Mauro Santambrogio (Vini Fantini-Selle Italia) won the 14th stage of the Giro d'Italia, finishing first atop the Jafferau (Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Cadel Evans held on for a podium place in the Giro d'Italia in May(Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)
Vincenzo Nibali (Astana) was crowned the 2013 Giro d'Italia winner(Image credit: Bettini Photo)
Eight Pro Continental teams have applied for three available Giro d'Italia wildcards. Androni Giocattoli-Venezuela already received the fourth entry ticket to the Giro as winners of the Coppa Italia, a team classification based on Italian races.
The eight teams are Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox, Caja Rural-RGA, Team Colombia, IAM Cycling, MTN-Qhubeka, Team NetApp-Endura, Team Novo Nordisk and UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team.
The former Vini Fantini team, which has applied for a Pro Continental licence for 2014 as Yellow Fluo, is not on the list that was published by the Giro organization on its Facebook page. The team was part of this year's Giro but seem to pay the price for the positive doping tests of both Danilo di Luca and stage winner Mauro Santambrogio.
Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox will hope to repeat their 2013 participation. The same goes for Colombia, and though the South American team has lost high profile riders like Esteban Chaves [Orica-Greenedge] and Darwin Atapuma [BMC Racing Team], it has been linked with a move for 2008 Olympic champion Samuel Sanchez.
Along with Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox, MTN-Qhubeka seems to hold the best cards for a Grand Tour debut. The African Pro Continental team received wildcards from RCS [the Giro organization] races like Milan-San Remo, Tirreno-Adriatico and Il Lombardia in 2013, claiming victory at Milan-San Remo through Gerald Ciolek.
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