French Team Cofidis, Team Sojasun and Team Europcar, and Dutch outfit Argos-Shimano were granted wild cards to take part in this year's Tour de France, Tour de France organizer A.S.O. announced earlier today.

All 18 ProTour teams will take part in the race along with four wild-card invited squads.

There were no big surprises in the list although French team Bretagne-Schuller, whose rider Florient Vachon won the first stage of this year's Criterium International, were expecting an invitation.

Argos-Shimano, who were known as Project 1t4i when the season began, hope to clinch a stage victory and will rely on their German leader and sprinter Marcel Kittel, who shone in the Vuelta a Espana last year.

The 2012 Tour de France starts in Liege, Belgium, on June 30 and arrives in Paris on July 22.