Giro d'Italia wildcards

[blaxland]

Excellent for Csf-colnago and Team Bmc...........With the teams named i think Cadel can win this GT with a little luck?

 

[Libertine Seguros]

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.

Gibo went to Lampre. To race the Giro one last time. Even if Ball HAD got the ProConti licence - which was unlikely - the chances of Rock riding the Giro were pretty nonexistent.

Rujano made some noises a while back about thinking about the Vuelta; given that the cast of people targetting that race is pretty nonexistent, and that the demise of Contentpolis-AMPO gives us just two Spanish ProConti teams, perhaps ISD will get their Grand Tour invite there.

It's nice to see CSF back, but I wish they'd go back to their old, eyesore jerseys.

 

[Vanspringel]

Excellent for Csf-colnago and Team Bmc...........With the teams named i think Cadel can win this GT with a little luck?

I agree. Sastre is rated as one of his main opponents but what are his chances after being away from racing for so long?

Carlos Sastre will return to racing for the first time in eight months at the Tour of Catalunya on Monday. The Cervélo TestTeam rider has not raced since finishing 17th in the Tour de France last July.

“It's the only race I'm going to ride before the Giro d'Italia and I'll use it to see how my training is going and what I have to improve on to arrive at the Giro in the best condition," the Spaniard explained to Europa Press. "It is a very important test for me, because I can see everything I have done well or what I still need to do.”

Evans has his best chance ever for a GT.

 

[pfinn10]

surprised they invited the sexy kit of footon to compete. Would of thought any race organiser would avoid that kit from been shown in their race.

 

[Timmy-loves-Rabo]

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?

did they even want to race the giro?

 

[auscyclefan94]

did they even want to race the giro?

With the dutch start, you would think so.

Here in the CN article today

Not on the list are ProTour teams Francaise des Jeux and Euskaltel-Euskadi, as well as Italian Professional Continental teams De Rosa-Stac Plastic, Carmiooro NGC, ISD-Neri, and the team of Riccardo Riccò, Ceramica Flaminia. Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil also applied for an invite but did not make the cut. As a result, the Rabobank team of defending champion Denis Menchov will be the only Dutch squad on the start line in Amsterdam.

 

[craig1985]

Wasn't expecting Footon to get an invite. I just hope they field the two David Gutierrez's they have on the team, and they both get into a break

 

[Libertine Seguros]

Return date from ban of Alexander Vinokourov (Astana - on invite list): July 24, 2009.

Return date from ban of Emanuele Sella (CarmioOro-NGC - not on invite list): August 18, 2009.

Date of announcement of Giro wildcard teams: March 22, 2010.

Estimated length of "quarantine" imposed by Angelo Zomegnan, after consideration of teams and riders invited to Giro 2010: between 216 and 241 days.

 

[Ferminal]

Return date from ban of Alexander Vinokourov (Astana - on invite list): July 24, 2009.

Return date from ban of Emanuele Sella (CarmioOro-NGC - not on invite list): August 18, 2009.

Date of announcement of Giro wildcard teams: March 22, 2010.

Estimated length of "quarantine" imposed by Angelo Zomegnan, after consideration of teams and riders invited to Giro 2010: between 216 and 241 days.

It's a lot easier to not invite Carmiooro-NGC than it is to drop Astana.

Or if you try and read something into the quote.

A sufficient period so that they can show there are no suspicions about them and for them to prove they're still riders. This happened to [Alexandre] Vinokourov and [Ivan] Basso. Will Riccò be the same without higher-octane fuel?

Vino has ridden the Vuelta, Worlds, T-A. Maybe Sella hadn't had the same opportunities to "prove there are no suspicions about him".

Also Sella's positive was more damaging to the Giro.

I guess double-standards are double-standards though.

 

[Libertine Seguros]

You could argue that it's a bit unfair to invite CSF if Sella is still on the watchlist, though of course only Sella and Priamo have actually been pinged. Interesting that Baliani and Pérez Cuapio have disappeared into thin air since being everywhere, off the front in nearly every stage, in that Giro. Makes it all the more promising that the team have stood by Pozzovivo and built the squad around him.

 

[Mellow Velo]

What about ISD and Visconti? AZ says they have done nothing, but I thought they showed last year and now the can offer Rujano as a possible GC threat.
I was looking forward to seeing the tiny climber return, as he's clearly back to form.

 

[Dekker_Tifosi]

You are not the only one, many others, like me, think the same, but unfortunately they aren't invited. I really looked forward to seeing Rujano back in top shape in the Giro..

But Rujano did big things out of Europe lately and not in Europe..and we know organisers and many people of 'classic' countries don't even look beyond Europe, although times are changing.
I do feel that South-American cycling is still not being taken serious, they should open up their eyes here. We had a south-american world champion espoir not too long ago, their young espoirs are destroying the competition whenever there is a mountain stage, and they even have sprinters and classic riders these days. But they are somehow always overlooked

 

[Libertine Seguros]

If we're only looking in Europe, then this "nothing" ISD have done includes Visconti topping the Continental rankings last year and Grabovskyy winning the KOM at Tirreno-Adriatico just last week.