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June 30, 2012

Where are they from, 2012 edition

Every year, I run down the countries represented by Tour racers, with special attention to the English-speaking countries.

Australia

Cadel Evans, BMC
Jonathan Cantwell, Saxo Bank-Tinkoff
Baden Cooke, Orica-Greenedge
Simon Gerrans, Orica-Greenedge
Matthew Goss, Orica-Greenedge
Adam Hansen, Lotto-Belisol
Brett Lancaster, Orica-Greenedge
Matthew Lloyd, Lampre-ISD
Stuart O'Grady, Orica-Greenedge
Richie Porte, Team Sky
Mark Renshaw, Rabobank
Michael Rogers, Team Sky

With the advent of Orica-Greenedge, Australia jumps from six to 12 riders; there were 11 in 2010. All six of last year's riders are back, plus Rogers, Lloyd, Lancaster, Cantwell, Hansen, and Cooke.

Canada

Ryder Hesjedal, Garmin-Sharp

Just one again, but that one just happens to have won the Giro d'Italia in May.

Great Britain

Mark Cavendish, Team Sky
Stephen Cummings, BMC
Chris Froome, Team Sky David Millar, Garmin-Sharp Bradley Wiggins, Team Sky

No Ben Swift or Geraint Thomas this year, but Cummings and Froome keep the overall count steady at five.

Ireland

Nicolas Roche, AG2R La Mondiale
Dan Martin, Garmin-Sharp

Roche finally gets company from Garmin's Dan Martin.

New Zealand

Greg Henderson, Lotto-Belisol

Henderson in, Julian Dean out, so still one from New Zealand.

South Africa

Robbie Hunter, Garmin-Sharp
Daryl Impey, Orica-Greenedge

South Africa jumps from zero to two.

USA

Tom Danielson, Garmin-Sharp
Tyler Farrar, Garmin-Sharp
George Hincapie, BMC
Chris Horner, Radio Shack-Nissan
Levi Leipheimer, Omega Pharma-Quick Step Christian Vande Velde, Garmin-Sharp
Tejay Van Garderen, BMC
David Zabriskie, Garmin-Sharp

After 10 riders in the 2011 Tour, the US drops back to 8 with Brent Bookwalter and Danny Pate at home this year. Every other US rider that started last year's Tour is on hand for this year, as well.

An interesting sideline to "where are they from?" this year is "when are they from?" as we see the aging of the English-speaking riders continue, with a few youngsters, including Van Garderen, Farrar, and Porte overbalanced by a lot of riders nearing retirement, like Hincapie, Rogers, Horner, Hunter, Leipheimer, and Vande Velde.

My count is off by one somewhere (my country totals only come to 197), so corrections welcome, but here's the rundown for other countries, with 2011 in parentheses:

44: France (40)
21: Spain (26)
18: Netherlands (12)
16: Italy (17)
14: Belgium (15)
12: Germany (12)
5: Denmark (5), Russia (9)
4: Belarus (1), Kazhakstan (5), Slovenia (4)
3: Slovakia, Switzerland (4), Ukraine (3)
2: Portugal (2), Sweden (0)
1: Croatia (0), Estonia (1), Japan (0), Poland (3), Luxembourg (2), Argentina (0), Norway (2), Austria (1)

Posted by Frank Steele on June 30, 2012 in Top Stories | Permalink

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