The Russian Katusha team will take part in the 100th Tour de France with a team built around their leader Joaquim Rodriguez who will fight for the general classification after finishing on the podium in his last two Grand Tours, the 2012 Giro d’Italia and 2012 Vuelta a España. Katusha confirmed their final roster today.

Rodriguez will be supported by fellow Spaniards Alberto Losada and Daniel Moreno, Norwegian Alexander Kristoff, Belarussian Aliaksandr Kuchynski, and Latvian Gatis Smukulis. The three roster spots reserved for Russians go to Pavel Brutt, Yuri Trofimov, and Eduard Vorganov. The team cars will be driven around France by sport directors Valerio Piva, Torsten Schmidt and Dmitry Konyshev.

“I think we have chosen the best and strongest roster we could,” said Valerio Piva. “Joaquim Rodriguez will be leader, and our main goal is to fight for the general classification with him. For that, we have strong climbers such as Losada and Trofimov as well as Moreno. He will be our second in command.”

“We have also riders for protecting our leader in the first part of the competition, like Brutt, Smukulis, Kuchynski and Vorganov. I expect their work to be crucial, especially in the team time trial and in the breakaways. Then, we will have Kristoff for sprinters' stages, even if we won't have a real train in order to help him. But he's in a great shape, so I think he can do a good job and also support the team in some stages.”

“In general, we have to be focused from the very beginning: The three stages in Corsica will be tough, especially the third, that's why we will be there a little earlier than needed in order to check it out. Obviously, the third week will be crucial and the most demanding one; but it's a three-week long competition, so we have to pay attention every day.”

The Tour de France starts on the 29th of June with three stages on the island of Corsica.

Katusha line-up for the Tour de France:

Joaquim Rodriguez, Alberto Losada, Daniel Moreno, Alexander Kristoff, Aliaksandr Kuchynski, Gatis Smukulis, Pavel Brutt, Yuri Trofimov, Eduard Vorganov