Only four teams still have all nine riders in the race
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Andre Greipel (Lotto Belisol)(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Peter Sagan (Liquigas-Cannondale) wins stage 6 of the Tour de France in Metz(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The 2012 Tour de France started out with 198 riders and 22 teams, all looking for glory. With the race two thirds complete, 42 riders have abandoned, and only eight of the teams have been able to claim stage wins.
Less than half of the teams in the race have won stages, with four teams claiming more than one. Liquigas-Cannondale and Lotto-Belisol have three each, all from the same rider for each team. Sky also has three, but from three different riders while two Europcar riders have taken stage wins.
Peter Sagan and Andre Greipel are tied for the lead with three stage wins apiece. They are in fact the only riders to have won more than one stage so far this year at the Tour.
Looking at the nations, both Britain and France have four wins each. Mark Cavendish, Christopher Froome, Bradley Wiggins and David Millar have scored for Britain, with Thibaut Pinot, Thomas Voeckler, Pierre Rolland and Pierrick Fedrigo taking the honours for France. Slovakia and Germany have three each, from Sagan and Greipel.
More than one-fifth of the field has dropped out, with reasons ranging from injury to illness to Olympic preparation. One rider, Remy Di Gregorio (Cofidis), had to leave after being arrested on doping-related charges.
Hardest hit are Vacansoleil-DCM and Rabobank, which both have only four riders going into the final week. Euskaltel-Euskadi and Lampre ISD have both lost four riders.
The only four teams which are still complete are BMC Racing Team, Liquigas-Cannondale, Lotto-Belisol and Saxo Bank-Tinkoff Bank.
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Only 156 riders finished the race on Sunday and headed into the rest day. While 42 abandons sounds like a lot, it is not unusually high. In 2011, the fifteenth stage ended with 170 riders and 2010 saw a high of 174, the previous years were lower. 2009 had 162 riders, 2008 the low of 153 and 2007 had 160.
