Tour de France organiser Amaury Sport Organisation (ASO) announced the final teams that will take part in the 2009 race, from 4-26 July.
Professional Continental teams Cervélo TestTeam, Skil-Shimano and Agritubel are on the list, but ProTour team Fuji-Servetto was not invited.
Fuji-Servetto is the 2009 version of Saunier Duval, the 2008 team of Riccardo Riccò and Leonardo Piepoli. Both riders tested positive at the Tour last year for erythropoietin CERA. The team subsequently withdrew from the race.
Cervélo TestTeam is a brand new team but it contains 2008 Tour de France winner Carlos Sastre, an obvious drawcard for the race and the organisers. The Switzerland-based team joined Dutch Skil Skil-Shimano (with Jonathan Hivert, who finished eighth in ASO's Paris-Nice last week) and French Agritubel (team of French favourite Christophe Moreau).
There will be 20 teams in total for the French Grand Tour. Three Professional Continental teams (listed above) and 17 of the 18 ProTour teams: Milram, Quick Step, Silence-Lotto, Saxo Bank, Caisse d'Epargne, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Garmin-Slipstream, Columbia-Highroad, AG2R La Mondiale, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, Française des Jeux, Lampre-NGC, Liquigas, Astana, Rabobank and Katusha.
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