Australian climber Ben O'Connor will lead the AG2R Citroen lineup for the Tour de France.

O'Connor, 26, has been a consistent performer, taking a stage win at the Volta a Catalunya in the Pyrenees and finishing in the top 10 on the World Tour's weekday stage. Most recently, he finished third in the Criterium du Dauphiné behind fellow Tour de France GC contenders Jumbo Visma duo Primoz Roglic and Jonas Vingegaard.

There is one surprising absentee from the team lineup. Greg Van Avermaat is a Belgian veteran who has two stage wins at the Tour and rode two days in yellow in 2016.

The 37-year-old played a key role as O'Connor's team helper last year and recently completed the Criterium du Dauphiné in a support role. However, his 10th Tour appearance is still a long way off.

After the Dauphiné, the last warm-up event before the Tour, O'Connor said, "It was kind of clear. [We've been working as a team and it's paid off. What we've done as a team has paid off."

"Now we just head into the Tour and try not to get too tired beforehand and hopefully not cause too many problems at the Tour."

O'Connor said, "We're going to try and get some good results.

O'Connor will make his Tour debut with former Giro d'Italia and Vuelta a España mountain champion Jeffrey Bouchard.

Belgian Oliver Naessen, making his seventh appearance in seven years, is expected to be the key to O'Connor's first week, especially with crosswinds on the Danish and Calais coasts and the cobbled "Roubaix" stage 5.

Former Giro d'Italia leader and Liege-Bastogne-Liege winner Bob Jungels will be making his fourth Tour appearance after an illness-prone season last year. Aurelien Pare-Pantl, who finished sixth in last year's Tour de Suisse, has earned his place as a protected rider, and Benoit Cosnefrois is expected to be a stage hunter this year, when AG2R-Citroën has often been in the lead in GC but has only won four times

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Veterans Mickael Scherer (six-time Tour competitor) and Stan DeWolf (Tour debut) round out the team's eight-man selection for July.