23 teams for Giro

Geox-TMC were not invited to take part in this year's Tour de France as they are not one of the 18 ProTeams who automatically qualify for the big races.

However, Giro bosses said in a statement that Geox were one of the five wildcards selected alongside the 18 top-tier teams to compete in the May 7-29 event, cycling's second biggest stage race after the Tour.

Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, Colnago-CSF and Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli were the other four invited teams after organisers gained special permission from the International Cycling Union to have more than the allotted 200 riders.

"In order to celebrate in a noteworthy way the 150th anniversary of the Unification of Italy," the statement explained.

Menchov won the Giro in 2009 while Sastre is the 2008 Tour champion.

ProTeam Vacansoleil gained an automatic entry despite UCI president Pat McQuaid saying on Saturday they could face a probe into their recruitment policy following their sacking of Riccardo Ricco.

The Italian almost died trying to perform a blood transfusion on himself last month. Vacansoleil had hired him despite the rider having served a 20-month ban for doping on the 2008 Tour.

This year's Giro starts in Turin and includes Sicily's Mount Etna along the route but several top riders have said they will only ride July's Tour rather than risking the punishing Giro as well.

Full list of 23 teams (Each team to have nine riders): AG2R La Mondiale, BMC Racing Team, Euskaltel-Euskadi, HTC-Highroad, Katusha Team, Lampre-ISD, Leopard-Trek, Liquigas-Cannondale, Movistar Team, Omega Pharma-Lotto, Pro Team Astana, QuickStep Cycling Team, Rabobank Cycling Team, Saxo Bank-Sungard, Sky Pro Cycling, Team Garmin-Cervelo, Team RadioShack, Vacansoleil-DCM, Acqua & Sapone, Androni Giocattoli, Colnago-CSF, Farnese Vini-Neri Sottoli, Geox-TMC.