Cycling: The Total Direct Energie team actually qualified for the Giro d'Italia 2020 thanks to their strong performances in the previous year. But now the French team has announced that it will waive the automatically issued wild card. This makes for a win-win situation.
Total Direct Energie relies on the classics and the tour
As the best Pro Continental team of the 2019 season, dem Team Total Direct Energie automatically a starting place for the Giro d'Italia 2020. This is actually an honor that any second-class team would be happy about. But the French team has now announced that they will no longer take part. The focus in the coming season will be on the one-day races and the Tour de France.
team boss Jean Rene Bernaudeau:
"After discussions with the sporting management, we decided not to go. It would be too risky from a sporting point of view. The team is not strong enough to be successful at Milan-Sanremo, the Flemish Classics, the Giro d'Italia and the Tour de France.”
Win-win situation: the Italians are happy
What the Tour de France is to the French, the Giro d'Italia is to the Italians. Total Direct Energie's decision is therefore understandable. At the same time, the organizers of the Tour of Italy should also be happy. Since there are now 19 teams in the WorldTour, the places for the wildcards are very limited. Due to the waiver, the remaining three wildcards can now be distributed to Italian teams. So we can already look forward to a Giro d'Italia with Androni Giocattoli - Sidermec, Bardiani - CSF - Faizane and Neri Sottoli - Selle Italia.
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Official : Le Team Total Direct Energie n'ira pas au Giro en 2020. Les explications ?#AllezTotalDirectEnergy
— Team Total Direct Energy (@TDE_ProCycling) December 5, 2019