“......From 2011 on, in compliance with the agreement passed between the organisers of the main Tours and the International Cycling Union (UCI), the first 17 teams of the world ranking established at the end of 2010, according to the sporting results of the teams, will be automatically selected. The other teams will receive wild cards from the organisers.............
OK, got it now. Thanks.
I didn’t read the fine print.
And I missed BMC Racing as well, so there are 4 American teams in the 2010 Tour, France being the only other country with 4.