Tour de France team presentation - Gallery

Official festivities for the 2018 Tour de France began on Thursday with the teams presentation at the Place Napoleon in La Roche-sur-Yon, the host city for the finish of stage 2 on July 8. Le Grand Départ will actually take place Saturday with a 201km stage from Noirmoutier-En-L'Ïle to Fontenay-Le-Comte.

As is often the case, world champion Peter Sagan stole the show on Thursday with his crowd-pleasing, off-beat antics, including handling introductions for his Bora-Hansgrohe teammates. Defending champion Chris Froome and Team Sky, on the other hand, got a considerably more icy reception in the wake of Froome's recently dropped anti-doping case.

Frenchman Romain Bardet (AG2R La Mondiale), third in last year's race and runner-up in 2016, was an obvious favourite, along with Warren Barguil and his French Fortuneo-Samsic team. Performers wowed the crowd with gymnastics and dancing, while Tour director Christian Prudhomme had his time on stage as well.

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In all, 176 riders representing 22 teams from around the globe took their spots on stage as fans and sceptics alike got their chance to see the peloton before the upcoming three-week race.

Click or swipe through the gallery for a glimpse of Thursday's festivities.

You can read more at Cyclingnews.com