No surprises in 2018 Tour de France wild card invitations
Three French teams and a Belgian squad selected for 2018 edition
The organizers of the Tour de France the Amaury Sport Organisation have revealed the four wild card teams that will line-up at the 2018 edition of the French grand tour when it starts in Noirmoutier-en-l’Île. French teams Cofidis Solutions Crédits, Direct Energie, Fortuneo-Samsic and Wanty-Groupe Gobert of Belgium secured wild card invitations.
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The 2018 Tour de France gets underway on July 7, will cover 3,329 km and return to famed climbs like Alpe d’Huez and the Col de Tourmalet. Only one stage was won by a non-WorldTour rider last year with Lilian Calmejane or Direct Energie taking the win on Stage 8 to Station des Rousses.
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One of the most intriguing teams to watch will be Fortuneo-Samsic which added polka dot and two-time stage winner Warren Barguil. The talented climber will be hoping to lead his team with the full support of the squad unlike he got at Team Sunweb which split their ambitions between Michael Matthews successful pursuit for the green jersey.
One rider who will be very disappointed with the wild card selection is Bryan Coquard who didn’t get selected to ride the Tour in 2017 because of his intentions to change team in 2018. He moved to Vital Concept who were invited to the Critérium du Dauphiné by organizer ASO.
Last year, Wanty-Groupe Gobert debuted at the Tour de France with all nine riders making it to Paris and being active throughout the race. Securing a second consecutive invitation is an accomplishment for the Belgian team who will sure to be active in Stage 9 which features 21.7 km of cobbles and finishes in Roubaix.
Accompanying the 4 wild card teams will be the 18 WorldTour teams. It’s yet to be seen if defending champion Chris Froome of Team Sky will line-up after a failed doping control at the Vuelta a España in September. It’s yet to be seen which, if any, Canadians will line-up in France after 2017 ended a streak of nine years of consecutive Canadian participation in the race.
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ASO also announced the invitations for WorldTour week long stage races Paris-Nice and the Critérium du Dauphiné. At Paris-Nice running from March 4 to 11 the wild card teams lining up will be Cofidis , Delko Marseille Provence, Direct Energie and Team Fortuneo-Samsic. At the Critérium du Dauphiné which runs from June 3 to 10 Cofidis, Team Fortuneo-Samsic, Vital Concept (Fra), Wanty-Groupe Gobert will race.
