In a not too surprising move, the Amaury Sport Organization, organizers of the Tour de France and the Dauphine Libere, have selected BBox, Cervelo, Cofidis, and Saur-Sojasun as the Wild Cards for the 2010 edition of the Dauphine Libere.
Once again, it's the Dutch teams that will have just cause for disappointment. The two dominant Dutch Pro Continental outfits, Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil, were already passed up by both the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France this year, so the news will not come as a huge surprise - if anything, just another serving of bad news for two strong teams.
The four Wild Cards will join the 18 automatics from the ProTour.
The Dauphine Libere will start on June 6th in Evian-les-Bains with a 6.8 km Prologue and finish seven stages and 1080 kilometers later in Sallanches. The race will be defined by two marquee days that will see many of the Tour de France overall hopefuls ready to both test their budding form and push it that last bit forward: the Stage 3, 49 km time trial between Monteux and Sorgues will give a first indication, and if that's not enough, the ascent of the legendary dead end road to Alpe d'Huez should suffice on the penultimate day, Stage 6.
The 22 teams of the 2010 Dauphine Libere
Milram (GER), Omega Pharma (BEL), Quick Step (BEL), Saxo Bank (DEN), Caisse d'Epargne (ESP), Euskaltel (ESP), Footon (ESP), Garmin-Transitions (USA ), HTC -Columbia (USA), RadioShack (USA), AG2R (FRA), Bbox (FRA), Cofidis (FRA), Francaise des Jeux (FRA), Saur-Sojasun (FRA), Sky (GBR), Lampre ( ITA), Liquigas (ITA), Astana ( KAZ ), Rabobank (NED), Katusha (RUS) Cervélo (SUI).