Tour de France top three confirmed to compete in USA Pro Cycling Challenge 2011.

The organization behind the 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge today announced that Team Leopard-Trek's two Tour de France podium finishers Andy Schleck and Frank Schleck will take part in the Colorado-based race.

Having already confirmed Tour de France Champion Cadel Evans as participant, this means that all three Tour de France podium finishers are set to be at the starting line for the inaugural race taking place from August 22-28.

In addition, the top American Tour de France finisher, Tom Danielson of Team Garmin-Cervélo was confirmed to compete along with two-time Giro d'Italia winner Ivan Basso of Team Liquigas-Cannondale.

"The confirmed participation of the sport's premiere athletes is a monumental achievement for the event in its first year," Chief Operating Officer for USA Cycling Sean Petty told Roadcycling.com and Roadcycling.mobi and continued "It shows the interest and intrigue in what will prove to be an epic battle through the Colorado Rockies."

"Our goal is to assemble one of the best competitive fields an American professional stage race has ever seen," said Shawn Hunter, co-chairman of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge - obviously pointing his finger at the Amgen Tour of California race which has been known as the leading American pro cycling race until now.

"This is a great moment of truth for the sport in America and for our race. To have secured such an incredible lineup of teams along with the greatest riders in the world is a credit to what the owners have committed to do in the event's inaugural year."

"I've heard good things about the race in Colorado and I know it won't be easy. But I'm up for one more challenge," Evans previously stated.

Colorado native Danielson, who races for the American Tour de France team classification winning Team Garmin-Cervélo, will look to become the home-state hero of the USA Pro Cycling Challenge following his ninth place finish in this year's Tour de France. He will be challenged by Evans, the Schleck brothers, and by Basso, who made a disappointing performance in this year's Tour de France, but won the 2006 and 2010 editions of the Giro d'Italia and the Criterium International in 2006.

Also joining Team BMC Racing, Leopard-Trek, Team Garmin-Cervélo and Liquigas-Cannondale in next month's 2011 USA Pro Cycling Challenge week-long Tour are fellow UCI ProTeams HTC-Highroad (USA), Rabobank Cycling Team (Netherlands), Saxo Bank-SunGard (Denmark) and Team RadioShack (USA). UCI Professional Continental Teams UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (USA), Team Type 1-sanofi aventis (USA), Skil-Shimano (Netherlands), and Team Spidertech Powered by C10 (Canada) are also set to compete along with UCI Continental Teams Jelly Belly Cycling (USA), Bissell Cycling (USA), Team Exergy (USA), EPM-UNE (Columbia), and Gobernacion (Columbia).