Paris-Roubaix organizers the Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) have announced the list of twenty-five teams who will contest the 108th edition of the race on April 12th. Two of the eighteen ProTOur teams were not invited, the Astana team of two-time Tour de France winner Alberto Contador and the young Footon-Servetto-Fuji squad.
The question is whether the ASO is respecting the 2008 agreement with the UCI that guaranteed Astana’s participation in their events, or if Astana has decided not to contest the event. Also part of that agreement was the Footon-Servetto-Fuji team, the successor of the Saunier Duval team. The team was not welcomed to last year’s Tour de France due to doping positives from the 2008 Tour involving their riders Riccardo Riccó and Leonardo Piepoli. The ASO also left them off the start list for Paris-Nice.
Only two Belgian teams will be on the start this year. The Quick Step team of defending champion Tom Boonen, and the Omega Pharma-Lotto team of Philippe Gilbert.
The Pro Continental BMC Racing team with with former World Champion Alessandro Ballan and US Champion George Hincapie was always likely to be invited to the “Hell of the North”, and organizers have confirmed their presence. The Cervélo TestTeam of last year’s second place finisher Thor Hushovd and Heinrich Haussler will also be at the start.
Dutch teams Skil-Shimano and Vacansoleil have both been invited so they can continue their fight for a wild card invitation to the Tour de France this July.
The 25 teams that will contest the 2010 Paris-Roubaix:
Belgium: Omega Pharma-Lotto, Quick Step
Denmark: Saxo Bank
France : AG2R, Bbox Bouygues Telecom, Cofidis, FDJ, Saur-Sojasun
Germany: Milram
Great Britain : Team Sky
Italy: Acqua e Sapone, Androni, Lampre-Farnese Vini, Liquigas-Doimo
Netherlands: Rabobank, Skil-Shimano, Vacansoleil
Russia: Katusha
Spain e: Caisse d’Epargne, Euskaltel-Euskadi
Switzerland: Cervélo TestTeam
USA: BMC Racing, Garmin-Transitions, HTC-Columbia, RadioShack