Ten days until the Tour de France: news items

Team lineups: With ten days to go before the 102nd Tour de France kicks off in Utrecht, the Netherlands, seven squads have released their lineups.

Trek is sending a much tougher bunch than their Giro d’Italia team, with Fabian Cancellara, Julian Arredondo, Bauke Mollema and trusty old Haimer Zubeldia in their ranks. BMC is surrounding Tejay van Garderen with men like Damiano Caruso, Sammy Sanchez and Roman Dennis. Dutch squad LottoNL-Jumbo will rely on homegrown talent like Wilco Kelderman, Laurens “Foamy” Ten Dam, Giro battler Steven Kruijswijk and Robert Gesink.

MTN-Qhubeka’s lineup contains five Africans, including Daniel Teklehaimanot of Eritrea, who became the team’s first WorldTour stage race competition winner when he took the mountains jersey at the Critérium du Dauphiné, and two South Africans with the last name Janse van Rensburg who aren’t related.

Lotto-Soudal’s Andre Greipel (Germany) might find the Tour’s revamped sprint points system to his liking, and Tony Gallopin (France) will also be a stage win threat. Aussie Adam Hansen will try to complete his 12th consecutive Grand Tour.

Galibier and Col du Télégraphe to be cut: The route of July 25’s short but intense Stage 20 to Alpe d’Huez is expected to be changed after damage to a road and tunnel leading to the famed climb. Galibier and the Col du Télégraphe are likely to be axed from the parcours, with climbs used earlier in the Alps like the Col de la Croix-de-Fer replacing them.

Police protests in the Netherlands: Dutch police protesting what they see as unfair pay will delay and disrupt the opening stages of the Tour. Utrecht police plan to make a protest ride on Saturday, July 4’s opening 13.8-km time trial route and also stop the race on the Erasmus bridge on Sunday, July 4. Dutch police are looking for a pay raise, higher overtime pay and a bonus for undergoing reorganization.

National championships: European and North American countries will be holding their national championships this week, ensuring that several riders in the Tour’s peloton and two opening week time trials will be clad in national colours. Though Movistar hasn’t released its Grande Boucle lineup yet, Adriano Malori was one of Europe’s first national champions of the week.

We've got our first National Champion of the week!! Adriano Malori takes his third Italian TT title in Bogogno. pic.twitter.com/IYaQEFhvrJ

— Movistar Team (@Movistar_Team) June 24, 2015

Oddsmakers: With 10-days remaining until the Utrecht chrono, Ladbrokes oddsmakers have Chris Froome as the favourite to win his second Tour at 7 to 4 odds, Nairo Quintana at 5 to 2, Alberto Contador at 7 to 2 and Vincenzo Nibali at 5 to 1. After the Fab Four, the next favourite is Frenchman Thibaut Pinot and Spaniard Joaquim Rodriguez both at 25 to 1.