The list of 25 teams for the Giro di Lombardia has been released by the race’s organiser RCS Sport, according to Gazzetta dello Sport. The “race of the falling leaves”, the traditional end to the Italian season won last year by Philippe Gilbert (OmegaPharma-Lotto), will take place on October 16th.
There are a number of noticeable absentees from the list, which includes just 16 of the 18 ProTour teams.
Already passed over for the Giro d’Italia, also owned by RCS Sport, Lance Armstrong’s RadioShack team is one of the two ProTour teams to miss out. Rumours of a spat between Armstrong and race director Angelo Zomegnan could be the explanation for another missed invitation; this dates back to the American’s alleged involvement in the rider protest as the 2009 Giro crossed Milan, as well as Armstrong’s no-show at March’s Milano-Sanremo.
The other ProTour team missing out is Footon-Servetto, which is more of a surprise. The Spanish-registered team was one of the 16 teams listed in an agreement between the International Cycling Union (UCI) and the organisers of the three Grand Tours back in September 2008. Despite any amount of aggressive racing though, the team’s biggest victory of the year has been Manuel Cardoso’s win on stage 3 of the Tour Down Under, way back in January.
Another notable absentee from the list is Dutch team Vacansoleil, the new team of Riccardo Riccò who returned from a 20-month doping ban earlier in the year, which misses out on yet another major race this year. Riccò finished second in the race in 2007, but his previous team Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce missed out on an invitation to the Giro in May because RCS Sport was not quite ready to forgive him.
There are few surprises in the list of nine Professional Continental teams invited, with the BMC Racing Team of World champion Cadel Evans, the Cervélo TestTeam, and French teams Bbox Bouyges Telecom and Cofidis making it along with the top Italians
The ISD-Neri team of Italian champion Giovanni Visconti will be especially pleased to be invited, having been passed over for the Giro in May.
Teams invited to Giro di Lombardia, October 16th:
ProTour teams:
AG2R-La Mondiale
Astana
Caisse d'Epargne
Euskaltel-Euskadi
FDJ
Garmin-Transitions
Lampre-Farnese Vini
Liquigas-Doimo
OmegaPharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Team Sky
HTC-Columbia
Team Katusha
Team Milram
Team Saxo Bank
Professional Continental teams:
Acqua & Sapone-d'Angelo & Antenucci
Androni Giocattoli-Serramenti Pvc Diquigiovanni
Bbox Bouygues Telecom
BMC Racing Team
Carmiooro-NGC
Cervélo TestTeam
Cofidis, le Crédit en Ligne
Colnago-CSF Inox
ISD-Neri