Tour de France 2023: Wildcards awarded - Froome team & Norwegians on board

Four-time Tour de France champion Chris Froome can breathe a sigh of relief: his Israel-Premier Tech cycling team has been awarded one of the two wildcards for this year's Tour of France, as announced by the Tour organisation ASO.

Wildcards for Tour de France: Uno-X also included

The Israeli team was relegated from the WorldTour at the end of last year, but has now been given the right to start in the world's most important cycling race alongside the Norwegian team Uno-X. In addition, Lotto-Dstny and TotalEnergies will also be at the start as the best-placed second division riders alongside the 18 World Tour teams.

>> Tour de France 2023: This is the route - all stages at a glance

>> UCI World Tour 2023: These teams are taking part

Froome, who won the Tour in 2013, 2015, 2016 and 2017, can therefore hope to take part for the eleventh time. However, since his serious crash shortly before the 2019 Tour, the now 37-year-old has not returned to his best form. Last year, he still managed a respectable success with third place in Alpe d'Huez.

The Tour starts this year in Bilbao, Spain. The German team Bora-Hansgrohe is automatically qualified.

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