Wilson unlikely to ride the Tour

While McGee is dealing with his own challenges, so too is his team-mate Matthew Wilson. Due to a minimum number of four French riders required to take part in the Tour de France, as well as four out of the remaining five spots already pre-selected, the 2004 Australian champion appears unlikely to ride his second Tour de France this July.

"This is due to the powers that be accepting that to bring a quality team to the Tour, they will need majority foreign riders, but to keep the image of the team intact, they still want at least four French guys there," wrote Wilson on his personal website, mattwilson.com.au.

Although there is technically one spot remaining, Wilson added that Belgian Philippe Gilbert will be the likely candidate, the other four foreign riders likely to be Bradley McGee, Baden Cooke, Thomas Lövkvist and Bernhard Eisel.

Wrote Wilson: "I've been told that it is not a question of form and that I'm not going to be selected based on form or lack thereof, so it's just a matter of wait and see who's going and hope there's a spot left over for me.

"It's frustrating that right now, I probably have the form of my life and I know that come Tour time, I'll be even better and I still may not have the chance to ride! But for now, there is nothing I can do about it except keep doing what I'm doing and hope."

If Wilson isn't selected for the Tour de France, the likely scenario is that the 27 year-old Victorian will get a chance to ride his first Vuelta a España in September.