Time to earn you paycheck Galta! I want a first stage win, then chilling in the pack before securing GC on stage 4 and 6 so that we can afford the time loss on the TTT
If Russo can do something on the flat stages as well that is a bonus
To be honest, if we fail here we are in trouble...
Very interesting setup for a stage race with an obvious winner
Stage 1 - is MMTT on Gravel, i've sent Basso and Sangulin here thinking we might sneak a Yellow but Newton have Kozhatayev no doubts for me he will take the win even with the Gravel bonus being small for cobble stat he will have a goood advantage over the over climbers. Hoping Smith can top 20 and just stay in touch
Stage 2,3,5 - as known early in the season i've blown Gibbons planning in these stage races as he needs a train any podium is basically a win for us.
Stage 4 - Survive Galta will win this just hoping Smith will be best of the rest his strong mix is only matched by Habtemichael and the Euskotren boys. a top 5 would be ideal taking time on Habtemichael is needed
Stage 6 - This should be the stage that suits Smith the most plenty of MM and HI bits with a MM finish hoping he might stage win here but depending on how the final climb is ridden Galta might dash those hopes.
Stage 7 - Pray, KMM and SEE Turtles scare me here they could gain at least 20-30 seconds on us interestingly if we can keep Galta very close we could actually make 15-20 seconds up here but the keeping him close part would be a miracle !!!
This is a huge race for us! Rachid, Barta, and Main are all here to get GC results, while Merchan is here to look for a mountain stage and confuse the AI. Otherwise, we brought the full TTT team and Oka should still be good enough to sprint.
KMM should be an scary good team and I think Habtemichael will end up taking the victory.