Three days before the start of the Tour de France, the formations that will start from Bilbao on Saturday at 1pm have been made official.

The greatest interest was obviously aroused by the choices of Jumbo Visma and UAE Team Emirates , teams of the two favorite captains of the eve: Jonas Vingegaard and Tadej Pogacar.

The Dane born in '96 of the Jumbo will have a versatile champion like Wout Van Aert at his side, who will be able to help him on any type of terrain. Benoot , Laporte , Van Hooydonck and Van Baarle , four expert classics riders, will have support duties in the flat stages and in the moving ones. Finally, for the mountain stages and on the climbs in general, Vingegaard will be able to count on Kuss , fresh from a great Giro d'Italia to support Roglic, and on Kelderman , fresh from his positive fourth place in the Tour of Switzerland.

Even UAE Team Emirates will be totally devoted to Pogacar's cause, with the possibility of fielding the best "second striker" for the general classification of the whole Tour: Adam Yates . The Briton will start with the ranks of vice-captain, but nothing rules out the possibility that he could remain in the standings until the third week or even climb the hierarchy in the event of a crisis or Pogacar's difficulty. Majka , Soler and Groschartner will be present for the toughest stages, while Trentin , Laengen and Bjerg will presumably have the task of protecting their captain in the less demanding stages.

Will the teammates be as decisive as last year when Jumbo's great teamwork allowed Vingegaard to put Pogacar in difficulty in the Col du Granon stage?

You have less than three days to line up your squad in the league, the shirt signed by Tadej Pogacar is up for grabs!

Photo: Sprint Cycling Agency