Tour de France Wildcards

Caja Rural get the last wildcard invite to the Tour de France and the Unibet Rose Rockets are left out. It’s a surprise but once you look at the trend it shouldn’t be a shock.

Q36.5, Tudor and Cofidis all take up their automatic invitations. Which leaves two places. TotalEnergies always felt like a certainty for one of the last two spots. They had a top-10 on GC thanks to Jordan Jegat last summer, a stage win the year before; the team isn’t just French it’s got a local identity from the Vendée including political backing; Jean-René Bernaudeau talks a good game, they need the lifeline for a team needing a replacement sponsor… and new for this year Total also becomes a partner sponsor of the Tour. They were always going to get an invite.

The controversy comes with Caja Rural vs. the Unibet Rose Rockets. Now Caja Rural are Spanish and the Barcelona grand départ helped but even Spanish TV commentary filling the time while Remco Evenepoel was away solo in today’s Challenge Majorca race evoked una polémica.

In a statement to AFP Tour boss Christian Prudhomme cited the UCI rankings with the Spanish team  in 25th spot ahead of the Rockets in 2026th. But this is far from an iron rule. At random let’s take 2020 when Vital Concept was picked while it was in lurking in 26th place on the UCI tables and while teams like Delko, Wanty and Uno-X were ranked higher but left out.

Neither Caja Rural nor the Rockets feature a “must have” rider. The Rockets have Dylan Groenewegen is 32 while Caja’s sprinter is Fernando Gaviria aged 31. Victor Lafay could be a great signing for the Rockets and has one of best power-weight ratios in the peloton on 5-10 minute climbs, see how only he surged up the “Côte de Pike” on the way to Bilbao in th the Tour de France’s opening stage and only Pogačar and Vinegaard could follow but he has struggled to follow-up with injuries so right now it’s hard to count on him. The Rocket’s Lukáš Kubiš almost made this blog’s Riders to Watch but as a crafty rider in smaller races rather than someone likely to win at the Tour; similarly Caja Rural have Abel Balderstone, the Spanish TT champion – the course was uphill – who finished a creditable 13th in the last Vuelta. Again some prospects but nobody incontournable as Prudhomme might say.

Prudhomme also said the Rockets don’t lean into their French identity much. They switched from Dutch to French as a flag of convenience to avoid a gambling sponsorship ban in the Netherlands and their French address is a corporate mailbox rather than a service course HQ. But they’ve been regulars in the Coupe de France series at a time when Decathlon and Groupama-FDJ have been grumbling about their obligation to race these smaller events, and even hiring last year’s winner Clément Venturini as well as taking on French neo-pros. If they need to be more French perhaps the Rocket’s next video could have them in hi-viz riding a tractor to ASO’s offices to beat the office doors down with stale baguettes?

The Rocket’s selling point is communication and they quickly produce videos to share content in an age when many teams still issue text press releases. It’s refreshing and should encourage other teams to interact more with their fan base but it’s not a big swing factor; the Tour will hardly get extra coverage. The old Vital Concept/B&B Hotels did this before too – anyone remember the video announcing the signing of Pierre Rolland involving a aircraft and a beach? It has gone down with the team – but it didn’t help. Again having star riders likely to shape the race and add to the show makes the big difference.

Nevermind July
If you’re surprised but the news today, look beyond the Tour. Because the Rockets have not got invitations to ASO’s other races either. Paris-Nice? Non. Liège-Bastogne-Liège? Non plus. The D̶a̶u̶p̶h̶i̶n̶é̶ Tour Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes? Rien. The Volta a Catalunya? No senyor. There’s only Flèche Wallonne and no news on Paris-Roubaix yet and maybe they get one here after taking part last year. For a team that wants to convince ASO there are few chances to put on a show under their noses. It feels different to the way ASO nurtured the likes of NetApp or Uno-X too; even if Uno-X didn’t get a Caja Rural-style boost when the Tour opened in Copenhagen in 2022.

In the meantime Caja Rural have an invite to the Dauphiné, Liège, Flèche and Catalunya and have been assiduously starting other ASO races like the Tour of Oman and the Al Ula Tour on right now. Once you start to see this the wildcard choice might be debatable on sporting terms but the Spanish team has cultivated a rapport with ASO that the Rockets hasn’t begun yet.

Meanwhile in Spain
The Vuelta invites are out today and here Kern Pharma and Burgos-Burgpellet-BH are invited as the race rotates its domestic teams and obviously Caja Rural being left out is less of a blow since they’ll be on TV in July.

Meanwhile in Italy
There’s no news on the Giro invitations despite the start being less than 100 days away. Towns are illumating landmarks in pink but we don’t know all the teams that will take part.

With Cofidis reportedly declining to take up their invitation this would leave three places. Bardiani and Polti-Malta arecertainties but the remaining place? There’s been talk of a Spanish team but equally the Rockets could slot in here and for a relatively new team a grand tour debut here could be a more patient route. Perhaps they’ve even agreed this already and so it suits everyone as two consecutive grand tours would be too much? A plausible hypothesis for a few seconds. But given the Tour can generate 70-80% of a team’s media exposure the theory doesn’t hold. Still the team can hope for an invitation in May.

Conclusion
Last month Paris-Nice only invited TotalEnergies when it could have taken another team. This gave us a clue for the Rockets. That’s not hindsight, loyal readers will have read their chances of a Tour wildcard went “from very likely to probably“. Since then their chances got slimmer with no other invites from ASO. Only yesterday they were left out of the Dauphiné.

Caja Rural getting the last invite ahead of the Rockets is a surprise but step back and look at the trend of zero invites for the Franco-Dutch team and it should not be a shock, more so as it’s the Spanish team that has kept benefitting from wildcards to the Ardennes and Dauphiné.

Which ProTeam does this or that isn’t big news, neither Caja Rural nor Rockets would turn the tables at the Tour. But there is interest as it involves choices. With the top-18 WorldTeams acting as settled franchises as long as they can find enough funding, the second tier has more room for sporting appeal, rankings, communication, identity and other subjective criteria.

We’ll see for the Giro, the Rockets could still get a start. And looking ahead there’s every chance they’ll be at the Tour in 2027 because if Total Energies takes a place this year there’s no news on a replacement title sponsor and so the French squad may not be around next year.

29 thoughts on “Tour de France Wildcards”

  1. I think that the Rockets have an invitation to Fleche Wallone, or am I mistaken.

    Personal view: Prudhomme seems to find the Rockets a bit irksome. And they seemed a bit presumptious in the press. I don’t think ASO would be that keen next year even if TotalEnergies were not around next year. It was very telling that even at Catalunya, it was Modern Adventure Cycling that got the wild card.

    • The Rockets’ messaging seemed to subtly change last autumn from “it’d be nice to ride the TdF next year” to “we’d really like to ride the TdF next year” and ever since they’ve come across as a bit needy. I can imagine that and their blatant change of registration nationality might not appeal to the conservatism at ASO.

  2. ‘riding a tractor to ASO’s offices to beat the office doors down with stale baguettes’ – with this and the recent Sir Mix-a-lot reference, you’re on fire.

  3. Another possible factor unmentioned here is ASO having a beef with Tietema about unauthorised video from the Tour on the socials a couple of years ago. Wouldn’t be a shock if the Grand Old Man is taking the opportunity again here to tell the Cheeky Young Upstart to get in line.

    Also, the Rockets-to-the-Giro-now rumour is supposed to be firm and getting towards the point of being an open secret. [I know, I know, but there have been stories of greater co-operation between the 3 GTs over the last year so maybe it has all been organised and sorted out behind the scenes such that everybody gets at least something to be happy about.]

    • ASO own/run both the Tour and the Vuelta, so there will obviously be co-operation between these two grand tours. On the Spanish side, there is a wish to keep the Pro-Conti teams solvent by inviting them to the Vuelta. With only two spots available at the Vuelta, they can ask the Tour to invite the third PCT team there instead (Euskaltel are not eligible). This year there is a free spot since at the Tour as there is only one French team doing the French circuit and there are two spots available. ASO clearly don’t feel that the Unibet Rockets are French, and don’t like their manners.

      The Giro normally wait until after ASO have declared their invitations. The Giro want to support the Italian teams (or the quasi-Italian teams who are based in Italy and do the full Italian circuit). This year there is an additional place, assuming Cofidis decline their place, and no Italian team to take it.

      The final spot at the Giro may go to the Unibet Rockets. Or it could go to TotalEnergies if they are interested in taking the spot. Or, I suppose, to one of the Spanish outfits. Of course, the Giro may choose to only have 22 teams at the race. Personally, I am not really convinced the Unibet Rockets have really done much to support the Italian circuit and there isn’t much to suggest they deserve a place; the same could be said of TotalEnergies, but they are a stronger team, and have “better manners”. I guess we will soon find out.

      • This is quite probably a quite stupid question – and it is entirely possible I’m reading too literally – but why are Euskaltel – Euskadi not eligible? I mean: they may not be good enough, but as far as rules – that is to say eligibility – go, they are a ProTeam just like the three other Spanish ProTeams, aren’t they?

        • It’s a good question because there’s a new rule that says grand tours can only invite teams who are in the top-30 overall. Euskaltel were 34th last year and ineligible. Bardiani were 30th and just made it but 31st Solution Tech Vini Fantini can’t get the invite they want.

          • From Vini Fantini’s perspective it’s unlucky that the rules are defined to not take into account that out of the 30 higher ranked teams 2 merged to become one and another team folded. At current stage they could be considered the 29th ranked team and as such eligible to compete in the Giro. Interestingly in the World Tour the Lotto Intermarche merger created the free spot for Uno-X. One would think the two should work similarly.

          • That is harsh on both Vini Fantini and Euskaltel, who are both in the top 30 for teams that still exist; it’s not like Intermarché are available to be invited instead.

            On the TdF selection, this seems uncontroversial to me: Caja Rural were the top ranked team available for selection, well ahead of Unibet

          • Going on the rankings at the end of 2025 with the top two Italian teams coming in 28th and 30th, the UCI may want to put some thought into how things will go if provisions 3 (organiser of a Grand Tour must guarantee at least one team from the host nation) or 4 (select from top 30 only) become mutually exclusive.

            The solution might have to be a mixed Italian National Team composed of the best riders not signed to WorldTeams or entered ProTeams.

            The removal of Intermarche-Wanty and Arkea-B&B means the probability of this event actually happening will be lower.

  4. Has Unibet Rose Rockets even competed in a grand tour before?

    Based on riders saying the Tour is a whole other level, it would probably be wise to go to one of the others first. And a risk from the organizers side to invite a team with no 3 week experience.

    • The Unibet Rockets have not done a Grand Tour before. Moreover, they have never raced any of the big one-week stage races either. They have done the Benelux Tour (currently called Renewi), but this has no mountains. Caja Rural regularly do Pais Basque and Catalunya, both serious one-week races. And they went to Paris-Nice last year when ASO really wanted an extra team in the race (and this year got rewarded by getting into the Tour).

      Personally, I think Unibet Rockets should try to get into Paris-Nice first (and the Dauphine). Paris-Nice could easily have included them (only 22 teams are in the race), but did the Rockets even want the spot?

  5. Caja Rural must surely be one of the longest standing professional team? I remember them riding the 1987 TDF. Not sure if they’ve raced continuously since then.

    • The bank has been a sponsor in the past but the current team came out of an amateur squad that moved up to the pro ranks in 2010. The old team from the 1980s was more like the Orbea team but had Caja Rural as a sponsor for a while too.

      “Rural bank” is the effective translation of the name and you find branches for small savers and to help fund farmers, it’s made of a federation of different local credit unions, eg Caja Rural de Grenada in Grenada and so on. In short it’s everywhere and anchored in rural communities so an obvious cycling sponsor.

  7. From a purely racing perspective Caja Rural often seemed to give good value in the Spanish stage races, and their bikes / kit always stood out. On these flimsy reasons I’m all for them.

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