Giro d'Italia wildcards

[craig1985]

They get announced tonight (for those in the Southern Hemisphere). No Retirement Shack, Euskaltel Euskadi have said no, they would rather focus on other races, and Ricco has about as much chance of riding the Giro as there is of Danilo Napolitano of winning the a TdF mountain stage. Also, only one Dutch team will ride out of the 22 teams that will get an invite.

So I think it will be:

Acqua e Sapone
Ag2r-La Mondiale
Androni Giocattoli
Andalucía-Cajasur
Astana
BMC
Caisse d'Epargne
Cervélo TestTeam
Colnago-CSF Inox
Française des Jeux
Garmin-Transitions
ISD-Neri
Lampre-Farnese Vini
Liquigas-Doimo
Omega Pharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Team HTC-Columbia
Team Katusha
Team Milram
Team Saxo Bank
Team Sky

No Radio Shack, Footon (although they will go to the CAS to appeal like they did last year). No BBox since they are now Pro Continental. Andulacia is my dark horse team to make the invite list. Now before you laugh, it is actually a goal of theirs to ride the Giro. Just like Xacobeo last year. I don't think they will do anything though.

 

[Delicato]

Xacobeo is already confirmed but it is not in your list.

As for Andalucia, I kinda doubt that. Who do they have in their roster aside Marchante(who isn't that good anymore, never shown anything since the Vuelta which Vino won)? A bunch of anonymous guys.

Edit. Ok, they also have Angel Vicioso. Doesn't make a significant difference though.

 

[craig1985]

I have never read anything about Xacobeo wanting to ride the Giro again, but I (can) only read English language cycling media, so you could be right though.

 

[Delicato]

Maybe you missed that article It is in English.

 

[issoisso]

For the record, Andalucía were very surprised to be invited to the presentation back in December. That was before they lost Tondo, though.

Zomegnan's already said he's not going to give Radioshack an invite, so who knows. I hope BBox gets one.

Finally, don't count on FDJ being there. At all. I'll be amazed if they ride.

 

[craig1985]

Maybe you missed that article It is in English.

I am human afterall

 

[auscyclefan94]

Mosquera would be a good addition to the giro IMO. Could do well there.

 

[MADRAZO]

Both Andalucia and Xacobea has a team only capable of 1 GT/Year so they should focus on the Vuelta, instead of these teams riding two GTs it would be much more interesting to see some motivated "italian" teams in the Giro. Of course Mosquera if motivated would be interesting though, so I could accept Xacobea in that case.

I know Ricco and propably also Sella is not welcome, but their teams would be very interesting even with out them. Pardilla/Ventoso for Carmioro and G. Caruso for Ceramica would be exiting. Team Sky has nothing to offer also with their TDF-focus and should not be there, as well as all the crappy french teams like FDJ/BBox/Ag2R who only has teamdept for the TDF.

I also hope very much Navigare will be there with the exiting duo of Pozzovivo and Modolo

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

The gap between the giro and the vuelta is enough that Xacobeo can handle it i think. Mosquera could do well in both, just like basso did last year.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

CSF aren't Navigare anymore, though I haven't got used to calling them Colnago-CSF Inox yet. I also miss the hideous green kit that you could see from space. I think Modolo's San Remo and Pozzovivo's Tirreno-Adriatico are probably enough to give them a ride, especially given that they aren't officially the same team as the team that went bonkers to an LA-MSS level in the 2008 race; Pozzovivo's recent performances suggest that that 9th place was not a fluke, and Sella, Baliani, Priamo and Pérez Cuapio are long gone. I think they'll be off the 'quarantine' list this year. I'm not sure about CarmioOro; they're a new ProConti team but they do have some names who can do something - Pardilla and Ventoso having been mentioned - plus, when we talk about the length of quarantine, by the time the Giro rolls around Sella will have been back for nine months - is that long enough for Zomegnan? The problem is that CarmioOro's best performances this season have been abroad and not in Italy, and by Spaniards not Italians...

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Get a clue guys.

Xacobeo isn't confirmed, on the contrary, it's rather unlikely they get an invitation. Mosquera would be interesting to see, but...

BBox doesn't need an invitation. They are part of the teams covered by the GT organizer-PT Teams agreement of 2008. So is Cofidis, so is Footon. Still chances that they or FdJ decide not to take part (if Zomegnan pays them enough, why not...) but RCS has to invite them. BBox already said they plan to ride all 3 GTs this year. The other 3... who knows...

That's 15 teams, 3 with chances that they renounce their right of participation. IMO at least, FdJ, Cofidis and Footon

So 12-15 teams sure



PT Teams that need an invitation are:

Katusha
RAdioShack
Garmin

RadioShack out, the 2 others? Later..

The rest:

Sky will be there. Not a bad team, is ok, even with the TdF focus. Lövkvist is still a nice rider, maybe Augustyn, Froome, Pauwels will be there too, no clue. Main reason for the invite is the hype, Zomegnan prefers PR to a good Giro, Sky is PR. (and an ok team for the Giro too as I said)


Cervelo, Sastre sure to get it,
BMC, Evans, as well (for the Tour on the other hand not so sure.... )

15-18 depending on the teams mentioned above

Then Acqua e Sapone and Androni, normally the should be in.

17-20

Leaves 2 to 5 free spots

Back to Katusha and Garmin.. Probably in, both.. Katusha usually did ok, Garmin.. well.. we'll see. Probably depends a bit on who they promised Zomegnan.. Farrar would be enough for Garmin, Vandevelde training for the Tour probably not, etc.

Would expect them to be there, but you never know...

If there are more spots left.

ISD: Visconti, who isn't really all that for a Giro, and Rujano, the rest....not really that special... lost Grivko too...
Colnago: The sponsor alone increases their chances, young team a plus too. MOdolo, Pozzovivo, Zen, etc.

For one of those 2, I could even imagine Katusha or Garmin being left out...

Only outside chances:

Flaminia, even with a special Riccò ban it's unlikely, even though with Caruso and Rossi they would have a team that is not necessarily weaker than Rujano-Visconti
CarmiOro... Sella, Ventoso, Padilla... not really enough compared to the other pretendents.. might be in before Flaminia though, Zomegnan really seems to hate them..
Xacobeo: Mosquera would be nice to see. But... not enough spots. Plus their performance at the Giro 09 didn't help, not sure what race Cyclingnews saw in that brillant article about the "strong showing" of Xacobeo at the Giro 09... it was a complete failure. Mosquera out, not much behind.
Andalucia: Zomegnan is a crazy megalomaniac, sure, but that crazy? Leaving out Flaminia, CarmiOro, Colnago, De Rosa (ok, after Di Luca 0 chances and not much quality either) ISD, basically Italian teams for Andalucia who not only isn't Italian but weaker than the teams mentioned above too? Doubt it.

Big question IMO is:
1: What do FdJ, Footon and Cofidis plan?
2: Katusha/Garmin?

Rest then normally (but again, with Zomegnan.... ) is fairly clear.

 

[theyoungest]

These are the teams for the Giro 2010:

Acqua&Sapone, Ag2r-La Mondiale, Androni-Diquigiovanni, Astana, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Bmc Racing, Caisse d'Epargne, Cervelo, Colnago-Csf Inox, Cofidis-Le Credit en Ligne, Footon-Servetto, Garmin-Transitions, Lampre Farnese, Liquigas-Doimo, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quick Step, Rabobank, Sky, Htc-Columbia, Katusha, Milram, Saxo.

source
Interesting: no Jose Rujano.

 

[Delicato]

No Xacobeo, what a pity

It is interesting that Rujano himself said that he is the world's 3rd best climber (behind AC and J.Rodriguez) and he will aim for overall Giro win. Must be really ****ed.

The invitation of Bbox,Cofidis and Footon is beyond my understanding.

 

[issoisso]

But...but...but ISD....but Rujano. And Mosquera.

This makes me feel sad


The Giro has just lost A LOT of interest. And it's unabashedly my favourite race of the season. This is very bad.

 

[issoisso]

No Xacobeo, what a pity

It is interesting that Rujano himself said that he is the world's 3rd best climber (behind AC and J.Rodriguez) and he will aim for overall Giro win. Must be really ****ed.

The invitation of Bbox,Cofidis and Footon is beyond my understanding.

The three are invited due to the agreement in place between teams that means they're invited as long as they want to be.

And what's so strange about BBox being invited? They have very good riders, they liven up any race they're in and they ride clean. At least two of those things are facts that most aren't anywhere close to doing.

 

[The fridge in the blue trees]

Well, it's not an INVITATION, it's that simple.

RCS/ASO/UNIPUBLIC signed a contract with the PT teams 08, guaranteeing them the GT participation until 2010 (hope it was not 2011...) so...... not an invitation.

No Rujano.. not perfect, but again, besides Rujano what does ISD offer? Visconti, then.... right. And Rujano has been a disappointment for 4 straight years... Understandeble decision to take Colnago and not ISD.

 

[jens_attacks]

wtf?no rujano?
bbox and cofidis invited?!is this a ****in joke?
stupid ****s...

 

[Highlander]

Unfortunately, the desire to take too many Pro Tour teams can usually end up weakening the race a bit. Since so many squads put a huge emphasis just on the Tour, they either send the B Team to the other GTs or ride them to get into shape for other objectives. That is why I'm glad that Radioshack didn't get an invite as they weren't really interested in doing anything here. However, I don't really see much from some other squads like Garmin or Sky either. Both of these teams will probably do the race to help their leaders get form for July without really caring about the results besides going for the odd stage win at times. I think it would have been better to exclude some of these teams and take ISD or some other team instead that would make the Giro their primary focus.

 

[issoisso]

is this a ****in joke?

A self-referencing post if I ever saw one

 

[staubsauger]

this decision is just a peace of ****!!!

cofidis and bbox? that must be joke. no isd? rujano seemed to be in perfect form to fight for the overall, and their last years perfomance was very strong. can't understand the ricco decision. in my opinion this doping thing, must be an excuse. there's something personal between flaminia and z. because they never get a wildcard in the last years even if they had the national champ with simeoni last year.

but, please just tell me how you could invite cofidis and bbox, while leaving out vacansoleil and isd??? that doesn't make any sense. vacansoleil has hoogerland and brice feilliu and some strong escapees and bozic. cofidis has??????? taramae??? no chance for him in the giro mountains. keukeleire????? bbox has? fedrigo....voeckler what a ****!

de rosa is okay, lpr was just there because of di luca the last 2 years. it's nice that CSF is back there, because i think that pozzovivo could act very well in the mountains. maybe a man for the maglia verde or even a dark horse for the overall. no xacobeo is okay, because if mosquera isn't at 100% there's nothing what makes the team adjuvant any more.

sry but this is a bit of shame if you ask me. this giro has so a hard profile, and might become as well as the fantastic 08 edition and where are the contenders???? grandpa sastre??? woldn't have been top 5 2008 and wins one of the modest tdf editions i've ever seen. evans who never had the power to do it in a gt and pellizotti who always had little problems in the brutally high climbs like in 2008.

no ricco, no menchov or gesink, no rujano, no sella, no rogers , no popovych e.t.c

it just hurts

i really really hope that rabobank and rob gesink are reconsider their decision now, again. in this case, this years giro edition would be the gt which is suited to him to win. send menchov, ten dam and garate to ToC and gesink, ardillia, freire and the durch boys (mollema, tankink, moerenhout, weening, clement) + martens to the giro.

but otherwise now rabo have to show more than just freire in the sprints if they are the only team from the netherlands.

what's with gibo? he was planned to sign with rock to race the giro one last time but what's now? lampre? still androni? back to footoon for the giro? or retirement? hope he will be there, maybe he has a podium chance again this year.

edith told staubsauger that the french teams have to be invited because of the pt agreement

 

[theyoungest]

i really really hope that rabobank and rob gesink are reconsider their decision now, again. in this case, this years giro edition would be the gt which is suited to him to win. send menchov, ten dam and garate to ToC and gesink, ardillia, freire and the durch boys (mollema, tankink, moerenhout, weening, clement) + martens to the giro.

but otherwise now rabo have to show more than just freire in the sprints if they are the only team from the netherlands.

Mollema will be a realistic contender for the white jersey. That's something. And yes, I agree, Gesink could win this one, but that's just not to be. The Giro may start in Holland, it doesn't mean that the Dutch actually care about it.

 

[luckyboy]

Why's everyone having a go at Cofidis and Bbox? Maybe Zomegan wants some clean riders in his race.

What about Footon and Milram? And De Rosa have a very poor team, so I don't know why you're mentioning them..

 

[issoisso]

Why's everyone having a go at Cofidis and Bbox? Maybe Zomegan wants some clean riders in his race.

But they don't have big names or reputation. And people who don't know much about the sport only care about big names and reputation. And since the "I don't know anything but I'll still yell an inflamed opinion" mentality is quite human, it leads to comments as detached from reality as the ones you're referring to.

 

[luckyboy]

To be fair, people who don't know much about the sport aren't gonna know who Rujano is, if they even care about the Giro.

 

[auscyclefan94]

I found it interesting that vacansoleil missed out especially being a dutch team at at GT where it is in Holland. Is this a sign for things to come in the tour?