The CSF Bardiani team works together(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
The new Yellow Fluo kit and bike(Image credit: Neri-Fluo Yellow)
Fabio Duarte (Colombia) in action at Settimana Lombarda.(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Bardiani-CSF, Colombia and YellowFluo-Neri Sottoli have been awarded wildcard invitations to the 2014 Giro d’Italia, organisers RCS Sport announced on Thursday. The three teams join Coppa Italia winners Androni-Venezuela and the 18 WorldTour teams on the start line of the Giro, which gets underway in Belfast on May 9.
All three teams were invited to last year’s Giro, but the return of Luca Scinto’s YellowFluo-Neri Sottoli team is perhaps something of a surprise. Their presence under the Vini Fantini-Selle Italia banner at last year’s race was marred by positive tests for EPO from Danilo Di Luca and Mauro Santambrogio.
In a statement on Thursday, RCS Sport acknowledged that it had made a conscious decision to promote Italian cycling by inviting YellowFluo and Bardiani to the exclusion of international applicants such as MTN-Qhubeka (South Africa), UnitedHealthcare (USA) or IAM Cycling (Switzerland).
“The choices made […] were dictated by the opportunity – at this historic moment – to sustain the Italian cycling movement, without ever losing sight of international development,” said the RCS Sport statement, which also stressed that "All four teams with wildcards for the 2014 Giro d’Italia are members of the MPCC (Movement for Credible Cycling).”
RCS Sport also unveiled the wildcard invitations to its other WorldTour events on Thursday, in keeping with its recent policy of announcing the line-up of its races before the beginning of the season.
MTN-Qhubeka received some measure of consolation by securing invitations to Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo, which Gerald Ciolek won last year, but the South African squad will be disappointed to miss out on a grand tour debut.
The IAM Cycling team of Sylvain Chavanel has been invited to Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico and the Tour of Lombardy.
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Wildcard invitations to RCS Sport's 2014 WorldTour events:
Giro d’Italia Androni Giocattoli (Ita) (as Coppa Italia winners) Bardiani CSF (Ita) Colombia (Col) Yellow Fluo (Ita)
Tirreno - Adriatico Bardiani CSF (Ita) MTN - Qhubeka (RSA) IAM Cycling (Swi) Team Net App - Endura (Ger)
Milan-San Remo Androni Giocattoli (Ita) Bardiani CSF (Ita) IAM Cycling (Swi) MTN - Qhubeka (RSA) Team Net App – Endura (Ger) Unitedhealthcare Professional Cycling Team (Usa) Yellow Fluo (Ita)
Il Lombardia Androni Giocattoli (Ita) Bardiani CSF (Ita) Caja Rural - Seguros RGA (Spa) Colombia (Col) IAM Cycling (Swi) Team Net App – Endura (Ger) Yellow Fluo (Ita)
Barry Ryan was Head of Features at Cyclingnews. He has covered professional cycling since 2010, reporting from the Tour de France, Giro d’Italia and events from Argentina to Japan. His writing has appeared in The Independent, Procycling and Cycling Plus. He is the author of The Ascent: Sean Kelly, Stephen Roche and the Rise of Irish Cycling’s Golden Generation, published by Gill Books.
