[ad_1]
After not being supplied a wildcard for the 2024 Tour de France, Fabian Cancellara’s Tudor Pro Cycling squad have obtained a extremely sought-after wildcard invitation to this yr’s Giro d’Italia. They are going to be joined by Alberto Contador’s Team Polti Kometa, who will return to the race for a fourth successive season.
Learn extra: Giro d’Italia 2024 route revealed
Israel-Premier Tech have accepted their computerized invitation to trip the Giro, given their efficiency as a UCI ProTeam in 2023, however fellow ProTeam high-flyer Lotto Dstny have declined the chance to trip in Italy. Very like final season, the Belgian crew will as a substitute prioritise gathering UCI factors in smaller stage races.
Lotto Dstny’s absence has allowed the Giro’s organisers, RCS Sport, at hand out three wildcard slots to this yr’s race. Becoming a member of Staff Polti Kometa and Tudor Professional Biking on the startlist would be the long-standing Italian outfit, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè.
These 4 sides will be part of the 18 UCI WorldTeams on the Grande Partenza in Turin on 4 Could. Among the many star-studded lineup that’s anticipated to take to the Giro will probably be race debutants Tadej Pogačar (UAE Team Emirates) and Julian Alaphilippe (Soudal Quick-Step), each of whom have made their ambitions clear.
Learn extra:
Each VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè and Staff Polti Kometa are not any strangers to the Giro d’Italia, with the previous’s historical past with the race courting again to their time as Termolan in 1982. Since their founding yr, the Italian facet have received many levels of the Giro by way of the likes of Patrizio Gamirasio (1988), Stefano Allochio (1990), Julio Alberto Pérez (2001, 2002), Brett Lancaster (2005) and most lately, Giulio Ciccone (2016).
Polti Kometa, in the meantime, received a well-known stage atop Monte Zoncolan in 2021 by way of the younger Lorenzo Fortunato, in what was a Grand Tour debut for Contador’s facet. The title Polti, in fact, is synonymous with the crew that received the factors and Intergiro classifications by way of Djamolidine Abdoujaparov in 1994.
“Groups like ours have been speaking about wild playing cards because the pre-season coaching camps,” mentioned Polti Kometa crew supervisor and former Giro d’Italia winner, Ivan Basso. “To obtain the invitation to the Giro and different prestigious occasions is a supply of nice pleasure, a reward for our continuity and our means of tackling the races past the outcomes.
“The Giro would be the centrepiece of all the Polti Kometa calendar and we’ll trip it with the best mentality: attacking however in an organised means, to benefit from each alternative and reward the organisers, the followers, the sponsors… and ourselves for the belief positioned in us”.
It will likely be in Polti Kometa that Tudor Professional Biking seeks inspiration of their first Grand Tour. The Swiss ProTeam have excessive ambitions and lately signed the likes of Matteo Trentin, Michael Storer and Alberto Dainese to bolster their ranks.
Learn extra: Matteo Trentin hopeful of Giro d’Italia wildcard for Tudor Pro Cycling
Tuesday’s announcement does, nevertheless, rule out a Giro d’Italia begin for the much-beloved GW Shimano-Sidermec crew of Gianni Savio.
Startlists introduced for Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo
Alongside final week’s UAE Tour route unveiling and Tuesday’s Giro d’Italia startlist announcement, RCS Sport has additionally revealed the groups for its different high-profile WorldTour races in Italy, specifically Strade Bianche, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-San Remo.
All three races will probably be made up of 25 groups of seven riders every, giving loads of free slots for groups outdoors of the 18 UCI WorldTeams.
For Tirreno-Adriatico, this implies Israel-Premier Tech, Staff Polti Kometa, VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè and Tudor Professional Biking will grace the startline, all of whom will probably be testing their stage forward of the Giro. Moreover, the race organisers have supplied wildcard invitations to Uno-X Mobility, Q36.5 Pro Cycling and the recently-renamed Corratec-Vini Fantini.
Uno-X Mobility are using excessive after being supplied a wildcard spot within the Tour de France earlier this week, while their performances final season have additionally supplied them an computerized spot at Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo, owing to their rating place.
Learn extra: Uno-X Mobility and TotalEnergies return to 2024 Tour de France as wildcards
Automated qualification will even see Israel-Premier Tech line up in any respect RCS races and provide Lotto Dstny a berth at Strade Bianche and Milan-San Remo.
Alongside Israel-Premier Tech, each Staff Polti Kometa and Tudor Professional Biking will line up in any respect 4 main races, while VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè will miss Strade Bianche. Of their place, Q36.5 Professional Biking and Corratec-Vini Fantini will take to the white roads of Tuscany, with the previous additionally to be anticipated at Milan-San Remo.
For all of the vital details about the 2024 Giro d’Italia, be sure you try our dedicated race hub.
[ad_2]