Brit team makes it into Tour de France

Carlton Reid May 30 2007, 2:45pm

Team Barloworld of London-cum-Italy-cum South Africa has been selected as one of three 'wildcard' entrants to this year's Tour De France.

The three wild card entrants are Agritubel of France, Astana of Switzerland and Team Barloworld of the UK.

Team Barloworld is managed by Graybell of London but run from Italy with Italian staff.

“Team Barloworld’s success in being invited to compete in the Tour de France is thanks to both a great team effort as well as representation from Claudio Corti, the highly respected Italian Team Manager,” said Chris Fisher, head of corporate Marketing, Barloworld.
 
“When Barloworld first began sponsoring the team five years ago, their stated aim was to have a South-African sponsored team in the Tour de France.  We will finally achieve this objective.  Corti has worked tirelessly for over a year to get us into this race."

The South African/UK/Italian team rides Cannondales.

21 teams of 9 riders  - making for 189 riders – will start the 7.9km prologue in the centre of London on July 7th.