Chris Froome will not defend his Criterium International victory after organisers ASO confirmed Team Sky would not take part in the two-day race this year.
Last year’s Criterium International was one of four races Froome won prior to his Tour de France success, after the Kenyan-born Brit soloed to victory on the Col de l’Ospedale.
However, neither Froome or 2012 winner Cadel Evans (BMC Racing) with their respective teams not among the 15 set to take the start line in Porto-Vecchio for the 83rd edition of the 2.HC race.
Eight of the 18 WorldTour teams will start the three-stage race, which kicks off as ever with a double-header on Saturday March 29 – an 89km flat road stage followed by a seven-kilometre individual time trial.
It then concludes with the punchy 176km stage on Sunday March 30, which concludes atop the Col de l’Ospedale.
Ag2r-La Mondiale, FDJ.fr, Team Europcar, Astana, Giant-Shimano, Tinkoff-Saxo, Garmin-Sharp and Trek Factory Racing will represent the ProTeams in Corsica.
They will be joined by seven UCI Pro-Continental teams including German-Scottish outfit Team NetApp-Endura, Colombia and IAM Cycling.
French quartet Bigmat-Auber 93, Bretagne-Seche Environnement, Cofidis and Team La Pomme Marseille 13 complete the line-up.
With Team Sky not in action it paves the way for Froome to compete instead at the Volta Ciclista a Catalunya, which concludes on the same weekend.
