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Defending champion Geraint Thomas and Egan Bernal co-lead Team Ineos at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Team Ineos on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Tejay van Garderen (EF Education First) at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan and his Bora-Hansgrohe team at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Peter Sagan and his Bora-Hansgrohe team at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
French Champion Warren Barguil (Arkea-Samsic) at the Tour de France presentation (Image credit: Getty Images)
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) riding to the staging area for the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) rides to the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Michael Matthews (Sunweb) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Elia Viviani gives thumbs up on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Team Ineos on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Eddy Merckx on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Nairo Quintana and Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Calen Ewan (Lotto Soudal) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Simon Yates (Mitchelton-Scott) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Mitchelton-Scott wave to the crowds on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Wout Van Aert (Jumbo-Visma) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep) on stage at the Tour de France presentation in Brussels (Image credit: Getty Images)
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) heads to the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bahrain-Merida at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Movistar at the team presentation for the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Jakob Fuglsang (Astana) waves to the crowds at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Matteo Trentin (Mitchelton-Scott) (Image credit: Getty Images)
Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Egan Bernal (Team Ineos) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Nairo Quintana (Movistar) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
George Bennett (Jumbo-Visma) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
Movistar on stage at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Trek-Segafredo on stage at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Julian Alaphilippe (Deceuninck-QuickStep) heads to the team presentation at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Niki Terpstra (Total Direct Energie) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Rohan Dennis (Bahrain-Merida) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Bauke Mollema (Trek-Segafredo) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Richie Porte (Trek-Segafredo) at the team presentation at the Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Sunweb team presented at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Deceuninck-QuickStep on stage at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Astana on stage at the 2019 Tour de France (Image credit: Getty Images)
Vincenzo Nibali (Bahrain-Merida) (Image credit: Josh Evans)
The 2019 Tour de France welcomed its participants Thursday at the official opening team presentation held on the Grand-Place in Brussels, Belgium. Organisers welcomed on stage Eddy Merckx, as it has been 50 years since he won the first of his five Tour de France titles, and chose Brussels for the Grand Depart in his honour.
They then invited on stage each team one-by-one to introduce the riders such as defending champion Geraint Thomas (Team Ineos) and world champion Alejandro Valverde (Movistar) to the crowds.
Thomas waved to the thousands of upon his introduction while standing next to co-leader of Team Ineos, Egan Bernal. The team announced them as co-leaders of the Tour de France after Chris Froome sustained serious injuries in a crash at the Critérium du Dauphiné. Joining the overall contenders on stage were Nairo Quintana (Movistar), Rigoberto Uran (EF Education First), Dan Martin (UAE Team Emirates), Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale) and Thibaut Pinot (Groupama-FDJ).
Also on stage were the contenders for the opening sprint stage; Caleb Ewan (Lotto Soudal), Elia Viviani (Deceuninck-QuickStep), Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma) and Michael Matthews (Sunweb).
The Tour de France begins on Saturday with stage 1's 194.5km race in Brussels, which could be a day for a sprinter to take the first yellow jersey.
