Tour de France draws record 10 riders from U.S.

Given the federal investigation of Lance Armstrong and the demise last year of the Tour of Missouri, you might assume that the state of cycling in North America was pretty sorry.

Given the record number of North Americans scheduled to start the Tour de France today, though, you’d have to reconsider. Ten U.S. cyclists will line up at the Grand Depart in Normoutier, an island just off the northwestern coast, and spend three weeks on a long, tough route that ends in Paris. Perhaps more impressive is that four U.S. based-teams are represented in the field of 22: Garmin-Cervelo, BMC, HTC-High Road and Radio Shack.

As the English-speaking voice of the Tour de France for 39 years, Phil Liggett has seen the gradual rise of the Americans, starting with Davis Phinney and Olympic speedskating crossover Eric Heiden in the early 1980s, to the American 7-Eleven team, Greg Lemond’s victories in the late 1980s and Armstrong’s seven victories.

“Once you’ve got icons, kids want to be like them,” Liggett said. “So, they start to come through the ranks.”

Liggett added that the race structure here is extensive enough to provide lots of competition for young cyclists. Mentioning the Tour of California, the Philadelphia International Championship, the defunct Tour of Missouri and its replacement in Colorado, he said, “If you look at events held in pockets around the United States, the crowds are enormous. So, the support for young riders is there.”

Garmin and Radio Shack also sponsor domestic development squads in the U.S., which serve as farm teams for their international programs. George Hincapie, riding for BMC in his 16th Tour, adds his name, his expertise and a portion of his bank account to the Hincapie Development Team. In addition, each of the American teams competing in France is led by former Tour riders, even Tour stage winners.

“All are handled by previous top cyclists. They’ve got good coaching systems and good teams,” Liggett said. “The Americans really have arrived.”

Garmin-Cervelo’s objectives include a victory in the team time trial Sunday, which could put one of the Garmin boys in the yellow jersey as overall race leader. Rider Ryder Hesjedal said the team also is “looking for sprint opportunities and overall having someone place high in the general classification.”

Garmin’s best sprinters include Tyler Farrar from Wenatchee, one of the few who can challenge Mark Cavendish in bunch sprints on wide, flat roads, and Thor Hushovd, the world road race champion.

Radio Shack has a dilemma: four riders who could finish in the top 10. Andreas Kloden and Levi Leipheimer have finished on the podium in Paris. Janez Brajkovic won last year’s prelude to the Tour, the Criterium du Dauphine, and Chris Horner won this year’s Tour of California.

HTC has 468 wins since the start of the 2008 season, more than any other team, but is losing sponsorship at the end of 2011. Owner Bob Stapleton told cyclingnews.com that if he doesn’t find a title sponsor by the end of the Tour de France, “We will have to sit down and start considering how to wind down operations.”