AG2R Prevoyance

TEAM PROFILE Country: France Manager: Vincent Lavenu Team leader: Inigo Chaurreau Best Tour: 2002 - stage five win - Jaan Kirsipuu

The French team have done little to take the UCI rankings by storm.

The major performance of note was Laurent Brochard's second place on the four days of Dunkirk.

The team managed to get a place at the Tour de France despite last year when they achieved little of note in the season on the race track.

Alexandre Botcharov was 24th overall in the Tour - the team's best-placed rider - while sprinter Jaan Kirsipuu manged third place on one of the early stages.

Organisers were criticised for AG2R's inclusion because of their obsession of having as many French teams lining up as possible.

This time around stage wins look their best bet, with Kirsipuu their likeliest exponent in the early parts of the race.

The team have known various guises in what is their 13th year in competition.

Controversy followed them for part of that, most infamously when former team member Rodolfo Massi was later arrested by police investigating drug use during the 1998 Tour.