The Tour de France is one of the three grand tours – the others being the Giro d’Italia and Vuelta a España – that form the backbone around which the cycling season is structured.
The squad features 10 Olympic debutants across the track, road and mountain bike disciplines.
The former Tour de France winner was hoping to make a fifth Games but British Cycling insists he is ‘not in great form’
The rider blazed a trail for aerodynamic bike design in a Tour 30 years ago that widened the race’s horizons