RCS Sport announced today the wild card teams invited to three out of the four UCI WorldTour races it organises: Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo.
Wild cards for the fourth race, Il Lombardia, will be announced later in the year, after evaluating the racing performance of the teams requesting to participate in the Classic of the Falling Leaves.
The UCI Pro Continental teams that have received the wild card entries for each of the races are as follows:
GIRO D’ITALIA (6 – 29 May) – 4 wild cards (22 teams of 9 riders each)
Bardiani CSF (ITA)
Gazprom – Rusvelo (RUS)
Nippo – Vini Fantini (ITA)
Southeast – Venezuela (ITA) – the right was acquired by winning the Italian Cup
Tirreno-Adriatico (9 – 15 March) – 5 wild cards (23 teams of 8 riders each)
Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec (ITA)
Bardiani CSF (ITA)
Bora-Argon 18 (GER)
Caja Rural-Seguros RGA (ESP)
CCC Sprandi Polkowice (POL)
Milano-San Remo (19 March) – 7 wild cards (25 teams of 8 riders each)
Androni Giocattoli – Sidermec ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC (ITA)
Bardiani CSF (ITA)
Bora-Argon 18 (GER)
CCC Sprandi Polkowice (POL)
Cofidis, Solutions Credits (FRA)
Southeast – Venezuela (ITA)
Team Novo Nordisk TEAM NOVO NORDISK (USA)
Mauro Vegni, RCS Sport Head of Cycling, commented: “First of all I would like to thank the many teams that requested to participate at our races this year. This makes us incredibly proud, but at the same time makes the choice of the wild cards more and more difficult.”
“Following the philosophy we adopted in the last few years, we wanted to once again safeguard Italian cycling, while at the same time keeping a very close eye on all the other requests coming from all over the world.”
“In this year’s selections, in particular those for the Giro d’Italia, we wanted to give space to our national movement, but that doesn’t need to be the only factor that we are obliged to consider.”
“The international development of all our races remains one of the cornerstones of our strategy and guided us in the final choice of the wild cards.”
