Michele Acquarone, director of the Giro d’Italia has announced via his blog that the wild card teams for the 2012 will be announced considerably earlier than usual next year. Usually the selection for wild cards is made once the UCI WorldTour season has begun but next year the announcement will be made on January 10, five days before even the Santos Tour Down Under begins. Acquarone posted: “Traditionally, attempts were made to postpone the selection in order to take indicators from the first races of the season…We forgo this privilege to give everyone the possibility to plan and prepare as best as possible for the season; both the teams that are going to participate and in our races in 2012 and, with regret, those that won’t.”
The 2012 Giro runs May 5 to 27, beginning for the first time ever in Scandinavia with Herning and Horsens hosting the opening stages.
