Paris (AFP)

The two invitation cards available to the organizers of the Tour de France were awarded on Tuesday to two French teams, B&B Hotels and Akea-Samsic, to which the Colombian Nairo Quintana belongs, 2nd in 2013 and 2015.

Six of the twenty-two French teams competing will therefore be present on June 27 from Nice, a record number for the past decade.

Not surprisingly, the national preference worked in favor of B&B Hotels which, under the name of its first sponsor (Vital Concept), could not obtain an invitation during its first two years of existence. This time, the response given by Tour director Christian Prudhomme and his staff was positive, to the detriment of the Belgian group Wanty, called in 2020 Circus-Wanty.

For Arkea-Samsic, powerfully reinforced in the offseason by the arrival of the Colombian climber Nairo Quintana (three times on the podium of the Tour) and some other riders of caliber (Bouhanni, Rosa), the matter was a formality. "Quintana-Barguil, the ticket looks like a mountain tour!", Appreciated the director of the Tour when explaining his choices.

"For the last place, it is always complicated to choose and it was done with little," said AFP Christian Prudhomme. "Wanty certainly did not deserve it on the Tour. But, this time, we will give a chance to B&B Hotels whose leaders have known a lot of glitches last year. They have the means to do well on this mountainous Tour" .

"There is also part of a national preference which also plays for the Belgian teams in the invitations for Liège-Bastogne-Liège," added the director of the Tour. Wanty, selected during the three previous editions of the Tour, will have for consolation prize an invitation to the Dauphiné, the alpine rehearsal of the Tour in early June.

Six French teams will therefore be given at the start at the edge of the Baie des Anges since places were acquired for AG2R La Mondiale, Cofidis and Groupama-FDJ, members of the WorldTour, and for Total Direct Energie, at the top of the latest continental ranking. The 7th high-level French team, Nippo Delko Provence, was invited for its part in March in Paris-Nice.

© 2020 AFP