Team management from Q36.5, Tudor Pro Cycling, Polti VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani were all in Rome for the Giro d'Italia 2025 route presentation, lobbing for wild card places as the Grand Tour organisers complete their considerations and negotiations and prepare to reveal who will be awarded the coveted golden tickets to cycling biggest race of 2025.
In previous years, Grand Tour wild card selections have often been straightforward but this year Q36,5, Tudor and Uno-X Mobility all have legitimate claims, long-term sponsorship in place and ambitions to step up to WorldTour in the years ahead. The current UCI rules regarding ranking points, licences and wild cards play against them and leave them hanging and hoping for invitations to the WorldTour races, including the Spring Classics and other stage races.
There have been suggestions that the UCI may consider allowing 23 teams to compete in all three Grand Tours in 2025 to resolve the wild card conundrum but this would increase the size of the peloton from 176 to 184 and spark questions about crashes and rider safety.
Under the current UCI rules, the 18 WorldTour teams are automatically invited to the three Grand Tours, with the two best-ranked ProTeams in 2024 also invited but able to opt-out. Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech will join the 18 WorldTour team on the Tour de France start list, with French ProTeam TotalEnergies also expected to line up in Lille on July 5.
Tom Pidock and his new Q36.5 team have admitted they will not ride the Tour this year and so that leaves Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X Mobility in a battle for the final golden ticket.
Uno-X Mobility have ridden the Tour de France thanks to a wild card invitation for the last two years. However, Tudor have signed Julian Alaphilippe and Marc Hirschi and seem confident of starting the Tour for the first time. Tour organiser ASO announced the wild card on January 18 in 2024, and so a final decision appears imminent.
The 18 WorldTour teams plus Lotto and Israel-Premier Tech have automatic invitations to the Spanish Grand Tour, with race organisers Unipublic rotating the Spanish wild card invitations between Kern Pharma, Euskaltel, Burgos-BH and Caja Rural. A final decision is expected in February.
Giro organiser RCS Sport is also expected to reveal their three wild card invitations next week. However several teams told Cyclingnews in Rome that negotiations are still ongoing, with RCS Sport making significant demands and playing teams off each other in a round of pro cycling horse-trading.
Lotto have opted out of the Giro to again focus on scoring vital UCI ranking points in smaller races and Uno-X Mobility are expected to also chase points in May in the hope of securing automatic Grand Tour invitations in 2026. Italian ProTeams Team Polti VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè seem assured wild card places to boost the number of Italian riders in the Corsa Rosa and so that leaves Q36.5 and Tudor locked in a battle for the final spot.
Q36.5 team manager Doug Ryder has signed Tom Pidcock from Ineos Grenadiers and hopes it will be enough to secure a wild card place at the Giro or the Vuelta a Espana. Ryder was in Rome pushing for Q36.5's place in the Giro, as was Tudor team owner Fabian Cancellara and his team management.
Tudor has been the 'official timekeeper' of all of RCS Sport's races since 2023 in a typical commercial and advertising deal that often swings and sweetens wild card decisions. RCS Sport has become far more commercially driven in recent years and are playing hardball with Q36.5 and Tudor. They occasionally pay fees to big-name riders like Tadej Pogačar but also squeeze the ProTeams.
Cyclingnews was told by a trusted source in Rome on Monday that RCS Sport are demanding that Tudor include Alaphilippe or Hirschi in their Giro roster to secure a 2025 wild card. Otherwise, their place will go to Q36.5 and Pidcock.
Giro d'Italia race director Mauro Vegni was evasive when asked about the wild cards by Cyclingnews.
"We still haven't decided the Giro wild cards, you'll have to wait a week until we make an announcement," Vegni said after the route presentation.
"I'm not interested in having 23 teams at the 2025 Giro as a solution to the problem of teams fighting for a final place.
"If it was up to me, I'd give automatic invitations to the best 14 WorldTour teams and then leave six places for wild card invitations that are decided by the race organiser."
