With 100 days to go before the start of the centenary edition of the Giro d?Italia, organisers RCS Sport have announced 20 of the 22 teams invited to this year?s race.
Surprisingly the British registered Team Barloworld is not amongst them, meaning that Steve Cummings, Geraint Thomas and Chris Froome are still unsure if they will get to ride the centenary edition of the Giro.
RCS Sport included 14 ProTour teams in the list. Cofidis, Euskaltel, Française des Jeux and Fuji Servetto all miss out. However the first three of these had already hinted they did not want to ride the Giro, while the weakness of the Fuji team perhaps explains their snub.
ProTour squads Team Columbia and Garmin have been invited confirming that both Bradley Wiggins and Mark Cavendish will be able to ride.
The Continental Professional teams invited to the Giro d?Italia, and also Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, include the new Cervelo team that includes British riders Roger Hammond, Dan Fleeman, Dan Lloyd and Jeremy Hunt. Also invited are the Acqua& Sapone team, Alessandro Petacchi?s LPR Brakes team and the Diquigiovanni team that includes Gilberto Simoni and Davide Rebellin. Somewhat surprisingly the small Spanish Xacobeo Galicia team has been invited to the Giro d?Italia. All 18 ProTour teams except for Fuji have been invited to Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
As well as Team Barloworld, teams that have so far missed on an invitation include Ceramica Flaminia that includes Italian national champion Filippo Simeoni and the CSF-Navigare team that was shamed by the CERA positive of Emanuele Sella, who won three stages and the climber?s jersey at the 2008 Giro.
RCS Sport event director Angelo Zomegnan told Cycling Weekly that he has not closed the door on Team Barloworld, saying the team could still be invited to the Giro d?Italia and the other races because there are still two places to be assigned for the Giro, four for Tirreno-Adriatico and three for Milan-San Remo.
Zomegnan also reiterated that all the invitations are sub-judice especially until the UCI finalise the list of Wild Card teams who have successfully signed-up to the Biological passport scheme.
LPR and Diquigiovanni both avoided taking part in the season-long blood-screening programme last year, which meant that LPR to missed Paris-Tours. They have promised to be part of the passport system but it is unclear why the UCI has not yet announced which teams will be awarded Wild Cards.
Team Barloworld were part of the Biological Passport programme in 2008 and despite Moises Duenas? positive test during the Tour de France and the loss of Baden Cooke and Enrico Gasparotto, team manager Claudio Corti is quietly confident that his team will be on the start line on the biggest Italian races.
?We?re hopeful that we?ll be on the final list of 22 for the Giro and get an invitation to the other races,? Corti told Cycling Weekly.
?It was a bit of a surprise to be left off but we?re hopeful. We had the Biological Passport in 2008 and have a good team of riders, so I think we deserve a place.?
Team Barloworld will kick off their season at the GP degli Etruschi in Tuscany on February. The team will hold a training camp in Tuscany the week before the race.
GIRO D?ITALIA, May 9-31, 2009
Maximum of 22 teams invited
1) ACQUA&SAPONE - CAFFE? MOKAMBO (Ita)
2) AG2R LA MONDIALE (Fra)
3) ASTANA (Kaz)
4) BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM (Fra)
5) CAISSE D?EPARGNE (Spa)
6) CERVELO TEST TEAM (Svi)
7) GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM (Usa)
8) ISD (Ita)
9) LAMPRE-NGC (Ita)
10) LIQUIGAS (Ita)
11) LPR BRAKES - FARNESE VINI (Irl)
12) QUICK STEP (Bel)
13) RABOBANK (Ola)
14) SILENCE ? LOTTO (Bel)
15) DIQUIGIOVANNI (Ven)
16) TEAM COLUMBIA ? HIGH ROAD (Usa)
17) TEAM KATUSHA (Rus)
18) TEAM MILRAM (Ger)
19) TEAM SAXO BANK (Dan)
20) XACOBEO GALICIA (Spa)
TIRRENO-ADRIATICO, March 11-17, 2009
Maximum of 25 teams of eight riders invited
1) ACQUA&SAPONE - CAFFE? MOKAMBO (Ita)
2) AG2R LA MONDIALE (Fra)
3) ASTANA (Kaz)
4) BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM (Fra)
5) CAISSE D?EPARGNE (Spa)
6) CERVELO TEST TEAM (Svi)
7) COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE (Fra)
8) EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (Spa)
9) FRANCAISE DES JEUX (Fra)
10) GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM (Usa)
11) LAMPRE-NGC (Ita)
12) LIQUIGAS (Ita)
13) LPR BRAKES - FARNESE VINI (Irl)
14) QUICK STEP (Bel)
15) RABOBANK (Ola)
16) SILENCE ? LOTTO (Bel)
17) DIQUIGIOVANNI (Ven)
18) TEAM COLUMBIA ? HIGH ROAD (Usa)
19) TEAM KATUSHA (Rus)
20) TEAM MILRAM (Ger)
21) TEAM SAXO BANK (Dan)
MILANO-SANREMO, March 21, 2009
Maximum of 25 teams of eight riders invited
1) ACQUA&SAPONE - CAFFE? MOKAMBO (Ita)
2) AG2R LA MONDIALE (Fra)
3) ASTANA (Kaz)
4) BBOX BOUYGUES TELECOM (Fra)
5) CAISSE D?EPARGNE (Spa)
6) CERVELO TEST TEAM (Svi)
7) COFIDIS, LE CREDIT EN LIGNE (Fra)
8) EUSKALTEL - EUSKADI (Spa)
9) FRANCAISE DES JEUX (Fra)
10) GARMIN - SLIPSTREAM (Usa)
11) ISD (Ita)
12) LAMPRE-NGC (Ita)
13) LIQUIGAS (Ita)
14) LPR BRAKES - FARNESE VINI (Irl)
15) QUICK STEP (Bel)
16) RABOBANK (Ola)
17) SILENCE ? LOTTO (Bel)
18) DIQUIGIOVANNI (Ven)
19) TEAM COLUMBIA ? HIGH ROAD (Usa)
20) TEAM KATUSHA (Rus)
21) TEAM MILRAM (Ger)
22) TEAM SAXO BANK (Dan)
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