With the start of the season’s biggest race less than 48 hours away, the riders of the 2012 Tour de France were presented Thursday in the starting city of Liege, Belgium. Rabobank was among the 22 teams attending the presentation at Place Saint-Lambert square. The team rolled onto the stage riding their Giant TCR Advanced SL team bikes.

Leading the way for Rabobank is Robert Gesink, winner of the 2012 Tour of California. The 26-year-old Dutchman has returned from a broken leg suffered last winter, regaining his form to score the win in California and finish fourth overall at the Tour de Suisse. Gesink finished fifth overall at the 2010 Tour and is shooting as high as a podium finish this year.

Gesink isn’t the sole GC hope for Rabobank this year. His Dutch teammates Bauke Mollema and Steven Kruijswijk have shown great promise for the grand tours, and have the form to race well in the critical time trials and the high mountains of this year’s Tour.

Other Rabobank riders to watch include Spaniard Luis Leon Sanchez, who has three Tour de France stage wins to his name, and Australian speedster Mark Renshaw, who will contest the sprints.

The 99th Tour de France starts Saturday, with a 6.4km prologue time trial in Liege. Following that, riders will spend two more days racing in Belgium, before crossing into France for the remainder of the three-week race.

2012 RABOBANK TOUR DE FRANCE TEAM
Laurens ten Dam (Ned)
Robert Gesink (Ned)
Steven Kruijswijk (Ned)
Bauke Mollema (Ned)
Mark Renshaw (Aus)
Luis Leon Sanchez (Esp)
Bram Tankink (Ned)
Maarten Tjallingii (Ned)
Maarten Wynants (Bel)