BMC confirmed for Giro d'Italia

Giro d'Italia organisers RCS Sport announced today the names of 22 teams which will participate in this year's opening Grand Tour. 15 ProTour teams and seven wild cards from the Professional Continental ranks will contest the three-week race which begins in Amsterdam on May 8.

The BMC team of World Champion Cadel Evans earned a spot, as Evans has been open about wanting to race the Giro to win it. Also in from the Professional Continental ranks is the Cervelo team of Carlos Sastre, the French teams Bbox Bouygues Telecom and Cofidis, as well as Italian teams Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli and Colnago-CSF Inox.

Not on the list are ProTour teams Francaise des Jeux and Euskaltel-Euskadi, as well as Italian Professional Continental teams De Rosa-Stac Plastic, Carmiooro NGC, ISD-Neri, and the team of Riccardo Riccò, Ceramica Flaminia. Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil also applied for an invite but did not make the cut. As a result, the Rabobank team of defending champion Denis Menchov will be the only Dutch squad on the start line in Amsterdam.

As announced this weekend, the event will go off without Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team, with the squad opting to send its top riders to the Tour of California. Armstrong also soured his relationship with the race director Angelo Zomegnan by helping to lead a protest of the Giro's circuit race in Milan last year.

Teams for the 2010 Giro d'Italia

ProTour

Ag2R-La Mondiale
Astana
Caisse d'Epargne
Footon-Servetto
Garmin-Transitions
HTC-Columbia
Katusha
Lampre Farnese Vini
Liquigas-Doimo
Milram
Omega Pharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saxo Bank
Sky Pro Cycling Team

Professional Continental

Acqua & Sapone
Androni-Diquigiovanni
Bbox Bouygues Telecom
BMC Racing Team
Cervelo TestTeam
Cofidis, Le Credit en Ligne
Colnago-CSF Inox