Vuelta a Espana organiser finds himself in a peculiar situation over 2025 wildcards: "There is a lot of pressure from foreign teams"

The Vuelta a Espana 2025 has a "problem" to solve. There are not enough wildcards for all the interested ProTeams. The stacked foreign teams with their star riders are pushing hard to get the edge over "smaller local" Spanish team. This is what Javier Guillén, director of the race, reveals in conversation with Relevo.

Teams like Q36.5 Pro Cycling Team or Tudor Pro Cycling Team have grown a lot this winter. Their goal is to get the WorldTour license with signings such as Tom Pidcock for the former, or Marc Hirschi and Julian Alaphilippe for the latter. And the UCI points from La Vuelta would come in handy.

"We receive a lot of pressure, affectionate, from foreign teams," explained Javier Guillén. "We have it very very difficult this year, because not only do we have to shuffle the presence of Spanish teams, but also internationally there are very powerful teams that are very eager to come to La Vuelta."

For Guillén there would be no problem in giving the invitation to Tudor, Q36.5 or Uno-X Mobility. The fact is that, as he mentions, there are 4 Spanish ProTeam teams that also expect an invitation: Equipo Kern Pharma, Caja Rural - Seguros RGA are strong teams, while Euskaltel - Euskadi and Burgos Burpellet BH were left out last time and certainly don't want to be sidelined two years in a row.

"The decision has not been made and it's certainly not going to be easy, but when the time comes we'll make it," adds the Vuelta a España director, who also confirms when the announcement of the wildcards will be made: "I think almost certainly after the Giro and Tour."

The problems are piling up for Javier Guillén. Because not only Tudor and Q36.5 have started 2025 in style, accumulating victories. So are the Spanish ProTeams. They are all fighting for the common goal.

The only one that could be said to be a "confirmed" wildcard is Equipo Kern Pharma. In 2024, the pharmaceutical team was one of the best teams in the entire Vuelta a España, including the WorldTeams. With 3 stage wins under their belt, they certainly earned a repeat in 2025. But, as Javier Guillén said, nothing is confirmed yet.