Teams go from Tour to Vuelta
An agreement signed in 2008 has obligated all of the UCI ProTour events to extend invitations to the 16 teams named in the agreement. The Tour de France extended an additional six invites to ‘wildcard’ teams, and Unipublic, the organizer of the Vuelta a Espana, has opted to do the same.
The third of the Grand Tours is nearly as prestigious as the Tour de France, and has long been known as the second most important cycling event in the world, so it can be devastating not to be invited, especially since it is the last big stage race of the season, running from August 28 to September 19.
The public got a taste of how devastating it can be, when Unipublic announced the six teams, and Lance Armstrong-founded Team RadioShack wasn’t one of them.
“I am not only surprised, I am speechless,” said Johan Bruyneel, RadioShack team director. “At first I thought it was a mistake so I called organiser Javier Guillén for some explanation. He told me that the other teams offered him better options on a sporting level. I had to ask him to repeat it as I could not believe this but I heard right: we didn’t offer a good enough team.”
Four of the six invites were the same as at the Tour de France: Cervelo TestTeam, Katusha, Garmin-Transitions, and Team Sky. RadioShack and the BMC-Racing Team were left out, replaced by Andalucia-Cajasur and Xacobeo-Galicia. Javier Guillén, director-general of the Vuelta a Espana, defended the decision:
“It was when we were analysing the wider sporting implications of the selections that we settled on the six teams that were given invites,” said Guillén. “Whether some of the teams are better than others is a discussion that I'm not willing to get into."
Cervelo TestTeam was founded in 2009 and hosted Thor Hushovd for his green jersey win in the 2009 Tour de France and his stage win in 2010, and hosted Simon Gerrans in a stage win in the 2009 Vuelta a Espana. Cervelo rider Carlos Sastre won the Tour in 2008 and was the Vuelta king-of-the-mountain in 2000.
"I was clear with Cervélo; the presence of Sastre is very important and there is an understanding with the team that he will be at the Vuelta with their best riders,” explained Guillén.
Katusha was also launched in 2009 but this year will be their début Vuelta. Sprinter Robbie McEwen, who held the record in the Tour until Mark Cavendish beat it this year, will be riding for Katusha with something to prove since his disappointing Tour performance and retirement approaching.
“Katusha weren't at the 2009 race but the Vuelta is a goal for them this year and they will come with a strong team, notably featuring Purito Rodríguez.”
Garmin-Transitions was founded in 2007 and brings a very strong team to the Vuelta. The sprint team of Tyler Farrar and Julian Dean is known as Cavendish’s closest competition. Farrar has six overall stage race victories, and Dean has already has five top-three Grand Tour stage finishes this year. Christian Vande Velde was a Tour favourite until he injured out of the race early on, but Ryder Hesjedal went on to finish in 7th overall. Garmin is arguably among the top-five teams riding the Vuelta.
"Garmin will come with the best team they have, with Vande Velde and Farrar, and I can't forget that last year they won three stages.”
Team Sky is brand new, founded in Britain this year, and was invited to all three Grand Tours. Bradley Wiggins won the first stage of the Giro d’Italia, Edvald Boasson Hagen won stage seven of the Critérium du Dauphiné, Simon Gerrans won a stage in the Vuelta last year, and Gerraint Thomas was the best-young-rider in the Tour for four stages this year.
"Sky is a new team with a great long-term project and the Vuelta is one of their goals. The criteria for choosing the six teams was focused very much on the sporting implications and we had a very strong commitment from all of them that they would be aiming to compete right from the first day, and I'm confident that will be the case."
"It's terrific to be able to race in the Giro d'Italia, the Tour de France and the Vuelta a España in our debut season and that has always been a big aim for us,” said Team Sky principal Dave Brailsford. "It's been one of the hardest Vueltas to get into for a number of years and we never took anything for granted. The process started a little while ago and this news is a real vote of confidence in the team and everything we are trying to do with it.”
Tags: