tour de France

Dutch squad Argos-Shimano and French teams Europcar, Cofidis and Saur-Sojasun have all been handed wildcard entries to this year's Tour de France.

Tour organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) confirmed on Friday that the four squads would be joining the 18 WorldTour squads in the race to bring the total to 22.

Argos-Shimano's entry into the Tour sets up the prospect of its sprint talent Marcel Kittel coming up against Mark Cavendish in the bunch finishes.

The 2012 Tour de France starts in Liege, Belgium, on Saturday June 30 and concludes three weeks later on Sunday July 22 in Paris.

Tour de France 2012: Team list
Ag2r La Mondiale

Argos-Shimano

Astana

BMC Racing

Cofidis

Europcar

Euskaltel-Euskadi

Farnese Vini-Selle Italia

FDJ-BigMat

Garmin-Barracuda

GreenEdge

Katusha

Lampre-ISD 

Liquigas-Cannondale

Lotto-Belisol

Movistar


Omega Pharma-QuickStep

Rabobank

RadioShack-Nissan
Saur-Sojasun

Saxo Bank

Sky

Vacansoleil-DCM

Related links
Goodbye Project 1t4i, hello Argos-Shimano
Cycling Weekly's Tour de France news section