Vuelta a España confirms three wildcards for 2013

Choosing to follow in the footsteps of the Tour de France, the organizers of the Vuelta a España have confirmed that they will present only three wildcard invitations to their race in the wake of Katusha’s successful appeal against its omission from the UCI WorldTour.

Talking to Spanish website Biciciclismo.com, Vuelta director Javier Guillen stated that, regrettably, his race will issue only 3 wildcard invitations instead of four as was originally planned since the organizers can accommodate a maximum of 22 teams.

“I have to say that we would like to have four wildcards rather than three but our situation is different from the Giro or Paris-Nice, who have already announced their invitations,” Guillen said. “However, for economic and logistical reasons I’m inclined to have a Vuelta with a maximum of 22 teams, so we’re now looking at giving out three invitations rather than four.”

Problems for Giro organizers

However, the present situation causes major difficulties for Giro d’Italia organisers RCS Sport, who name the wildcard invitations for all of their races before the season starts in order to provide the teams in question with the opportunity to organize their race agenda correspondingly.

Back in January, RCS decided to sidestep Katusha when handing out its four wildcard berths for the Giro d’Italia because the team was excluded from the WorldTour at the time. Now it would appear that the RCS will be obliged to include 23 teams in the Giro, even though race director Michele Acquarone complained that the UCI has consistently failed to communicate on the matter.

“I sent a message to Pat McQuaid, the UCI president, and I still haven’t had a reply,” Acquarone told Gazzetta dello Sport. “We’re surprised that no-one from the UCI’s management ever took it upon themselves to inform us and to find a solution before that press release on Monday afternoon. It’s unacceptable behaviour. I would have expected the UCI to talk with us about it first instead of dropping this burden on our shoulders.”

The Giro d’Italia will commence on May 4 in Naples with the participation of Vini Fantini-Selle Italia, Colombia, Bardiani Valvole-CSF Inox and Androni-Venezuela, who have all been granted wildcards for the Italian stage race.