Quebecers Antoine Duchesne and Hugo Houle will both participate in the next Tour de France, which will take place from July 1 to 24.
For Duchesne, a member of the Groupema-FDJ team, this will be the second career participation in the Grande Boucle. In 2016, he finished the competition in 107th place.
David Gaudu, 11th last year, and Thibaut Pinot, for his return after a year’s absence, will form the shock duo of climbers from Groupema-FDJ, which announced the names of its eight holders on Wednesday.
The Luxembourger Kevin Geniets (25) and the Australian climber Michael Storer (25), neophytes of the Tour, are part of the group which includes Duchesne.
Houle meanwhile saw his place with Israel PT confirmed on Wednesday. He will notably team up with Chris Froome, the four-time winner of the Briton who is looking to become fully competitive again, as well as the Dane Jakob Fuglsang, third in the recent Tour of Switzerland, and the Canadian Michael Woods.
Houle will be taking part in the Tour de France for the fourth time, having finished 91st, 47th and 66th in 2019, 2020 and 2021.
Froome, 37, won the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017. Third in 2018, he did not start again after, due to his serious fall in June 2019 and the long recovery needed.
The Groupama-FDJ team:
Antoine Duchesne (CAN), David Gaudu (FRA), Kevin Geniets (LUX), Stefan Küng (SUI), Olivier Le Gac (FRA), Valentin Madouas (FRA), Thibaut Pinot (FRA), Michael Storer (AUS)
The Israel PT team:
Jakob Fuglsang (DEN), Michael Woods (CAN), Chris Froome (GBR), Daryl Impey (RSA), Simon Clarke (AUS), Hugo Houle (CAN), Krists Neilands (LAT), Omer Goldstein (ISR)
