The business of designating the four wildcard invitations to the Giro d'Italia is always a delicate matter, and one senses that the process was even more fraught for RCS Sport this year. It was, after all, the final time that Mauro Vegni and company could assign all four places; from 2020, as per the impending UCI reforms, the two top-ranked Pro Continental teams will have first refusal on two of the four invitations to the Grand Tours.
The wildcard announcement, initially slated for the middle of the month, was postponed on several occasions, as RCS assessed the applicants' dossiers – or, more accurately, agonised over whether they could and should use their final free selection to award wildcards to all four Italian Pro Continental teams.
In the end, three of the four Italian squads got the nod. Androni-Sidermec had already earned selection by dint of their victory in the season-long Ciclismo Cup classification in 2018 (it is as yet unclear if the competition winner will collect the same prize in 2020), and on Friday afternoon, Bardiani-CSF and Nippo-Vini Fantini also had their tickets stamped for the Giro.
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The Neri Sottoli Selle Italia KTM team, however, were left standing on the platform, as RCS Sport deemed them surplus to requirements and assigned the fourth and final wildcard berth to Israel Cycling Academy.
It is the first time since 2010 that Luca Scinto's squad have missed out on Giro selection, and one wonders whether they will survive the body blow. After losing Wilier as bike supplier and title sponsor for 2019, the squad only presented their roster and new title sponsor in early January, and although new signings Giovanni Visconti and Dayer Quintana caught the eye, the team's strength-in-depth was lacking after the departures of Jakub Marezcko and the retired Filippo Pozzato.
From a purely sporting point of view, the case for Neri Sottoli was arguably the least compelling of the four Italian teams, while the squad may also have paid an admittedly belated price for its ethical record over the years. At various points, the team's future was threatened by positive tests from Danilo Di Luca and Mauro Santambrogio on the 2013 Giro, from Matteo Rabottini in 2014, from Ramon Carretero in 2015 and from Samuele Conti in 2016.
Androni, the Ciclismo Cup winners
The other wildcards
The future
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