World Champion Peter Sagan (Tinkoff Saxo)(Image credit: Tim de Waele)
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) with Luis Leon Sanchez on his wheel(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Vincenzo Nibali cools himself down(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tour de San Luis final podium(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Tour de San Luis stage 7 bunch sprint(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
The organisers of the Tour de San Luis announced the 27 teams that will contest the 10th edition of the race in January. Eight national teams, six Continental, and six Pro Continental squads will face some of the best riders in the world from the seven WorldTour teams that will attend.
For the second year in a row, the World Champion will make his season debut in Argentina - Peter Sagan will take part in the race for the third time in his career after racing there in 2013 and 2014, mimicking Michal Kwiatkowski's rainbow jersey display in 2015. Rafal Majka will be the Tinkoff team's leader for the general classification.
Cannondale-Garmin will back Andrew Talansky in the race, while defending champion Daniel Diaz will return with his new French Pro Continental team Delko Marseille KTM, but will have to face Nairo Quintana (Movistar) and Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) for the overall classification. This year's runner-up Rodolfo Torres will race with Androni Giocattoli.
Colombian stand-out Fernando Gaviria is expected to return with the Etixx-QuickStep squad. Gaviria's stage wins in the 2015 race earned him a contract with the Belgian team. He will have the backing of Tom Boonen, who should be recovered from his Abu Dhabi crash.
Lampre-Merida will start with Prezemyslav Niemiec and AG2R La Mondiale brings Tour de France stage winner Alexis Vuillermoz, rounding out the WorldTour teams.
"This year will be a balanced tour, we gave importance to the teams and riders from Latin America. We wanted to have balance with the world of cycling but also keeping an eye on the best Latin America racers," said Giovanni Lombardi, who coordinates the teams for the race.
The USA will be represented by the Holowesko-Citadel p/b Hincapie team and Jamis, who comes with Janier Acevedo, and UnitedHealthcare, which will back Colombian climber Daniel Jaramillo.
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The full details of the route will be presented tomorrow, but the host cities were announced in September.
Tour de San Luis 2016 Teams: World Tour: Movistar Team, Team Tinkoff, Astana, Lampre-Merida, AGR2 La Mondiale, Etixx-Quickstep, Garmin-Cannondale Pro Continental: Androni Giocattoli, Unitedhealthcare, Fortuneo – Vital Concept (previously Bretagne Séché Environnement), Drapac Pro Cycling, Nippo-Vini Fantini, Delko Marseille (previously Team Marseille 13 KTM) Continental and National: San Luis Somos Todos, Jamis, Holowesko Hincapie, SEP San Juan, Vivo, Argentina, Cuba, Colombia, Italia, México, Costa Rica, Chile, Uruguay
