Christian Prudhomme has acknowledged that the arrival of Vital Concept Club had made selecting wild cards for the Tour de France more difficult than in previous years, but the race director expressed confidence that ASO has selected the four most worthy candidates for this year's Grande Boucle.
ASO announced the invitations on Monday afternoon, with the four wild cards from the 2017 race all earning selection once again, as French squads Direct Energie, Team Fortuneo-Samsic and Cofidis joined by Belgian Pro Continental outfit Wanty-Groupe Gobert. They will join the 18 WorldTour teams in the 2018 Tour peloton.
The decision means that the newly established Vital Concept squad, managed by Jerome Pineau and led by Bryan Coquard, will miss out on the Tour in their inaugural season in the peloton. Coquard was previously left out of the Direct Energie line-up for the 2017 Tour after declining to extend his contract with the team.
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"I'm sorry for a rider like Bryan Coquard, just like I was sorry for his absence last year," Prudhomme told AFP.
"The selection was more complicated than in previous years. In France alone, there are five Second Division [Pro Continental – ed.] teams going for four places on the Tour."
ASO has repeatedly voiced its opposition to a closed system during talks over reforms of the UCI WorldTour in recent years, and Prudhomme was careful to point out that two of the four wildcards had been allocated to Pro Contintental teams who finished top of the Europe Tour rankings in 2017.
Patience
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