Johannessen was second last year here and will be looking to improve on that. Conci the only former winner present on the start list.
On paper, most stages are rated as hilly ones, but the climbers could have a hard word to say in stage 5. That stage could potentially create the biggest gaps so we should perhaps look first at climbers when it comes to favorites for the GC. It's a really tough favorites list to make here. Especially when you add in both time - trials, a team one and an individual one.
GC Favorites
Rider
FL
MT
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
SP
AC
Paret-Peintre
72
76
77
77
72
73
75
72
74
Conci
71
77
76
74
78
76
75
63
68
Habtemichael
67
78
76
74
74
74
73
59
66
Johannessen
69
80
77
74
70
73
77
67
75
Powless
72
78
75
72
80
76
74
65
71
Lasinis
69
79
76
72
74
73
72
61
68
Choi
69
79
76
72
73
74
73
57
65
Hirt
68
79
76
72
71
74
76
63
73
Sagan, Turgis, Vogt, Eriksson and Storer are the strongest puncheurs here. But given their lack of abilities in time - trials, it's highly unlinkely they will feature high in the GC. Their climbing abilities on bigger hills are not too great either so that's another downside for their GC quest.
The 2 first hilly stages feature a flat finish and there we could see those puncheurs that can also sprint well fight for the stage wins, such as Luchshenko, Rumac, Paez, Paret-Peintre, Mayer, Stedman or Gabburo.
Puncheurs
Rider
FL
MT
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
SP
AC
Turgis
73
67
73
79
66
76
78
70
77
Sagan
68
70
75
79
64
72
68
69
70
Eriksson
72
67
73
79
61
78
74
65
76
Storer
70
75
77
79
69
72
73
64
74
Vogt
72
61
70
79
65
77
70
61
62
Tesfatsion
68
76
77
78
61
68
72
69
78
Budyak
68
74
76
78
68
72
67
57
68
Paez
73
72
75
77
68
74
70
73
76
Paret-Peintre
72
76
77
77
72
73
75
72
74
Mayer
68
69
73
77
70
65
72
72
77
Gladysh
72
70
74
77
64
73
72
71
76
Senyenov
70
62
70
77
63
68
73
68
73
Hoelgaard
72
74
76
77
65
72
72
68
74
Boileau
67
75
76
77
65
68
71
67
76
Montenegro
69
70
74
77
64
71
73
64
74
Dyrnes
67
71
74
77
60
72
72
64
76
Dieteren
67
70
74
77
58
75
70
63
66
Seigle
68
72
75
77
64
73
73
63
72
Carr
68
70
74
77
57
74
71
59
72
Skjerping
67
70
74
77
62
71
67
58
65
Stedman
70
68
72
76
63
71
72
72
75
Gabburo
75
68
72
76
64
73
75
72
76
Luchshenko
72
65
70
75
63
77
72
75
75
Rumac
71
72
74
75
64
72
70
74
76
Kmieliauskas leads the list of top time - trialists present here and will surely target stage 4. He does have some decent climbing abilities, but it's unkilely the Lithuanian will play a part in the GC part here. Powless and Conci will surely want to use the fourth stage to gather an advantage over their GC rivals.
Time - trialists
Rider
FL
MT
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
SP
AC
Kmieliauskas
74
70
70
70
81
74
71
63
69
Powless
72
78
75
72
80
76
74
65
71
Lammertink
74
64
67
69
80
70
76
63
68
Beniusis
71
69
65
60
80
71
73
57
67
Bissegger
74
68
69
69
79
73
77
72
73
Sütterlin
70
58
61
64
79
72
76
58
59
Conci
71
77
76
74
78
76
75
63
68
Cosnefroy
76
68
70
71
78
78
81
69
69
O'Loughlin
73
67
68
68
78
69
74
63
64
Christodoulos
72
68
68
68
78
75
69
53
64
Thomas
73
56
61
66
78
75
73
74
79
Vandevelde
75
59
62
65
78
72
74
62
65
A lot of those who finished on the podium in Olympia are present here, so it's no surprise Hunter Valley Cycling, DK Zalgiris and Simba Cement - Tanga Fresh are rated as the big favorites for the opening stage.
I'm really looking forward to this race, APPs allround skillset should make him a podium contender at least and for once he has a strong support cast with Küng, Garibian, Boileau, Vauquelin and Louvel. Another U25 win could also well be in the books and maybe even some points from the other classifications.
Thanks for the preview Alex! Our puncheurs have decent MM too so hoping that they'll be able to do something on the hilly stages and that the climbs won't prove too tough for them. GC is out of the question given the time trialing involved but hoping for some decent stage placings or perhaps breakaways.
