That leaves three spots open in the 20-team field of nine riders each when the Tour sets off July 1. The rules that Weltz referred to concern the date for announcing the wild-card entries. A century ago, or last year, that was June 15, when such big races as the Giro d'Italia and the Dauphine Libere had finished in Italy and France, allowing Tour candidates a final chance to strut their stuff. The cutoff date is now May 31, before the Giro ends and the Dauphine starts. The Midi Libre, a pleasant, hitherto low-pressure race in the high hills and low mountains of the south, now is the last chance to impress the Tour organizers.
Nobody's nervous, of course.
Just because seven or eight teams are in the running for the final three spots in the biggest showcase of the sport, the one race that every sponsor insists his team must appear in or else, is no reason for anybody to become nervous. Memory Card riders finished first in the Four Days of Dunkirk at the start of May and in the Tour of the Oise and Picardy last week. It would seem unthinkable to leave out a rider who was on the three-step victory podium when the Tour reached Paris last July. The big race is, after all, the Tour de France and the five French teams already accepted are notable for their mainly Belgian, American, Australian, Spanish and Estonian leaders. Both are Tour de France veterans.