21 Teams announced for the Vuelta a Espana

The organiser of the 2009 Vuelta a España, Unipublic, released the list of participating teams, including those being granted a wild card. Twenty-nine teams asked to be invited to the event starting on August 29 in Assen, Netherlands, but only 21 made the cut.

There are 16 ProTour teams and five Professional Continental teams taking part, all adhering to the International Cycling Union's (UCI) biological passport programme.

Katusha and Fuji-Servetto are the only two of 18 ProTour teams without invitation. The five Professional Continental teams invited are Andalucía Cajasur, Cervélo TestTeam, Contentpolis-Ampo, Vacansoleil Pro Cycling Team and Xacobeo Galicia.

The selected teams represent ten countries: five Spanish teams, four French, two Italian, two US American, two Belgian, two Dutch, one Kazakh, one German, one Swiss and one Danish.

The 2009 Vuelta will be international with its first four stages taking place outside of Spain. The race will be starting in the Netherlands before moving to Belgium via Germany.

The full list of participating teams is AG2R La Mondiale, Andalucía Cajasur, Astana, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Caisse d´Epargne, Cervélo TestTeam, Cofidis, Contentpolis-Ampo, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Française Des Jeux, Garmin-Slipstream, Lampre-NGC, Liquigas, Quick-Step, Rabobank, Silence-Lotto, Columbia-Highroad, Milram, Saxo Bank, Vacansoleil and Xacobeo Galicia.