RCS Sport revealed the three teams that received a wildcard for the 104th edition of the Giro d’Italia: Bardiani CSF Faizane, EOLO-Kometa and Vini Zabu.
The battle for the wildcards was between Italian teams Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, Bardiani CSF Faizane, Vini Zabu-Brado-KTM and EOLO-Kometa, France’s Arkea Samsic (the squad of 2014 Giro winner Nairo Quintana) and Gazprom-RusVelo from Russia.
Alpecin-Fenix was the best ProTeam of last season and gets an automatic invitation to the first grand tour of the season. The Belgian formation has accepted it, RCS Sport reported in a press release.
The UCI recently gave the green light for an extra wildcard in the three grand tours, that is why 23 teams will start in the Giro.
This will be the first participation for EOLO-Kometa, the team of Ivan Basso and Alberto Contador. The team took the step to the ProTour this year and strengthened itself with Francesco Gavazzi and Manuel Belletti, who already have the necessary experience in the Giro.
A notable absentee is Androni Giocattoli-Sidermec, the team managed by Gianni Savio, having been a regular feature at the race in past years. In 2019 they won stage six with Fausto Masnada.
However, Androni is invited to three other RCS events, joining Alpecin, EOLO, Arkea-Samsic, Gazprom and Direct Energie at Tirreno-Adriatico; Alpecin, Arkea-Samsic, Bardiani, EOLO and Vini at Strade Bianche; and Alpecin, Arkea-Samsic, Bardiani, Novo Nordisk and Direct Energie in Milan-San Remo.
