Amgen TOC 16 invited teams

[retrofit]

Amgen Tour of California announces 16 invited teams

UCI ProTeams
• BMC Racing Team (USA)
• Rabobank Cycling Team (Ned)
• Garmin- Barracuda (USA)
• RadioShack-Nissan (Lux)
• Liquigas-Cannondale (Ita)
• Omega Pharma - QuickStep (Bel)
• AG2R La Mondiale (Fra)
• GreenEdge Cycling Team (Aus)

UCI Professional Continental Teams
• Team Spidertech Powered By C10 (Can)
• UnitedHealthcare Pro Cycling Team (USA)
• Project 1t4i (Ned)
• Colombia-Coldeportes (Col)

UCI Continental Teams
• Team Optum Presented By Kelly Benefit Strategies (USA)
• Bissell Pro Cycling (USA)
• Team Exergy (USA)
• Bontrager Livestrong Team (USA)

[UmneyDurak]

Hmm Astana is not on the roster. Are they still around?

[retrofit]

Astana is still around, but no invited this year. SaxoBank and Sky also didn't get an invite.

[Rumpled]

nor Kenda.
Invitees seem to all have some CA or USA ties. Odd, that; no?

[calamarichris]

Any chance those uninvited teams simply declined?
I've been saddened to see that WCP no longer offers ATOC videos, (especially since I was thwarted in seeing Jan Voigt leading the charge up Palomar the year before last.)

[Rumpled]

I think it was cyclingnews that had some quotes from continental teams that were disappointed that they got no reply from ATOC after trying to get in the race.
I'm sure no Pro-cont or cont team would turn down the invite in USA's most prestigious race. Some Euro ProTour teams, maybe; but I doubt it.

[DiabloScott]

nor Kenda.
Invitees seem to all have some CA or USA ties. Odd, that; no?

Kenda has Andy Jaques-Maynes and Nathan English, both with a strong California connection and following... that's a loss. Nathan owns the Diablo Challenge record and won the Diablo hill climb TT last year... he would've been fun to see.

Team Type 1 is a sentimental favorite but I don't remember them doing anything notable in previous editions.

I'll bet the Livestrong team greased some palms to get in.

SKY and Saxo??? That's some serious snubbing.

[gpelpel]

SKY snubbing is a chocker. Cav and Co. would have offered world class sprints. On top of that it would have been a tremendous opportunity to sell TV coverage to the UK. Well the inclusion of Ag2r might have the intention to attract french viewers but it's not like they are a must have team.

Unless the organizers wanted to avoid a Cav sprint wins monopoly and make sure Tyler Farrar commands a good share of the evening highlights.

There's still Boonen and the Liquigas gang to beat though.

[Beaker]

I'm also bummed about Sky but more about Kenda - seeing Nate English line up with those guys would have been great. He's been tearing it up on the NorCal scene this year.

[Rumpled]

Cyclingnewsfeed had an article that Southerland from TT1 claims AEG wanted $100k in VIP and other sponsorship to get in, AEG denies it.

[retrofit]

2012 ATOC Tour Tracker App was released today for iPhone & iPad:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/amgen...509964934?mt=8

[Garfield Cat]

Busy schedules with the Giro d'Italia going from May 5 to 27 and then Tour of California going from May 13 to 20.

[spingineer]

So many big names are going to Giro ... will there be anyone we recognize at ATOC?

[retrofit]

So many big names are going to Giro ... will there be anyone we recognize at ATOC?

There will still be a few notables:

Tom Boonan, Peter Sagan, Vincenzo Nibali, Jens Voigt, Ben King, Heinrich Haussler, David Zabriskie, Hincapie, Van Garderen, Van Avermaet, L.L. Sanchez, Ten Dam, Robbie Mcewen, Velits, et al.

Complete preliminary startlist.