Tour organizers have invited Israeli teams Israel Premier Tech and Norwegian Uno-X. This completes the line-up of 22 teams that will start on July 1 in Bilbao.
Of the 22 teams (of 8 riders) selected, twenty were automatically selected since the UCI regulations provide for the compulsory participation of the 18 WorldTour teams (1st division) as well as the two highest ranked ProTeams (2nd division) , in this case the Belgian formation Lotto and the French Total-Energies.
Remained at the discretion of the organizers of Amaury Sports Organization (ASO) the allocation of two wild cards. Often on the big tours, they go to teams from the host country. But the disappearance of the B&B Hotels structure and the automatic qualification of Total-Energies have changed the situation.
It is therefore the Israel Premier Tech team of four-time Tour winner Chris Froome, relegated from the World Tour at the end of last year, and Uno-X who inherit the two coveted invitations for the biggest race in the world which will start from Bilbao in Spain to arrive on the Champs-Elysées three weeks later.
‘It’s an unsurprising selection. Sometimes the choice is complicated, in this case it is not really. A hole is being created behind the 22 best teams in the world, which we can also regret, ‘explains the director of the Tour Christian Prudhomme.
‘Israel Premier Tech won two great stages in the last Tour de France, he adds. It is an experienced team which has been further strengthened with Dylan Teuns. Uno-X is a recent team with a strong identity since there are only Norwegian and Danish riders. It has just signed Alexander Kristoff, legend of Norwegian cycling, and has in its ranks the winner of the Tour de l’Avenir 2021, Tobias Johannessen.’
/ATS