This afternoon, RCS Sport announced wildcard invitations for the Giro d'Italia. At the same time, the company also named wildcard entries for the other major races it controls - Milan - San Remo, Tirreno - Adriatico, and Il Lombardia.
For the Giro d'Italia, the four squads making the cut are Androni Giacattoli, Colnago-CSF Inox, Farnese Vini - Selle Italia, and Team NetApp. As is hardly surprising, the first three are Italian teams with promising talent. The surprising exclusion is Aqua & Sapone, the team of former Giro winners Stefano Garzelli and Danilo Di Luca. For the past several years, it has been customary to invite the teams of these two former winners, but RCS Sport may have finally decided that the excitement factor of two slowing riders was not enough to justify inclusion of their historically weak team. In the past several editions, the only attention the team has garnered was through Garzelli's stage wins in 2009 and 2010 (not that stage wins are boring, but RCS would likely prefer some additional excitement from younger Italian riders).
The last team - NetApp - has been given a crucial opportunity to develop further. As profiled by Chris earlier this week, the German team is composed mostly of younger riders who can be expected to go stage hunting at the Giro. The opportunity to participate in one of the biggest races of the year will serve to not only garner media exposure but also to help develop riders, particularly those who have never ridden a Grand Tour with another team. In a way, the Giro invitation also serves as validation that the team is on the way up and belongs in the upper levels of professional cycling.
The rest of the wildcard announcements do not come as a surprise. Aqua & Sapone was given the consolation prize of an invitation to Tirreno Adriatico and Project 1t4I (formerly Skil Shimano) was invited to both of the one-day Monuments that RCS runs.
Giro d'Italia
Androni Giocattoli
Colnago-CSF Inox
Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
Team NetApp
Tirreno-Adriatico
Acqua & Sapone
Colnago-CSF Inox
Colombia-Coldeportes
Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
Milan-San Remo
Acqua & Sapone
Colnago-CSF Inox
Colombia-Coldeportes
Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
Project 1t4I
Team Type 1 - Sanofi
Utensilnord
Il Lombardia
Acqua & Sapone
Androni Giocattoli
Colnago-CSF Inox
Colombia-Coldeportes
Farnese Vini-Selle Italia
Project 1t4I
Utensilnord