Johan Bruyneel, the manager of Team RadioShack has released the details of 14 cyclists in contention for the 9 places with the team’s 2010 Tour de France programme.

The first-year ProTour outfit’s long term programme contains several experienced Tour de France entrants, led by seven time Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong.

Tour de France 2010

The 2010 Tour will be launched from the south side of Rotterdam, for a prologue time-trial. The launching pad will actually be set up in Zuidplein, from where the riders will move north.

The choice of Rotterdam, a vast urban centre with one million two hundred thousand inhabitants, is directly in keeping with the special start of the Tour in London in 2007. The proposed project – “Rotterdam and the Tour, a new energy” – seduced us. It fits into an overall policy that aims to an even bigger place for the bicycle in the city’s heart, while leaning on the popularity of the biggest cycling race in the world, the Tour de France. From the banks of the Thames to the biggest port in Europe: the same desire, the same will.

Lance Armstrong believes he can win an eighth Tour de France title, well aware that after 4 years of retirement, his ageing legs are not as strong as they used to be.  The 37-year-old Armstrong won the last of his record seven straight Tours in 2005, and his unexpected comeback has fans worldwide eager to see if he can add another victory to his cycling legend.

If ever you find yourself in France during the month of July, you will find it hard to ignore the carnival that is the Tour de France.  The 2009 race kicks off on Saturday, 4th July at Port Hercule in the independent monarchy of Monaco.  It will be the 17th time since 1954 (Amsterdam) that the cycle race has started outside the borders of “l’Hexagone” (France).  The Tour ends on Sunday, 26th July in Paris.