Paris (AFP) - Tadej Pogacar will begin his bid for a third straight Tour de France title later this week alongside four of the same teammates who helped him to last year's yellow jersey.
The Slovenian was unsurprisingly on Monday named in the UAE Team Emirates line-up for the race, which gets underway in Copenhagen on Friday.
Switzerland's Marc Hirschi was a notable omission, but Polish climber Rafal Majka, Mikkel Bjerg, Brandon McNulty and Vegard Stake Laengen all made the cut.
New Zealander George Bennett and Spain's Marc Soler, both signed in the off-season, are included, as is Italian sprinter Matteo Trentin.
"We've worked very hard all year as a team to prepare for this," said the 23-year-old Pogacar.
"So far this year has been positive for the team and we hope to continue this momentum."
Pogacar is a strong favourite for the Tour after another impressive season which has seen him win the one-day Strade Bianche and two stage races.
Meanwhile, Britain's Mark Cavendish and France's Julian Alaphilippe have both missed out on a place in the Quick-Step team.
Double world road cycling champion Alaphilippe only returned to competition on Sunday, two months after suffering multiple fractures in a heavy fall on the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race in Belgium.
Cavendish, 37, last year equalled Eddy Merckx's Tour de France record of 34 stage wins, and had stormed to a second British road race title on Sunday.
"I am disappointed," said Alaphilippe, 30, who has worn the race leader's yellow jersey in the last three editions.
But the Belgian team have opted for Dutch sprint specialist Fabio Jakobsen, who has 10 wins in 2022.
"I have a natural affection for the race, from my days in the yellow jersey over the past three seasons, my stage victories and many other great memories with my teammates," continued Alaphilippe.
"To miss another opportunity to wear my beautiful rainbow jersey in my home country is very sad for me.
"At the same time, I completely understand this, because I too don't want to be at the start if I can't be at my best level."
Colombian Nairo Quintana, a two-time Tour runner-up and winner of the 2014 Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a Espana in 2016, spearheads Arkea-Samsic's assault on the 2022 title.
Kazakh Alexey Lutsenko, who finished seventh last year, will be the main man for Astana, who will also have four Italian riders on the start line in Denmark.
Experienced Slovakian sprinter Peter Sagan, a seven-time green jersey winner, leads the TotalEnergies team after recovering from Covid-19.
The 32-year-old Sagan will be joined on his 11th Tour by long-time allies Maciej Bodnar of Poland and Italy's Daniel Oss.
Russian Aleksandr Vlasov headlines Bora-Hansgrohe with Alpecin counting on Dutch star Mathieu van der Poel who wore the yellow jersey for six days last year.
Teams:
UAE Team Emirates: Tadej Pogacar (SLO), George Bennett (NZL), Mikkel Bjerg (DEN), Vegard Stake Laengen (NOR), Rafal Majka (POL), Brandon McNulty (USA), Marc Soler (ESP), Matteo Trentin (ITA)
Trek-Segafredo: Giulio Ciccone (ITA), Tony Gallopin (FRA), Alex Kirsch (LUX), Bauke Mollema (NED), Mads Pedersen (DEN), Quinn Simmons (USA), Toms Skujins (LAT), Jasper Stuyven (BEL)
Astana: Alexey Lutsenko (KAZ), Samuele Battistella (ITA), Joe Dombrowski (USA), Fabio Felline (ITA), Dmitriy Gruzdev (KAZ), Gianni Moscon (ITA), Simone Velasco (ITA), Andrey Zeits (KAZ)
B&B Hotels team: Cyril Barthe (FRA), Franck Bonnamour (FRA), Alexis Gougeard (FRA), Jeremy Lecroq (FRA), Cyril Lemoine (FRA), Luca Mozzato (ITA), Pierre Rolland (FRA), Sebastian Schonberger (AUT)
Quick-Step Alpha Vinyl: Kasper Asgreen (DEN), Andrea Bagioli (ITA), Mattia Cattaneo (ITA), Tim Declercq (BEL), Mikkel Honore (DEN), Fabio Jakobsen (NED), Yves Lampaert (BEL), Michael Morkov (DEN)
Cofidis: Guillaume Martin (FRA), Bryan Coquard (FRA), Simon Geschke (GER), Ion Izagirre (ESP), Victor Lafay (FRA), Anthony Perez (FRA), Benjamin Thomas (FRA), Max Walscheid (GER)
Arkea-Samsic: Nairo Quintana (COL), Warren Barguil (FRA), Maxime Bouet (FRA), Amaury Capiot (BEL), Hugo Hofstetter (FRA), Matis Louvel (FRA), Lukas Owsian (POL), Connor Swift (GBR)
TotalEnergies: Peter Sagan (SVK) Maciej Bodnar (POL), Mathieu Burgaudeau (FRA), Pierre Latour (FRA), Daniel Oss (ITA), Cristian Rodriguez (ESP), Anthony Turgis (FRA), Alexis Vuillermoz (FRA)
Bora-Hansgrohe: Aleksandr Vlasov (RUS), Felix Grossschartner (AUT), Marco Haller (AUT), Lennard Kamna (GER), Patrick Konrad (AUT), Nils Politt (GER), Maximilian Schachmann (GER), Danny van Poppel (NED)
Alpecin-Fenix: Mathieu van der Poel (NED), Silvan Dillier (SUI), Michael Gogl (AUT), Alexander Krieger (GER), Jasper Philipsen (BEL), Edward Planckaert (BEL), Kristian Sbaragli (ITA), Guillaume Van Keirlsbulck (BEL)
