PARIS (Reuters) - Former world champion Mario Cipollini's team, Domina Vacanze, have been granted a
wild card by Tour de France organizers despite losing their place in the cycling elite and being
omitted from last year's race.
Eight wild cards will join the 14 best teams of the 2003 season already retained for the Tour by the
International Cycling union (UCI), the sport's governing body. Four wild cards were handed out
Friday to French teams AG2r Prvoyance, Crdit Agricole, Bricohes La Boulangre and RAGT Semences.
Phonak (Switzerland), Lotto-Domo (Belgium) were also invited to take part in the Tour.
Spain's Kelme, who are the oldest team in the peloton but also lost their top-flight status in
January, will be given the 22nd spot on condition that they reinforce their team.
"Domina Vacanza and Kelme were relegated to the second division for financial reasons not because of
the quality of their riders," said Tour director Jean-Marie Leblanc when he named the 22-team line-
up for the race Friday.
"Domina Vacanza have been selected because they have a good mountain specialist, Michele Scarponi,
and because of a personal request from Mario Cipollini," Leblanc said.
Last season, the Tour organizers left out Domina Vacanza in a shock decision saying Cipollini had
never finished the world's most prestigious cycling race.
"If I said what is going through my mind right now I would never be let into France again," the 36-year-
old said at the time.
"The decision offends the sport of cycling because as world champion I'm an important part of the
sport. The Tour de France is a dictatorship."
Last month, Cipollini made amends and asked Tour organizers to grant him a final farewell appearance
before the end of his career.
"I love France. It's the place where I won my most beautiful sprints," he said. "I love the Tour and
since I've been punished for failing to finish it, I pledge to go all the way this year if Jean-
Marie Leblanc retains our team," he said.
Famed for his devastating sprinting, Cipollini boasts 185 victories, including a record 42 stages in
the Giro d'Italia, 12 in the Tour de France and the world road race title in 2002.
Last year American Lance Armstrong, the U.S. Postal team leader, became the fifth rider to win the
Tour five times and only the second with five straight victories after Spain's Miguel Indurain
achieved that feat between 1991 and 1995.
22 team line-up:
U.S. Postal Service (U.S), Cofidis, Fdjeux.com, AG2r Prvoyance, Crdit Agricole, Brioches La
Boulangre, RAGT Semences-MG Rover (France), Saeco, Fassa Bortolo, Alessio-Bianchi, Domina Vacanze
(Italy), Euskaltel, Banesto, Liberty Seguros, Kelme (Spain), Quick Step-Davitamon, Lotto-Domo
(Belgium), T-Mobile, Gerolsteiner (Germany), Team CSC (Denmark), Rabobank (Netherlands), Phonak