2016 Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milan-Sanremo Wildcard Invitations Announced

GIRO D’ITALIA, TIRRENO-ADRIATICO AND MILANO-SANREMO WILD CARDS 2016 ANNOUNCED

RCS Sport announced today the wild card teams invited to three out of the four UCI WorldTour races it organises: Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. This information enables all the teams the to organise their racing seasons optimally.

Milan, 18 January 2016 – RCS Sport announced today the wild card teams invited to three out of the four UCI WorldTour races it organises: Giro d’Italia, Tirreno-Adriatico and Milano-Sanremo. This information enables all the teams the to organise their racing seasons optimally.

Wild cards for the fourth race, Il Lombardia, will be announced later in the year, after evaluating the racing performance of the teams requesting to participate in the Classic of the Falling Leaves.

Here are the teams that will participate in the three races:

UCI WORLDTEAMS – 18 (eligible)

AG2R LA MONDIALE (FRA)
ASTANA PRO TEAM (KAZ)
BMC RACING TEAM (USA)
CANNONDALE PRO CYCLING TEAM (USA)
DIMENSION DATA (RSA)
ETIXX – QUICK STEP (BEL)
FDJ (FRA)
IAM CYCLING (SUI)
LAMPRE – MERIDA (ITA)
LOTTO SOUDAL (BEL)
MOVISTAR TEAM (ESP)
ORICA GREENEDGE (AUS)
TEAM GIANT – ALPECIN (GER)
TEAM KATUSHA (RUS)
TEAM LOTTO NL – JUMBO (NED)
TEAM SKY (GBR)
TINKOFF (RUS)
TREK – SEGAFREDO (USA)

UCI PROFESSIONAL CONTINENTAL TEAMS (wild cards)

GIRO D’ITALIA (6 – 29 May) – 4 wild cards (22 teams of 9 riders each)
BARDIANI CSF (ITA)
GAZPROM-RUSVELO (RUS)
NIPPO – VINI FANTINI (ITA)
SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA (ITA) – the right was acquired by winning the Italian Cup

TIRRENO-ADRIATICO (9 – 15 March) – 5 wild cards (23 teams of 8 riders each)
ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC (ITA)
BARDIANI CSF (ITA)
BORA-ARGON 18 (GER)
CAJA RURAL-SEGUROS RGA (ESP)
CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE (POL)

MILANO-SANREMO (19 March) – 7 wild cards (25 teams of 8 riders each)
ANDRONI GIOCATTOLI – SIDERMEC (ITA)
BARDIANI CSF (ITA)
BORA-ARGON 18 (GER)
CCC SPRANDI POLKOWICE (POL)
COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS CREDITS (FRA)
SOUTHEAST – VENEZUELA (ITA)
TEAM NOVO NORDISK (USA)

Mauro Vegni, RCS Sport Head of Cycling, commented: “First of all I would like to thank the many teams that requested to participate at our races this year. This makes us incredibly proud, but at the same time makes the choice of the wild cards more and more difficult. Following the philosophy we adopted in the last few years, we wanted to once again safeguard Italian cycling, while at the same time keeping a very close eye on all the other requests coming from all over the world.”

“In this year’s selections, in particular those for the Giro d’Italia, we wanted to give space to our national movement, but that doesn’t need to be the only factor that we are obliged to consider. The international development of all our races remains one of the cornerstones of our strategy and guided us in the final choice of the wild cards.”