The Pro Continental fight for invites to the biggest races

Teams in the WorldTour are guaranteed places in all the biggest races on the cycling calendar. But those at Professional Continental level have to fight to get entry, and the scrap for places has never been fiercer. So how do they do it?

Photo: Graham Watson

Once upon a time, on a continent not far away, things were relatively simple. If you were a French cycling team, you got to ride the Tour de France. If you were a team sponsored by Vivi, Metauro Mobili or Sammontana ice cream, with a budget smaller than a credit card limit, you were still guaranteed a slot in the Giro d’Italia, and the same went for domestic sponsors in Spain. Teams were looked after in their home countries, rode their national races and Tours and everyone was happy.

However, those less complicated days are long gone. Italian firms sponsored 13 out of the 18 participating teams in the 1983 Giro; 30 years later, only five out of the 23 teams were Italian-registered.

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