RadioShack wins appeal, races Lombardia
Race organizers announced today that Team RadioShack will be allowed to ride in the Giro di Lombardia after all. When RCS Sport originally announced the 25 teams invited to the event, RadioShack was not on the list. After previously being passed up by the Italian classic race, the Tirreno-Adriatico, and then by the Vuelta a Espana, one of only two ProTour teams not participating in that event, team manager Johan Bruyneel had had enough.
"In January 2010, an agreement was reached between Team RadioShack and RCS Sport regarding the participation of the US Team at the Giro di Lombardia 2010 (October 16th, 2010)," stated a team press release. "Team RadioShack has immediately summoned RCS Sport before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) in Lausanne, seeking compensation for damages due to the non-fulfilment of the contract between Team RadioShack and RCS Sport regarding the participation in the Tour of Lombardy."
Before the issue could make it to the CAS, RCS Sport approached the Union Cycliste Internationale for permission to invite the team to the event retroactively. The permission was granted under the condition that the total number of riders in the race be no more than 200.
“RCS Sport has been given the green light from the Presidents of the UCI and CUPT – Pat McQuaid and Vittorio Adorni, respectively – to bring the number of teams participating to 26 in the race on October 16,” stated a release by RCS Sport.
The Italian race, the final classic of the season, is organized by the same company which organizes the Giro d’Italia and the Tirreno-Adriatico, two Italian races which RadioShack missed out on. Rumours of a rivalry between Lance Armstrong and Angelo Zomegnan, the Italia race director, have circulated since Armstrong participated in the rider protest in the 2009 Giro d’Italia and failed to meet his scheduled appearance at the Milano-Sanremo in March.
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