Marcel Kittel, the winner of the first yellow jersey at the last two Tours de France, will miss this year's race.
The German sprinter, who has won four stages in the last two Tours to challenge Mark Cavendish's status as the world's premier sprinter, was not selected by his Giant-Alpecin team, which announced its squad today.
Kittel has been hampered by illness this year and though "good progress" has been made, he has been allocated an alternative racing progamme.
"Of course I am disappointed about not participating in the Tour de France this year," Kittel said on teamgiantalpecin.com.
"But I will have to look ahead and focus on new goals."
German sprinter John Degenkolb will lead the team for the Tour, which begins on 4 July in Utrecht, Netherlands with his focus on obtaining good results in reduced sprints.
Warren Barguil could be vying for a high overall placing and will be joined by Georg Preidler, Ramon Sinkeldam, Roy Curvers, Koen de Kort, Albert Timmer, Tom Dumoulin and Simon Geschke in the squad.
