2013 Tour de France team and the oldest. The teams entering the race were: UCI ProTeams UCI Professional Continental teams In the run up to the 2013 Tour de France, Chris Froome () was widely considered as the top pre-race favourite for the general classification, with his closest rivals thought to be Alberto Contador () and Joaquim Rodríguez (). 's Vincenzo Nibali was also a possible contender after getting his first Tour podium in 2012 but he had focused on the 2013 Giro d'Italia. The other riders considered contenders for the general classification were riders Cadel Evans and Tejay van Garderen, Richie Porte (),
1977 Tour de France Hennie Kuiper in 2nd and Lucien Van Impe, who also won another mountains classification. Due to the relentless pace set by the top tier riders only 53 riders were able to finish the 1977 Tour de France. Never since have so few riders finished a Tour de France and the previous time fewer riders finished was the 1950 Tour de France when 51 riders finished. In years before and after this Tour riders like Merckx, Hinault, Zoetemelk, Van Impe, Thévenet, Luis Ocana and Laurent Fignon set such a high pace during mountain stages that as many as half the riders