Cancellara headlines Tour team as Schleck is ruled out

Trek Factory Racing has announced a solid Tour de France team despite Frank Schleck being ruled out through injury.

Trek Factory Racing's Fabian Cancellara will lead the Tour de France team (Getty) Source: Getty Images

Fabian Cancellara, Bauke Mollema, Bob Jungels and Haimar Zubeldia will form the core of Trek Factory Racing's Tour de France team.

The full team announcement followed the news that Frank Schleck would not make the team due to a knee injury. Schleck, older brother of 2010 Tour winner Andy, has been struggling since crashing in the Liege-Bastogne-Liege race earlier this season and skipped the closing time trial at the Tour de Suisse last week in a bid to recover.

"This is a big disappointment for me, of course, but it had been in the air for a while now," Schleck said. "The pain never really lessened and the only way to let it heal would have been to take complete rest."

Trek released the team details overnight via Twitter, but with a twist: it selected nine 'superfans' to announce one rider each.

While the team is unlikely to challenge for overall honours, it's a strong selection that could challenge for stage honours as well as top ten positions on GC. 

Mollema seemed excited about starting the race.

Trek Factory Racing for the Tour de France

Fabian Cancellara, Marko Irizar, Bob Jungels, Laurent Didier, Stijn Devolder, Haimar Zubeldia, Gregory Rast, Bauke Mollema, Julian Arredondo.