La Vuelta - Fuji, Katusha omitted from Vuelta

Eurosport - Fri, 12 Jun 21:58:00 2009

Leading outfits Fuji-Servetto and Katusha have been omitted from the list of 21 teams invited by organisers Unipublic to take part in the Tour of Spain.

CYCLING Davide Vigano (Fuji-Servetto) / Foto: Fuji-Servetto Team - 0

Spanish team Fuji, who were sponsored by Saunier Duval last year, were also not invited to this year's Tour de France after being involved in doping scandals in the last two editions.

As a new Protour team, Katusha missed out as they were not part of an agreement signed last year between organisers and participants guaranteeing their inclusion in the 2009 event.

The Vuelta starts in Assen (Netherlands) on August 29.

Reuters

Comment 1 - 10 of 10

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  1. If it's known that these two teams aren't on­ the list of 21 invitees, then can we find out which­ teams are going to be riding? Presumably LPR also­ aren't invited given Danilo Di Luca's positive­ CERA tests in the Giro.

    From potteries_pilgrim, on Wed 29 Jul 3:04PM

  2. They don't exactly deserve to be up there when the­ aren't good examples of the 1000's of people­ following the sport.

    From www.prosoccer.co.za, on Thu 2 Jul 1:41PM

  3. The tour went on last year without Astana, when­ Contador clearly was the favorite. Nobody is going to­ miss two teams that don't really have any of­ Cycling's 'A' players on them.

    From Maxx92, on Mon 15 Jun 3:14PM

  4. For me, Katusha have been a dissapointment. Robbie Mac­ is injured and Steegmans has done nothing of note. Yes,­ a good result at Amstel, but Pozzato engaged in 4 weeks­ of wheel-sucking, to which Cadel Evans would've­ been proud, during the April classics. No getting­ around the fact they've under-performed. As for­ Fuji, I didn't even realise they were participating­ in bike racing this year!

    From pedro118118, on Mon 15 Jun 2:03PM

  5. I hate to see Fuji not included. especially if they­ retained the Saunier Duval support girls.

    From tomas.americano, on Sun 14 Jun 10:19PM

  6. I hate to see Fuji not included. especially if they­ retained the Saunier Duval support girls.

    From tomas.americano, on Sun 14 Jun 10:17PM

  7. ?

    From hadynblakeston, on Sun 14 Jun 4:43PM

  8. I have to disagree, Team Katusha has many strong rider­ that could have won a couple of stages at the tour.­ Besides after the classic season I thought they had­ earned a place in tour (they won the amstel, second at­ the paris roubaix and other top 10 finishes)! They will­ be missed in the tour!

    From alexmn85, on Sat 13 Jun 8:19PM

  9. You gotta first be in it to win it.

    From vindetable, on Fri 12 Jun 4:27PM

  10. Hardly likely to cause anyone any major concern (apart­ from the teams I suppose), as neither team has really­ set the world on fire this year (Amstel apart). That­ said, be a shame if Ben Swift starts to miss out on big­ races because his team have a bad reputation on the­ doping front.

    From pedro118118, on Fri 12 Jun 3:40PM
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