As the first team, Omega Pharma-Quick Step has selected their line-up for the 100th Tour de France and unsurprisingly, the team is almost entirely built around Mark Cavendish. The team will target the flat stages and bunch sprints but there will also be room for Tony Martin and Sylvain Chavanel to try their hands.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step may be one of the strongest cycling teams in the world but for some reason, the Belgian super team has had little success in the Tour de France in recent years. Its most recent win dates back to 2010 when an outstanding Sylvain Chavanel won two stages and even wore the yellow jersey twice.

Prior to this season, the team made the decision to change its fortunes in the world's biggest race, and the closest you can get to guaranteeing yourself success is by signing Mark Cavendish. The squad did exactly that and Cavendish has delivered on his promise by taking no less than 5 stage wins in the Giro d'Italia.

Today the team was the first to announce its line-up for the Tour and unsurprisingly, it will be all for Cavendish.

"We have a strong team at the Tour de France,” sport and development manager Rolf Aldag said. “Together with the sport directors we talked this morning with all the guys and they are really committed to the team goals. The team will be built mainly around Mark Cavendish."

Cavendish has worn the leader's jersey in both the Giro and Vuelta but so far the maillot jaune has always escaped him. This year La Grande Boucle starts off with a flat road stage on Corsica, thus offering Cavendish a big opportunity to finally wear the coveted jersey.

"Cav is there to try and win stages, and of course one of the big goals of Mark is to go for the yellow jersey on the first day," Aldag said. "This is something he missed for the moment — he has worn yellow before, but never after the first stage of the Tour."

Cavendish's lead-out train received much criticism after the Scheldeprijs but in the Giro, it would outstandingly. The team refuses to change a winning formula and so the key support riders Gert Steegmans and Matteo Trentin will once again be included in the line-up and will enjoy the added firepower of world time trial champion Tony Martin.

"Mark will be able to count on the same leadout of the Giro d'Italia. They are already tested in race situations and will be ready again. Steegmans will be the last man, and Matteo Trentin will be the second to last man. But all the team will be committed with Mark when the stage will fit his characteristics. Tony Martin will be there to ride to the ‘Flamme Rouge’ on the flat stages. He will bring Matteo, Gert and Cav into the best position possible in the final kilometer."

However, Martin will also have personal ambitions and the time trial specialist has done nothing to hide his desire to finally wear the yellow jersey. Two tough stages on Corsica will significantly reduce the number of leader candidates, and Martin hopes to ride himself into yellow with a win in the stage 4 team time trial.

Furthermore, he will also target the two individual time trials despite his recent statements that the final one may be a little bit too hard for him.

"Tony will also be there to get his chances at the time trials,” Aldag said. "The first ITT will be a little more appropriate for his skills. The second will be difficult, but for sure he will still try his best. He will also be an important piece to our TTT as he is the world champion of this discipline, so we will rely on his strength to lead us during this stage.”

Michal Kwiatkowski has been one of the revelations of the early season, the young Pole finishing in the top 10 in the Tirreno-Adriatico, the Amstel Gold Race and the Fleche Wallonne. The young rider will now get his first taste of a grand tour and the team hopes that he can contend for the white jersey.

"Kwiatkowski is the youngest guy of the team,” Aldag said. “We decided to bring him because it's time to get this kind of experience, to try and wear the white jersey even for a limited time. It will be a kind of dream for him and of course a great achievement for the team. We will try to make it real, but without stress or pressure. He has to learn a lot and Le Tour will be another important step of his learning process."

The team's other young rider is Trentin who will start his second grand tour in a row in his only second professional season.

"As for Matteo, he has shown his passion in his role already at the Giro d’Italia and his youth combined with enthusiasm will be valuable once again at his second grand tour of 2013,” Aldag said.

Chavanel is the most recent team rider to win a stage in La Grande Boucle and the Frenchman will once again be ready to take his chance in select stages. He will be joined by close friend Jerome Pineau who also rode the Giro and will take over Bernhard Eisel's role as the main to guide Cavendish safely through the mountain stages.

"The team can also count on Chavanel, who showed already what he is able to do: win stages and wear the yellow jersey,” Aldag said. “Chava will play a tactical role on the team. He will try to get his chances on stages more suitable for him. He's a French guy, super motivated and also committed to the team work we are looking for from our riders. He's a guy every team would like to have for a demanding race like the Tour de France. Another French guy will be Jerome Pineau, who has the task of staying with Mark in the mountain stages and to work for him on the flat stages to try to get the team to the sprint."

The team will be completed by Dutch champion Niki Terpstra and Peter Velits. The latter has tried to ride for the GC in the two most recent editions after finishing 3rd at the 2010 Vuelta. He has failed on both occasions and this year he will join Terpstra as the rider to chase down early breakaways in the flat stages.

"We complete the team with the strong engines of Velits and Terpstra, who are important parts of the team,” Aldag said. “They will be valuable in the TTT and have the task of controlling the race in the flat stages. We will also see what they can do in other stages. With riders like this and experienced guys like them, you can always have something surprising with great actions."

Kevin De Weert and Martin Velits have been selected as reserves.

"Kevin De Weert and Martin Velits will be our reserves, so it will be important for them to stay focused and fit, so they will be ready if it will be necessary,” Aldag said.

General manager Patrick Lefevre is hugely confident in his star-studded line-up and stresses the fact that Cavendish - as opposed to last year's isolation at Team Sky - has plenty of support.

"We have for sure one of the best teams in the entire field at the Tour,” he said. “Mark counts on a committed team built around him. For the team, it will be also important to show themselves in any situation possible. With seven stages for the sprinters, one TTT and two ITT, we can be protagonists in almost half the stages in the Tour. That is without counting riders like Chavanel and Terpstra, who have the ability to play a role in medium mountain stages. The goals of the team are to try to win a few stages, be protagonists, and be a presence."

Lefevre underlines the importance of teamwork in the world's biggest race.

"The team wants to show its ability to stay united as a group," he said. "We believe the team is not only the sum of great individuals. What can make a difference for our team is the teamwork, to stay together and reach common goals as we did in the Giro d'Italia. I think when it comes to OPQS, we’ve shown how unique riders can fit together like pieces of a puzzle. Our Tour de France selection features eight nationalities of nine riders. We are an example of the globalization of cycling, and have already proven that such diversity can come together as a cohesive unit. We missed the victory at the Tour in the last few years. We really want to go for it and then see on the road day-by-day what kind of opportunities we can have."

The selected riders will test their legs in the national championships this weekend before lining up on Corsica on June 29.

Omega Pharma-Quick Step for the Tour de France:

Mark Cavendish, Tony Martin, Sylvain Chavanel, Jerome Pineau, Gert Steegmans, Matteo Trentin, Michal Kwiatkowski, Niki Terpstra and Peter Velits