Armstrong's RadioShack out of 2010 Giro d'Italia


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Lance Armstrong's RadioShack team will not ride the 2010 Giro d'Italia (May 8-30).
The US-based squad was not included in the list of 22 teams invited to the 2010 Giro, announced by race director Angelo Zomegnan today.
RadioShack did ride Milan-San Remo at the weekend, but it did not race Strade Bianche or Tirreno-Adriatico (both organised by RCS Sport) since the team had told Zomegnan it would skip the Giro to focus on the Tour of California.
Cadel Evans' BMC Racing Team and the British-based Team Sky have both been invited. Sky will face its first Grand Tour with Bradley Wiggins and Dario Cioni.
Wiggins plans to aim for the race's opening time trial, an 8.4-kilometre stage in Amsterdam. If he wins, he would be only the second Brit to take the race leader's pink jersey after Mark Cavendish and could hold it through stage four's team time trial in Cuneo, Italy.
Wiggins said in December, "I will aim for the prologue in Holland and the time trial in Verona."
Cavendish's HTC-Columbia team received an invitation, but Cavendish himself will skip the race to compete in the Tour of California instead. Cavendish said on Friday, "It makes sense, we have American sponsors."
Russian Denis Menchov announced earlier that he would not return to defend his title, but his Rabobank team will race, bringing for the first time Oscar Freire, winner of San Remo.
No Ricco
Another team missing from Zomegnan's invite list was Riccardo Ricco's Ceramica Flaminia outfit.
Ricco returns to racing at the Coppi & Bartali stage race this week, his first race back after serving a 20-month suspension for using banned blood-boosting drug CERA, a form of EPO, at the 2008 Tour de France. Ceramica Flaminia also failed to receive an invitation to Saturday's Milan-San Remo.
By next Monday, March 29, all teams must submit 15 names from which their final nine-man teams will be selected.
Giro d'Italia 2010: Team list
Ag2r La Mondiale
Acqua & Sapone
Androni-Diquigiovanni
Astana
Bbox Bouygues Telecom
BMC Racing
Caisse d'Epargne
Cervelo TestTeam
Cofidis
Colnago-CSF Inox
Footon-Servetto
Garmin-Transitions
HTC-Columbia
Katusha
Lampre-Farnese Vini
Liquigas-Doimo
Milram
Omega Pharma-Lotto
Quick Step
Rabobank
Saxo Bank
Team Sky
Reserves
CarmioOro-NGC
Ceramica Flaminia-Bossini Docce
De Rosa-Stac Plastic
ISD-Neri
Skil-Shimano
Vacansoleil
Giro d'Italia 2010 coverage in association with Zipvit
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Gregor Brown is an experienced cycling journalist, based in Florence, Italy. He has covered races all over the world for over a decade - following the Giro, Tour de France, and every major race since 2006. His love of cycling began with freestyle and BMX, before the 1998 Tour de France led him to a deep appreciation of the road racing season.
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