Without any surprises in their pocket, Tour de France organizers ASO have announced the wildcards for their three biggest stage races. Bretagne, Cofidis, IAM and Team NetApp-Endura will all do this year's edition of the Tour de France while the former three have also been given an invitation to the Paris-Nice and the latter three to the Criterium du Dauphiné.

Tour de France organizers ASO have decided to award the wildcards for the Tour de France much earlier than usual by confirming the list of teams for the world's biggest race today. With a less fierce competition than last year, there were no major surprises in the list of teams that will line for the start in Leeds in July.

In addition to the 18 ProTeams that are all guaranteed participation in all WorldTour races per UCI rules, the nod has been given to Bretagne, Cofidis, IAM, and NetApp-Endura. Perennial participant Cofidis has done the race on several occasions but the three other teams will all be making their debut in July.

With Europcar having been granted ProTeam status and Sojasun, Vacansoleil and Euskaltel all having folded, there was less competition for the four wildcards than last year. In 2013 the number of ProTeams was 19 due to the extraordinary addition of Katusha to the list, leaving just three spots for pro continental teams. ASO preferred to support French cycling by making an all-French selection consisting of Europcar, Cofidis and Sojasun.

While Cofidis' wildcard was never in doubt, it comes as little surprise that there has been room for Bretagne. The French team has repeatedly tried to get an entry to the world's biggest race but has been left disappointed on a number on occasions.

By doing the Dauphiné in 2013, there were signs that more could be in the pipeline and this has been confirmed by today's invitation. With only two French pro continental teams, it was always unlikely that ASO will overlook them again in 2014.

IAM Cycling and NetApp-Endura were the two final teams to lose out in 2013 but this year they have been given the nod. IAM had a good first year in 2013 but missed out on their objective of doing a grand tour.

With the signing of Sylvain Chavanel and Jerome Pineau, the team did a lot over the off-season to please Tour organizers ASO and their wildcard has never been in doubt. With GC rider Mathias Frank and sprinters Vicente Reynes and Roger Kluge having also been added to an already strong roster that includes the likes of stage race rider Thomas Löfkvist, TT specialist Gustav Erik Larsson, classics riders Heinrich Haussler and Martin Elmiger, climber Johann Tschopp and young talent Sebastien Reichenbach, the team has probably the strongest roster of all pro continental teams.

The invitation to the Tour completes the picture for NetApp-Endura who did the Giro in 2012 and the Vuelta in 2013. While they were mostly an aggressive presence in their first grand tour, they showed significant improvement in their second participation in a three-week race.

Young stage race talent Leopold König won a big mountain stage and finished 9th overall and the Czech will be expected to lead the team come July. He can count on support from new signing Tiago Machado, strongmen Jan Barta and Bartosz Huzarski, exciting talent Sam Bennett and climbers David De La Cruz and Jose Mendes, with many of those expected to make the final 9-rider line-up.

ASO have also awarded wildcards for their two other major stage races, the Paris-Nice and the Criterium du Dauphiné. In the past, they have often invited other teams to those events, giving them the chance to prove themselves in the smaller races before being given the nod to the Tour.

In 2014 that won't be the case as the wildcards have all been given to teams that will also do the Tour de France. Cofidis and IAM have made the hat trick and will do all three races while Bretagne has been given the nod for the Paris-Nice while NetApp-Endura will return to the Dauphiné for the second year in a row.

Today's announcement puts ASO in line with Giro organizers RCS Sport who have introduced a trend of awarding wild cards already in January to allow teams better time to prepare for the events. This year the Giro wild cards were given to YellowFluo, Bardiani, Colombia and Androni.

ProTeams

AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)

Astana Pro Team (Kaz)

Belkin Pro Cycling Team (Ned)

BMC Racing Team (USA)

Cannondale (Ita)

FDJ.fr (Fra)

Garmin Sharp (USA)

Lampre-Merida (Ita)

Lotto Belisol (Bel)

Movistar Team (Esp)

Omega Pharma – Quick Step Cycling Team (Bel)

Orica – GreenEDGE (Aus)

Team Europcar (Fra)

Team Giant – Shimano (Ned)

Team Katusha (Rus)

Team Sky (Gbr)

Tinkoff Saxo (Rus)

Trek Factory Racing (USA)

Wild cards for the Tour de France

Bretagne – Séché Environnement (Fra)

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)

IAM Cycling (Sui)

Team NetApp – Endura (Ger)

Wild cards for the Paris-Nice

Bretagne – Séché Environnement (Fra)

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)

IAM Cycling (Sui)

Wild cards for the Criterium du Dauphiné

Cofidis, Solutions Crédits (Fra)

IAM Cycling (Sui)

Team NetApp – Endura (Ger)