Early selection would curtail traditional push for results
Normally teams vying for a place in the Tour de France have several months to show they deserve selection, using ASO-organised events such as the Tour of Qatar, Tour of Oman, Paris-Nice, Paris-Roubaix and Criterium International to fight for big results. Shining in these races has long been thought influential in making a case for wildcard selection.
This season the 18 ProTeam squads have been guaranteed selection to the race, leaving only a very small number of places for Pro Continental squads to lever their way into the Tour. That could have led to a ferocious scrap in those other ASO events but there are indications that things could be different this year.
According to the website Cyclism’Actu, this year’s selections will actually be made as early as the end of January, a time when some of those vying for slots may not even have started racing. It quotes ASO technical director Jean-François Pescheux as the source of the information. Furthermore, it adds that Pescheux predicts ‘several surprises’ with regard to the teams which will be selected, saying that there would be a lot of disappointments.
The UCI’s hierarchy of teams for 2011 was announced last Autumn. Removing the 18 ProTeams (of which there’s just one French team, Ag2r La Mondiale) and also taking out Pegasus Sports, which was unable to secure a ProTeam licence, leaves the following: :
17, Geox-TMC
19, Cofidis Le Crédit en ligne
21, FDJ
22, Saur-Sojasun
24, Skil-Shimano
25, Acqua e Sapone
26, Colnago-CSF Inox
27, Europcar
28, Androni Giocattoli
29, Topsport Vlaanderen-Mercator
30, Veranda’s Willems-Accent
31, Team Type 1
32, CCC Polsat Polkowice
33, Bretagne-Schuller
34, Farnese Vini – Neri Sottoli
35, Landbouwkrediet
36, UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling
37, Team Netapp
38, Team SpiderTech powered by C10
39, Caja Rural
40, Colombia Es Pasion-Café de Colombia
41, De Rosa-Ceramica Flamina
All have Pro Continental licences and are thus eligible for selection. Of those, French teams Cofidis, FDJ and Europcar seem to be strong contenders, with the latter being ranked outside the top 25 in the UCI’s hierarchy but including French favourite Thomas Voeckler, who won the French championship last year, took a stage in the Tour de France and also won the GP Cycliste de Quebec.
Many will also see Geox-TMC as a likely contender, given that it includes 2010 podium-finisher Denis Menchov and 2008 Tour winner Carlos Sastre. French team Saur-Sojasun and Skil-Shimano are also positioned well to challenge, but Pescheux’s prediction of surprises and disappointments hints that some of these will be unhappy at the end of January.
If Cyclism’Actu’s information is indeed correct, the identities of the successful and unsuccessful wildcard applicants will be known in the next fortnight.