RadioShack were the major absentee among the 22 squads selected by tour organizers for the 2010 edition of the race when they released the team roster on Monday. "I am not only surprised, I am speechless," RadioShack team manager.

Johan Bruyneel said in a team media release on Tuesday. "I cannot understand or accept this decision. "At first, I thought it was a mistake so I called (race director) Javier Guillen for an explanation. He told me that the other teams offered him better options on a sporting level."

"I had to ask him to repeat it as I could not believe this but I heard right: we didn't offer a good enough team." Although Armstrong was not expected to race, RadioShack's lineup also includes double podium finisher in Spain Levi Leipheimer and last week's Criterium du Dauphine winner Janez Brajkovic of Slovenia.

"For me it is hard to explain to my sponsor that 21 other teams are apparently better than us," Bruyneel added. "Especially when it isn't true." The Tour of Spain starts in Seville on August 28 and finishes on in Madrid on September 19.