Ronde van Vlaanderen gives wild-cards

The Ronde van Vlaanderen has announced the seven teams to which it has issued wild-card invitations to its April 6 race. The invitations have gone to Landbouwkrediet-Tönissteiner, Topsport Vlaanderen, Mitsubishi-Jartazi, Skil-Shimano, Team Barloworld, Slipstream-Chipotle, and Cycle-Collstrop. They will join the 18 ProTour teams to create a field of 200 riders.

The invitation to Cycle-Collstrop is dependent on whether the Continental team gets UCI permission to ride in ProTour races, which is expected. However, if the UCI does not allow it, the invitation will go to team Tinkoff.