They were in, now they're out.
The ASO announced Friday that Petacchi and his LPR team are disinvited to Paris-Tour. The teams, Mitzubishi and Collstrop, have also been excluded. In their official press release, the ASO said, "The UCI has officially confirmed on Friday that these teams did not register with the blood passport program. We decided immediately not to keep them" in the race. The decision in part reflected a response to a threatened boycott by the other teams in the race, who did not want to compete against riders not part of the blood passport program. The race will include 22 teams, as the ASO does not plan to invite any replacements for the three.
The move comes hard on the heels of a change in leadership at the ASO, a change that in part reflected a desire by the Amaury family to end the warfare between the UCI and the ASO. Welcome to the new era of good feelings.
Source: l'equipe.fr.
Yes, I know, someone already posted this news also. But I felt it worthy of more than a comment buried in the Open Thread amongst the centaurs and such.