Which riders were selected for the 2022 Tour de France Panini sticker album?

The Tour de France is just 11 days away, and that means 21 stages, 3,328 kilometres, five summit finishes, two time trials, 11 cobbled sectors cobbles, and 358 stickers. The Panini sticker album is an institution in football, still indispensable to a youngster’s (or 30-year-old’s) experience of a World Cup, and it has also caught on in cycling in recent years. Introduced by Panini to mark the 100th edition of the Giro d’Italia in 2017, the first Tour de France version came along in 2019 – also to mark the centenary edition – and was clearly considered a success, given the continued roll-out in the years since.

The premise, for the uninitiated: a booklet full of blank spaces for every rider and a whole lot more besides, plus stickers available at eye-watering prices from your local newsagents. You buy as many stickers as you can afford, swap your duplicates with your friends, and attempt to complete the album. Read moreTour de France 2022: Route, history, results Tour de France favourites However, there’s a slight catch.

The album is never perfect. As in football, the riders in the booklet will not exactly match those on the start line in Copenhagen on July 1. The whole thing was sent off for production in March, meaning the makers have to make a stab – albeit an educated one – at the riders each team will select.

With injuries, changes of schedule and form, not to mention the vagaries of the COVID-19 pandemic, it’s a tough job and already some errors have been exposed. Cyclingnews grabbed a copy from France recently and we’ve delved into the riders who have made the sticker book cut. Whereas the Tour de France field is made up of teams of eight, the sticker book has 10 riders per team – an insurance policy perhaps (but also a chance to sell more stickers).

Most selections appear solid enough, based on early-season longlists. However, there are some questionable decisions. For example, Egan Bernal is the first rider on the Ineos teamsheet, despite suffering a life-threatening crash at the start of the year.

Even with his miraculous comeback, he’s not riding the Tour, and back in early March it remained to be seen whether he’d ever return to top-level competition. Richard Carapaz was also selected despite being on a Giro-Vuelta programme, while talk of a Tom Pidcock debut didn’t come soon enough, although the Briton is now a question mark after contracting COVID-19. There are a few other slightly hopeful big-name punts, such as Tom Dumoulin for Jumbo-Visma, Alejandro Valverde for Movistar, and Biniam Girmay for Intermarché-Wanty-Gobert.

Mikel Landa won’t be there after all for Bahrain Victorious, nor will Tim Merlier for Alpecin-Fenix, while the Panini selectors can be forgiven for not considering Israel-Premier Tech might need to dispatch Sep Vanmarcke elsewhere in the scrap for UCI points. Finally, Panini has chosen not to take sides in the Mark Cavendish or Fabio Jakobsen debate, instead selecting both sprinters for QuickStep-Alpha Vinyl’s page. We’ve listed out the full 10-man selections for each team below so you can check how accurate they are as the full and final start list is unveiled.

AG2R Citroën Team Benoît CosnefroyBob JungelsOliver NaesenAurélien Paret-PeintreStan DewulfClément ChampoussinGeoffrey BouchardGreg van AvermaetDorian GodonBen O’Connor Alpecin-Fenix Mathieu van der PoelJasper PhilipsenTim MerlierKristian SbaragliMichael GoglXandro MeurisseSilvan DillierJonas RickaertOscar RiesebeekRobert Stannard Astana Qazaqstan Alexey LutsenkoMiguel Ángel LópezVincenzo NibaliGianni MosconSamuele BattistellaLeonardo BassoDmitriy GruzdevAlexandr RiabushenkoYevgeny Fedorov Stefan De Bod B&B Hotels-KTM Cyril BartheAlan BoileauFranck BonnamourMaxime ChevalerAlexis GougeardVictor KoretzkyCryil LemoineEliot LietaerLuca MozzatoPierre Rolland Bahrain Victorious Mikel LandaGino MaderFred WrightDamiano CarusoSonny ColbrelliJack HaigMatej MohoričWout PoelsDylan TeunsLuis León Sánchez Bora-Hansgrohe Sam BennettMax SchachmannAleksandr VlasovFelix GrosschartnerDanny van PoppelNils PolittPatrick KonradShane ArchboldLukas PöstlbergerMarco Haller Cofidis Guillaume MartinIon IzaguirreBryan CoquardRemy RochasJesús HerradaSimon GeshckeAnthony PerezPierre-Luc PérichonRubén FernándezVictor Lafay EF Education-EasyPost Alberto BettiolStefan BisseggerEsteban ChavesRuben GuerreiroMark PadunNeilson PowlessJonas RutschRigoberto UránMichael ValgrenJens Keukeleire Groupama-FDJ Thibaut PinotArnaud DémareDavid GauduValentin MadouasRudy MolardStefan KüngMathieu LadagnousBruno ArmirailAnthony RouxMichael Storer Ineos Grenadiers (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher) Egan BernalJonathan CastroviejoRichard CarapazFilippo GannaMichał KwiatkowskiDaniel MartínezLuke RoweGeraint ThomasDylan van BaarleAdam Yates Intermarchè-Wanty-Gobert Matériaux Alexander KristoffJan BakelantsBiniam GirmayQuinten HermansLouis MeintjesAdrien PetitLorenzo RotaRein TaaramäeGerben ThikssenTaco van der Hoorn Israel-Premier Tech Michael WoodsJakob FuglsangDaryl ImpeySep VanmarckeGuillaume BoivinAlessandro De MarchiMads Würtz SchmidtKrists NeilandsChris FroomeGuy Niv Jumbo-Visma (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher) Primož RogličSteven KruijswijkSepp KussMike TeunissenWout van AertJonas VingegaardRohan Dennis Tom DumoulinTies BenootChristophe Laporte Lotto Soudal Caleb EwanJasper De BuystThomas De GendtPhilippe GilbertRoger KlugeAndreas KronRüdiger SeligHarry SweenyBrent Van MoerTim Wellens Movistar Team Enric MasAlex AranburuImanol ErvitiIván García CortinaGorka IzaguirreGregor MühlbergerNelson OliveiraJosé Joaquín RojasAlejandro ValverdeCarlos Verona QuickStep-AlphaVinyl (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher) Julian AlaphilippeMark CavendishKasper AsgreenMattia CattaneoFabio JakobsenTim DeclercqDries DevenynsMichael MørkøvMikkel HonoréYves Lampaert Team Arkéa-Samsic Warren BarguilNairo QuintanaNacer BouhanniNicolas EdetMatîs LouvelClément RussoConnor SwiftHugo HofstetterElie GesbertDaniel McLay Team BikeExchange-Jayco Dylan GroenewegenMichael MatthewsSimon YatesLucas HamiltonLuke Durbridge Luka MezgecAmund Grøndahl JansenJack BauerMick SchultzChris Juul-Jensen Team DSM Edvald Boasson HagenMaciej BodnarNiccolò BonifazioMathieu BurgaudeauPierre LatourDaniel OssCristián RodríguezPeter SaganAnthony TurgisAlexis Vuillermoz Trek-Segafredo Mads PedersenGiulio CicconeBauke MollemaJasper StuyvenJulien BernardKenny ElissondeMarkus HoelgaardQuinn SimmonsToms SkujnšAntwan Tolhoek UAE Team Emirates Tadej PogačarGeorge BennettMarc HirschiBrandon McNultyVegard Stake LaengenRafal MajkaMikkel BjergMarc SolerMatteo TrentinRui Costa Tour de France Femmes This year marks the return of a women’s Tour de France after a long hiatus, now called the Tour de France Femmes. There is no separate sticker book for the eight-day race but it has been given a section of the Tour de France sticker book. There will be 132 riders on the start line in Paris but just eight stickers, reserved for the ‘big favourites’.

According to the album, “barring surprise, the winner will be one of them”. (Image credit: Patrick Fletcher) Katarzyna NiewiadomaAnnemiek van VleutenElisa Longo BorghiniElisa BalsamoMarianne VosJuliette LabousDemi VolleringCecile Uttrup Ludwig.