The organisers of the Giro d'Italia have awarded wildcard invitations to Q36.5 Pro Cycling and Tudor Pro Cycling, alongside Italian teams Polti-VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè, confirming a total of 23 teams will compete in this year's Corsa Rosa.
Like the Tour de France and Vuelta a España organisers, RCS Sport requested a 23rd place for the 2025 Giro d'Italia after Q36.5, Tudor and other ProTeams pushed for a place in the Grand Tours.
The 2025 Giro d'Italia starts in Albania on Friday May 9 and ends in Rome on Sunday June 1. Tadej Pogačar won last year's edition of the Giro d'Italia but has opted to focus on the Spring Classics and Tour de France in 2025.
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Overall contenders for this year's event include Primož Roglič and Jai Hindley (Red Bull-Bora-Hansgrohe), Juan Ayuso and Adam Yates (UAE Team Emirates), Egan Bernal (Ineos Grenadiers), Derek Gee (Israel-Pemier Tech) and Richard Carapaz (EF Education-EasyPost). Wout Van Aert (Visma-Lease a Bike) and Mads Pedersen (Lild-Trek) are also on the entry list.
After the UCI approved the invitation of an extra team beyond the usual participation rules on Monday, the Tour de France immediately awarded their three wildcard places to TotalEnergies, Tudor Pro Cycling and Uno-X Mobility.
The Vuelta a España organisers will have to decide between the Spanish ProTeams Kern Pharma, Euskaltel-Euskadi, Burgos BH-Burpellet and Caja Rural-Seguros RGA and probably Q36.5 and Uno-X Mobility.
The Giro d'Italia wildcard selections mean that Tom Pidcock can now prepare to lead Q36.5 Pro Cycling at the Giro d'Italia. It remains to be seen if Tudor bowed to pressure from RCS Sport and will select Julian Alaphilippe or Marc Hirshi in their line-up.
The 18 WorldTour teams automatically receive invitations to the three Grand Tours, while the two best-ranked ProTeams from the previous season also secure automatic places. Race organisers can then award the final 'wild card' places at their discretion.
Israel-Premier Tech and Lotto earned automatic invites to the 2025 Grand Tours as the top two ProTeams of 2024. After Lotto opted to forgo the Corsa Rosa, the Giro organisers were able to invite four wildcard teams, with Tudor and Q36.5, Polti-VisitMalta and VF Group-Bardiani CSF-Faizanè securing the golden tickets to the Corsa Rosa.
