Cadel Evans is ready to get started. (Image credit: www.epicimages.us)
Organiser RCS Sport announced the list of teams invited to its upcoming events, the Montepaschi Strade Bianche Toscana, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo without any major surprises in the roster.
Listed, as expected, for all races will be the BMC team of World Champion Cadel Evans and Alessandro Ballan. The only Italian Pro Continental team not to be invited to any of the races was the Ceramica Flaminia squad of Riccardo Ricco, who is making his comeback after a doping suspension. Without the UCI's "wild card" designation, the De Rosa-Stac Plastic team did not qualify for entry into Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo.
For the first event, the UCI category 1.1 Montepaschi Strade Bianche on March 6, only 15 teams will tackle the dusty white gravel roads in Tuscany, among them Team Sky of defending champion Thomas Lövkvist, the Saxo Bank team of 2008 winner Fabian Cancellara and the Katusha team of inaugural race winner Alexandr Kolobnev, according to Tuttobiciweb.it.
Other ProTour squads include AG2R La Mondiale, Astana, Garmin-Transitions, Lampre, Liquigas, Omega Pharma-Lotto and Team Sky, and from the Professional Continental ranks comes Acqua & Sapone, Androni-Diquigiovanni, Cervélo TestTeam and ISD-Neri.
Twenty-two teams will tackle the seven stages of the second "Historic" race of the year, Tirreno-Adriatico. All of the ProTour squads except Footon Servetto-Fuji and Team RadioShack were on the list of invited teams, with the wild-card invitations going to Acqua & Sapone, the Androni-Diquigiovanni team of last year's overall winner Michele Scarponi, BMC, Cervélo TestTeam, Colnago CSF-Inox and ISD-Neri.
Evans signaled his intent to use Tirreno-Adriatico rather than Paris-Nice as preparation for the Giro d'Italia during the team's camp earlier this month, but the team's participation was contingent on the wild card invitation by the organiser.
All of the teams racing Tirreno-Adriatico will also participate in Milano-Sanremo, the first of cycling's five Monuments for the year and the first one-day race on the UCI's World Calendar.
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La Classicissima will see the addition of Team Radioshack as part of the 25 team field, as well as the Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Camiooro-NGC squads.
RCS Sport is also the organiser of the Giro d'Italia, and the announcement of the teams for the first Grand Tour of the year is expected soon.
Montepaschi Strade Bianche Toscana
Acqua & Sapone-Mokambo AG2R La Mondiale Androni-Diquigiovanni Astana BMC Cervélo Test Team Garmin-Transition ISD-Neri Lampre-Farnese Vini Liquigas-Doimo Omega Pharma-Lotto Sky Professional Cycling Team Team HTC-Columbia Team Katusha Team Saxo Bank
Tirreno-Adriatico
Acqua & Sapone-Mokambo AG2R La Mondiale Androni-Diquigiovanni Astana BMC Caisse d'Epargne Cervélo Test Team Colnago-CSF Inox Euskaltel-Euskadi Francaise Des Jeux Garmin-Transitions ISD-Neri Lampre-Farnese Vini Liquigas-Doimo Omega Pharma-Lotto Quick Step Rabobank Sky Professional Cycling Team Team HTC-Columbia Team Katusha Team Milram Team Saxo Bank
Milano-Sanremo
Acqua & Sapone-Mokambo AG2R La Mondiale Androni-Diquigiovanni Astana Bbox Bouygues Telecom BMC Caisse d'Epargne Carmiooro-NGC Cervélo Test Team Colnago-CSF Inox Euskaltel-Euskadi Francaise Des Jeux Garmin-Transition ISD-Neri Lampre-Farnese Vini Liquigas-Doimo Omega Pharma-Lotto Quick Step Rabobank Sky Professional Cycling Team Team HTC-Columbia Team Katusha Team Milram Team RadioShack Team Saxo Bank
