BRANSGORE professional racing cyclist Danny Lloyd has taken a step up in his career by being selected for the Tour de France.

Lloyd received his call-up to the world’s greatest bike race, which starts with a prologue time trial in Rotterdam on Saturday after his colleague in the Cervélo team, Heinrich Haussler, was forced to withdraw with a knee injury.

Lloyd, 29, turned professional in 2003. As well as finishing second in the British Road Race Championship twice, he finished in 103rd position in May’s Giro d’Italia.

Previous wins have been in lower ranked races such as China’s Tour of Qinghai Lake and the Tour of Siam in 2006 and the Vuelta a Extremadura in Spain in 2008.

He will be riding this year’s Tour de France with Carlos Sastre, tour winner in 2008, and fellow Brit Jeremy Hunt.

The tour will cover 3,642km before finishing in the Champs Élysées in Paris on July 25.