Bayern Rundfahrt issued eight wild-card invitations

The Bayern Rundfahrt has issued its eight wild-card invitations to five German teams, and one each Dutch, Belgian and Polish teams. That rounds out the 18 teams which will appear in the race this May, with the other 10 being previously-announced ProTeams.

Team NetApp, the only German Professional Continental team, got a wild-card to its homeland stage race, as did Continental-ranked teams Eddy Merckx-Indeland, Heizomat, NSP and Nutrixxion.

Professional Continental-ranked Dutch team Skil-Shimano, Topsport-Vlaanderen of Belgium, and Polish team CCC Polsat Polkowice were also invited.

“Some of the teams will have a hard time against the world's elite, but the invitations to the best German teams is a matter of honour for us, because for them the Bayern Rundfahrt is the absolute season highlight,” said Uwe Peschel, a former rider who is now the race's sport director.

“Plus in the past we have seen that the small teams never miss a chance to bug the 'big boys'. And if they are lucky, they can win.”

The 'big boys' will be represented at the race by Leopard Trek, Saxo Bank SunGard, Sky ProCycling, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Lampre-ISD, Europcar, HTC-Highroad, FDJ, Garmin-Cervélo and Ag2R.