Second edition of this race that is raced in multiple days. The organizers might want to rethink the name of the race at this point. Despite the opening short time - trial, we look at sprinters as the main favorites for the GC as there will be plenty of bonus seconds in play for those that finish high in the sprints. Still, a good prologue stat for sprinters is a more than welcome bonus.
Manninen, Walscheid and Perera are the top sprinters here and all can do well in short time - trials, which puts them at the very top of the list of favorites for the GC. The Finn already has bit of edge over the others and when you take into consideration that his lead-out, Kiskonen, is also among the top sprinters in the race, surely you have to think about him when you are talking about the man to beat here.
Bol and Van der Lijke could also get into the mix if their sprints are consistent enough, while Plowright will probably have a lot of ground to make up after the opening stage. Frame is the best prologue rider from the sprinters so it will be interesting to see what his and SEE Turtles tactics will be.
Sprinters
Rider
FL
TT
ST
RS
SP
AC
PR
Manninen
73
68
73
69
80
78
75
Walscheid
73
62
74
71
79
79
75
Perera
71
58
73
69
79
80
74
Bol
76
67
77
75
79
77
69
Van der Lijke
70
63
66
68
79
74
65
Plowright
74
58
73
70
78
76
58
Frame
71
69
74
69
77
76
79
Norbert
75
70
77
75
77
75
76
Ganjkhanlou
73
63
70
70
77
79
74
Kiskonen
74
68
77
77
77
77
70
Silva
75
62
70
69
77
78
62
Liepins
72
58
66
71
77
77
59
Chavanne and Kopfauf are the top prologue specialists here. And while both of them could get involved in the sprints, it's highly unlikely they will do so for their own benefit, the Swiss rider having one of the best sprinters of the race in his team, so lead-out duty will be calling out for him.
Big race for us - the prologue is potentially long enough for TT to be a factor, but ideally we walk away from that in the yellow jersey and with Perera lurking in the background. We brought our strongest squad and the route literally couldn't be flatter, so hoping for three strong showings in the sprint. We've been poor lately so could really do with a good race here.
