Seven wildcards awarded to Professional Continental teams for WorldTour race
Race organiser ASO has announced the twenty-five teams that have been invited to Paris-Roubaix, the Queen of the Classics, on April 8th. As an event in the International Cycling Union (UCI) WorldTour, all eighteen first division ProTeams are automatically invited, and ASO has awarded seven wildcards to second division Professional Continental teams.
With eight riders per team, the peloton will be right on the UCI’s maximum of two hundred for the race.
Unsurprisingly, since the race is the biggest one-day event in France, all four of the country’s ProConti teams have been invited, with Bretagne-Schuller, Cofidis, Saur-Sojasun, and Team Europcar all on the list; with the list of ProTeams including AG2R La Mondiale and FDJ-BigMat this season, there will therefore be a total of six French teams on the Compiegne start line.
The remaining three invitations have been awarded to some of the spring’s most ambitious and aggressive teams. Project 1t4i has evidently impressed ASO enough, through the victories of Marcel Kittel in the Tour of Oman, as well as John Degenkolb’s two podium spots in Paris-Nice; the latter’s fifth place in Saturday’s Milano-Sanremo showing that the 23-year-old German can go the distance in the Monument races.
Cobbled Classics specialist – and 2009 Roubaix second place – Filippo Pozzato’s presence in the British-registered Italian Farnese Vini-Selle Italia has been enough to secure the team an invitation. The ambitious new German Team NetApp, which has been awarded a number of big wildcards this season – including a surprise one to May’s Giro d’Italia – has been given the nod for the final spot; marking the team’s second straight appearance at l’Enfer du Nord.
Teams for Paris-Roubaix, April 8th (WorldTour)
18 WorldTour teams
AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
Astana Pro Team (Kaz)
BMC Racing Team (USA)
Euskaltel-Euskadi (Esp)
FDJ-Big Mat (Fra)
Garmin-Barracuda (USA)
Greenedge Cycling Team (Aus)
Katusha Team (Rus)
Lampre-ISD (Ita)
Liquigas-Cannondale (Ita)
Lotto-Belisol Team (Bel)
Movistar Team (Esp)
Omega Pharma-Quick Step (Bel)
Rabobank Cycling Team (Ned)
Radioshack-Nissan (Lux)
Sky Procycling (GBr)
Team Saxo Bank (Den)
Vacansoleil-DCM Pro Cycling Team (Ned)
Seven Professional Continental “wildcard” teams
Bretagne-Schuller (Fra)
Cofidis, le crédit en ligne (Fra)
Farnese Vini-Selle Italia (GBr)
Project 1t4i (Ned)
Saur-Sojasun (Fra)
Team Europcar (Fra)
Team Netapp (Ger)