Participants
After the Tour organisation felt that the 2000 Tour de France included not enough French teams, they changed the selection procedure as follows.
- US Postal was selected because it included the winner of the previous edition (Lance Armstrong).
- Team Telekom was selected because it included the winner of the 2000 UCI Road World Cup (Erik Zabel).
- Mapei-Quick Step was selected because it won the team classifications in the 2000 Giro d'Italia
- Kelme-Costa Blanca was selected because it won the team classifications in both the 2000 Tour de France and 2000 Vuelta a España.
- This was extended to 16 teams based on the UCI ranking in the highest UCI division at the end of 2001, after compensating for transfers. The teams selected in this way were:
- Domo-Farm Frites
- iBanesto.com
- ONCE-Eroski
- AG2R Prévoyance
- Bonjour
- Cofidis
- Crédit Agricole
- Festina
- Jean Delatour
- Fassa Bortolo
- Lampre-Daikin
- Rabobank
- Although initially it was announced that four wildcards would be given, the tour organisation decided to add five teams:
- Lotto-Adecco
- CSC-Tiscali
- Euskaltel-Euskadi
- Française des Jeux
- BigMat-Auber 93
In total, 21 teams participated, each with 9 cyclists, for a total of 189 cyclists.
Read more about this topic: 2001 Tour De France
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“A civilization which leaves so large a number of its participants unsatisfied and drives them into revolt neither has nor deserves the prospect of a lasting existence.”
—Sigmund Freud (1856–1939)