ASO have announced the four “wildcard” invitations for the 2012 Tour de France starting on 30 June in Liège, Belgium.
Dutch squad Argos-Shimano are picked alongside French teams Cofidis, Europcar and Saur-Sojasun to join the 18 World Tour teams in the race. The choice is logical.
18 teams get automatic entry in to the Tour de France. These are the UCI World Tour teams and they’re all listed in the Team Guide. In addition the race organiser gets to pick four “wildcard” invitations from the lesser UCI Pro Continental teams. The idea here is to invite promising teams who will enliven the race and to pick domestic teams to ensure roadside crowds and national TV have someone to interview in the home language.
The Tour is in a unique position as the world’s biggest bike race so spaces come at a premium and inviting local squads can come at the expense of others. But I think the organisers have made sensible picks.
Argos-Shimano are an enticing prospect with Marcel Kittel and John Dekenkolb for the sprints and come with other riders capable of livening up the race, for example French climber Alex Geniez. Plus the team has a visible commitment to ethics, something which Tour de France organiser Christian Prudhomme is always pleased to see. The Frenchman even went to Rotterdam for the Argos team launch last week, a sure sign an invite was pending.
I wasn’t sure about Cofidis. The wheels have come off the French team in 2012 thanks to injury and misfortune. Staff were murmuring about black cats. But they are a French team and the Tour needs local riders. If the bad luck stops then they’re sure to animate the race with the likes of Rein Taaramae. They’ve only had one win this year thanks to Samuel Dumoulin… but that’s more than automatic invites Ag2r and Saxo Bank have yet to win a race in Europe too.
Europcar were the nailed-on, bet your house, certain invitation. Thomas Voeckler’s ride last year had ASO, L’Equipe and much of France in rapture and with Pierre Rolland too an invitation was obvious. The mere presence of Voeckler in the race will draw TV audiences and roadside crowds.
Saur-Sojasun come with Jérôme Coppel for the overall. In his first grand tour he finished a creditable 14th overall last summer and with improvement and a course suited to his time trialling skills he could crack the top-10. Decent but the team comes with several attacking riders to seal the deal. They might appear the lightest invitation but actually they’ve won five races this year including Julien Simon’s two stages in the Tour of Catalonia. Team manager Stéphane Heulot is a man with a plan and trying to build a cohesive team for the future. Note every single rider on the squad is French, a rare homogeneity in a globalised world.
Conclusion
I was told by ASO the invites would be publicised in early February but it seems uncertainty over the fate of the Saxo Bank team has delayed the decision.
I did a piece in January speculating on the invites and today confirms my thoughts from then. I had wondered if Team Type 1 would worry Cofidis or Saur-Sojasun but this isn’t the case. These are steady picks, nothing like the Giro inviting Team NetApp which surprised many. The picks seem logical, especially since the strongest teams are already invited. 85 days to go.
right you are, very logical picks. For us Dutch cyclingfans a day to remember, three teams competing in the biggest ride of the year, can´t hardly wait.
(18 + 4) x 9= 198. A hell of a lot of riders.
It’s an old argument, but the fault is surely in the 18, and not in the 4. Too many ProTour teams.
Good luck to the ProCont guys. Hopefully baroudeurs to a man!
I am fine with Cofidis being included. They are synonymous with French racing, and along with FdJ, in my mind are the representatives of the French pro cycling scene in the same way Liquigas, Sky, Katusha etc.. represent their countries. I hope they can turn things around the remainder of the season.
Jerome Coppel also rode the Tour de France in 2009….
Unfortunately for Cofidis, Taaramae is out for a while with mononucleosis. His TdF may be in jeopardy. http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/taaramae-out-of-racing-with-mononucleosis
Bummer about Taaramae he was great to watch last year. I hope Cofidis have a solid plan B.
I am quite pleased that Kittel may have his chance to sprint against Cavendish. It will be very interesting to see who can better the Rainbow Jersey first, an emerging sprinter or an established one. For a young rider that would be a career defining moment. For a wildcard team that would be about as good as it could get.
Not surprised by the choices, but given their start I would have thought Endura Racing would have been an outside bet?
Cillian Kelly: he only made it halfway though.
Tom: Organisers can only pick from the second tier of teams called UCI Pro Continental. Endura are in UCI Continental, the third tier. They are aiming to move up for 2013 but looking for more funding to help achieve this.
Tom, INRNG: Cofidis should sign JTL – problem solved for both of them.
What happened to Team Type 1 going to the Tour? Didn’t Phil Southerland say they’d be there in 2012?
Tricky Dicky: I think there have been hints about this, we’ll see.
Type1Guy: They were fifth on my list for the four invitations. Perhaps next year but we’ll need to see some more results to be sure of an invitation. The sponsor behind the team is French and has high level access to Tour offices so we’ll see for 2013.