The organisers of the Giro d’Italia have announced that 23 teams have been invited to ride this year’s race, with which mean a total of 207 riders will ride the race.
RCS Sport has invited the 18 ProTeams and given five other invitations to Geox-TMC, Androni Giocattoli, Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli, Colnago-CSF Inox and Acqua & Sapone.
Despite being hit by two major scandals involving key riders, the Vacansoleil team in amongst the 18 ProTeams invited to the Giro.
RCS Sport made the announcement exactly two months before this year’s Giro d’Italia starts in Turin on May 7. The UCI has given RCS Sport special permission to exceed the limit of 200 riders normally allowed for major races. Each of the 23 teams will field nine riders.
The 23 teams invited to this year’s Giro d’Italia:
ProTeams:
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
BMC Racing Team (Usa)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Spa)
HTC-Highroad (Usa)
Katusha Team (Rus)
Lampre-ISD (Ita)
Leopard-Trek (Lux)
Liquigas-Cannondale (Ita)
Movistar Team (Spa)
Omega Pharma-Lotto (Bel)
Pro Team Astana (Kaz)
QuickStep Cycling Team (Bel)
Rabobank Cycling Team (Ned)
Saxo Bank-Sungard (Dan)
Sky Pro Cycling (Gbr)
Team Garmin-Cervelo (Usa)
Team RadioShack (Usa)
Vacansoleil-DCM (Ned)
Professional Continental teams:
Acqua & Sapone (Ita)
Androni Giocattoli (Ita)
Colnago-CSF (Ita)
Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli (Gbr)
Geox-TMC (Spa).