AUSTRALIAN cycling stars Richie Porte and Simon Gerrans will aim to put this season's frustrating setbacks behind them with strong rides at the Tour de France.

The well-credentialled pair are among 10 Australians who will be on the start list when the Tour opens with a 13.8km individual time trial on Saturday night (AEST) in the Dutch city of Utrecht.

Porte opened the season brilliantly, racking up nine wins, and led Team Sky at the May Giro d'Italia (Tour of Italy).

The Tasmanian was aiming for a breakout podium finish, but after a promising start his Giro fell apart and he withdrew before the finish.

This will be Porte's first race back and he will be a key lieutenant for his good friend Chris Froome, one of the main race favourites.

"I'm happy now - obviously the Giro was a bit of a nightmare," Gerrans said.

"I've come back and done some good training.

"It took me a fair while to recover after that Giro.

"Now I feel much better."

While Porte's ambitions as a Grand Tour contender remain unrealised, he has strong form in these races as a domestique.

He was a key lieutenant at Sky when Brad Wiggins won the Tour de France in 2012 and Froome did the same a year later.

Gerrans is bullish about Froome's chances against the other key contenders - defending champion Vincenzo Nibali, two-time Tour winner Alberto Contador and climbing specialist Nairo Quintana.

"I look at Chris and I'd be scared if I was one of the other big GC guys (contenders)," Porte said.

While Porte took several weeks to recover from his Giro disappointment, at least he has had some good form this year.

Starting in December, a succession of crashes has cruelled Gerrans' season and forced him to repeatedly change his plans.

Gerrans will lead the Australian Orica-GreenEDGE team at the Tour and director Matt White said his No.1 rider is back to peak form.

Gerrans' main goal will be a stage win.

"Even though it has been an unfortunate year injury wise for Simon, the build up he has had over these last two months has been pretty ideal," White said.

"He is ready to roll."

Also, Michael Rogers (Tinkoff-Saxo) won a Tour stage last year and Gerrans' young teammate Michael Matthews will finally make his debut after he was a late withdrawal 12 months ago because of a training crash.

Cycling's ironman Adam Hansen (Lotto Soudal) is, incredibly, starting his 12th-straight Grand Tour.

At the other end of the scale, Nathan Haas (Cannondale-Garmin) is making his Tour de France debut.

Rohan Dennis (BMC) will be one of the riders to watch in the stage-one time trial, while Bathurst ace Mark Renshaw (Etixx-QuickStep) is the main lead-out man for British sprint ace Mark Cavendish.

Zak Dempster (Bora Argon 18) and Luke Durbridge (Orica-GreenEDGE) round out the Australian contingent this year.