With 95 days to go until the start of the 2010 Tour de France, we now know who the last six squads are who will make up the full complement of 22 teams when the first wheel is turned in Rotterdam
In addition to the 16 ProTour teams who were already guaranteed a seat at cycling’s top table, there were no real surprises when the six wildcard entrants were revealed earlier today:
- Sky, the new BSkyB-sponsored outfit, who will be led by triple Olympic gold medallist Bradley Wiggins, fourth in last year’s race
- RadioShack, another new team led by seven-time winner Lance Armstrong and including previous podium finishers Levi Leipheimer and Andreas Kloeden
- Garmin, Wiggins’ former team and the home of both Christian Vande Velde, a top 8 finisher in each of the last two Tours, and Tyler Farrar, a genuine green jersey contender
- Cervelho, the team of both 2008 yellow jersey Carlos Sastre and current green jersey holder Thor Hushovd
- BMC, led by two-time runner-up Cadel Evans, and aided and abetted by Armstrong’s former right-hand man, George Hincapie
- Katusha, the Russian team which boasts three-time green jersey winner Robbie McEwen, Italian national champion Filippo Pozzato and Vladimir Karpets
All the first five teams are able to boast at least one marquee name who will each command considerable media interest in key global markets come July. And although Katusha’s big names are not quite at the same stratospheric level (with the exception of McEwen, who is now nearing the end of a glittering career), their record since their formation last year is ample qualification for their inclusion in the Tour.
Given that this year’s Tour will spend its first two days in Holland, Dutch teams Vacansoleil and Skil-Shimano will be particularly upset at having been omitted (as will the new all-French Saur-Sojasun squad), but in truth neither possesses a marquee name or the prospect of delivering anything more than a successful breakaway stage win. Their absence is regrettable, but will be barely noticed once the racing begins.
The fact is that the six teams selected as wildcards were neither particularly ‘wild’ nor a surprise, because they were clearly the ones most likely to have an impact at this year’s Tour. You can’t really ask for more than that.
The Tour may still be over three months away, but it is now less than six weeks until the first of this year’s Grand Tours, the Giro d’Italia, which coincidentally also starts in Holland (in Amsterdam) on May 8th. I can’t wait.
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