Team profile: Cofidis
Nationality: French
Track record: Regular participants in the Tour but off the pace for some years now, the team's last stage win was in 2008.
Leader: Dani Navarro showed some pedigree to claim ninth in the GC last year (remarkably some 16 minutes behind Chris Froome) and should get more support with the team halving their quota of protected GC riders this time out.
Changes since 2013: Only five riders remain from last year's roster with the new blood including designated sprinter Adrien Petit, the runner-up at the 2011 Under 23 world champion road race. Jerome Coppel and Christophe Le Mevel - two of the team's four GC riders in 2013 - both drop out.
Target: Navarro may share protected GC status with Rein Taaramae, but realistically the best either can hope for is a stage win. Taaramae enjoyed a queen stage victory en route to a second-placed finish at the Tour of Turkey, while debutant Petit could nab one in the sprints.
Full nine: Nicolas Edet (France), Egoitz Garcia (Spain) Cyril Lemoine (France), Luis Angel Mate (Spain), Rudy Molard (France), Daniel Navarro (Spain), Adrien Petit (France), Julien Simon (France), Rein Taaramae (Estonia).