The organiser of the Giro di Lombardia, RCS Sport, has announced the list of twenty-five teams that have been invited to the ‘Race of the falling leaves’, which will take place on Saturday, October 15th. As an event in the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour the eighteen ProTeams have automatic invitations, and RCS Sport has also awarded seven ‘wildcard’ invitations to second division Professional Continental teams.
Unsurprisingly, four of the wildcards have been awarded to the biggest of the Italian ProContinental teams: Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, Colnago-CSF Inox, and Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (although the last two on that list are actually registered in Ireland and Great Britain respectively). A fifth goes to Geox-TMC, the team of former Grand Tour winners Carlos Sastre and Denis Menchov, meaning that the 23 teams that rode in this year’s Giro d’Italia have all been invited.
With eight riders per team though, there is room to invite two more teams to take the peloton up to the maximum allowable two hundred; these invitations have been awarded to French teams Europcar and FDJ.
FDJ currently leads the European Continental Tour, the second division ranking below the WorldTour, and was by far the most aggressive team in the recent Tour de France. Europcar is, of course, the team of Thomas Voeckler, who wore the Tour’s yellow jersey for ten days and finished the race in fourth overall; he also leads the individual European Tour ranking, even though that Tour performance is not counted.
Philippe Gilbert (Omega Pharma-Lotto) has won the last two editions of the race and will be the overwhelming favourite to add a third title this time. The Belgian champion will have to do so on a different course this time though as the race finish has been moved to the city of Lecco, to the east of Como, where it has finished since 2004.
While Lecco is similarly positioned, on the southern tip of the eastern branch of the upturned ‘Y’ of the Lago di Como/Lago di Lecco, it is actually closer to the top of the Madonna del Ghisallo, which could make the climb more decisive than before.
Teams invited to the Giro di Lombardia
ProTeams
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Astana (Kaz)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa)
Garmin-Cervélo (USA)
HTC-Highroad (USA)
Katusha (Rus)
Lampre-ISD (Ita)
Leopard Trek (Lux)
Liquigas-Cannondale (Ita)
Movistar (Spa)
Omega Pharma-Lotto (Bel)
Quick Step (Bel)
Rabobank (Ned)
RadioShack (USA)
Saxo Bank-SunGard (Den)
Team Sky (GBr)
Vacansoleil-DMC (Ned)
Professional Continental ‘wildcard’ teams
Acqua & Sapone (Ita)
Androni Giocattoli-C.I.P.I. (Ita)
Colnago-CSF Inox (Irl)
Europcar (Fra)
Geox-TMC (Spa)
Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (GBr)
FDJ (Fra)