The 2010 Tour de France will likely have 22 teams at the start line in Rotterdam on July 3. Tour director Christian Prudhomme was not non-committal about increasing the current 20-team limit at a press conference in Rotterdam yesterday. But all signs lead to a peloton of 198 riders, as each team gets to pick nine racers.
Currently, accommodation searches are done for 22 teams. "The transfer season was quite busy and new teams were formed. The wildcard selection will be tougher than this year, when there were only 20 teams," said Prudhomme to Sporza.
There are 14 teams that are already selected according to an 2008 agreement. However, Footon-Servetto and Lampre, which are part of the 14 team-list, may not necessarily be invited yet. Footon-Servetto is the successor of Saunier Duval and was not welcomed this year's Tour due to the Riccardo Riccó case. Lampre has not received a ProTour license from the UCI.
Thus the current list of likely teams includes Quick Step, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Française des Jeux, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Caisse d'Epargne, Cofidis, AG2R-La Mondiale, Milram, Team Columbia-HTC, Astana, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Rabobank, Liquigas and Team Saxo Bank.
The fight for the remaining eight wild cards will be fierce. Garmin-Slipstream, Team Sky, Katusha, Radio Shack, as well as professional continental teams Cervélo, BMC, Saur-Sojasun, Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil are battling it out. Lampre's position remains unclear.