Next up on the calendar is the Vuelta a Mallorca, making it's ManGame return after a year of absence. 2 flat stages followed by the key hill stage, and then a final flat stage with plenty of hills. And looking at the startlist, it is good news for many who are here - as C1 startlists go, this is probably one of the weaker!
Despite no uphill finishes, the race favourite has to be Chris Froome. Off the back of a great Tour of Oman, he will hope to continue his team's form. He himself is going well, winning up Willunga Hill in the Tour Down Under - although he could not quite convert that into an overall race victory.
Big rival will be Cesare di Maggio. He only took 9th overall in 2012, but he was much better in many other races that season. This marks the debut of his return to this level.
Race favourite number 3 is Carlos Betancourt. The Colombian started his season with 9th overall at the Tour Down Under.
Now, there are 18 PCT/CT riders with a 78+ Hill stat. Remarkably, the above are the only 3 of those 18 here! What an opportunity this therefore becomes for some of the next tier of riders on 77 or 76 hill. Hategaka, Bilbao, Lejman, Cobo, Weening, Rabon, Konovalovas and Serry.
Team leaders such as Anza, Wegmann, Becerra, Hermans, Durasek and Continental rankings leader Wyss could all fancy their chances of a Top 10 spot too, if they can ride a good race.
Moving onto sprinters then. 47 PCT/CT riders have a sprint stat of 79 or higher. How many of them are here? Just 7!
Leading the way is Romain Vanderbiest. The Frenchman has won GT stages, so has every rider to be confident, especially with Mitch Docker as a leadout man.
But he is not the only 'Rom' hoping to do well here. The enigmatic Roman Maksimov lines up, and he has an equally strong leadout rider Saulo Lay, and a better number 3 in Hector Hugo Rangel. The Russian Rocket was a strong 4th in the Down Under Classic compared to Vanderbiest's 13th - but can he cope with the hillier course?
Just behind Maksimov down under was Raul Granjel Cabrera. Like Vanderbiest, he has won GT stages but moved to PCT after his team disbanded. Will he be handicapped by the lack of a strong leadout? Can he benefit from being stronger over the hills?
Contender number 4 is Claudio Corioni for his first race of the season. His support is even more nonexistant than at Mobil though.
Hornbach have got a good double attack of Anthony Lavoine and Francesco Gavazzi. The latter inparticular should go well on Stage 4. More sprinters on the lineup means they could have a powerful leadout train - but Lavoine may not be strong enough for the game to give him one!
Last year's star rider Nolan Hoffman lines up here too, while other sprinters to watch are Fonseca, Cucinotta, Cardoso, Anton Martin, Coquard and Angarita.
All of the above assumes we will get 3 sprints and a puncheur battle though. As we have seen instead this season, breakaways have been quite common. This could be good news for Euskaltel on their season debut - as the only team to not have a rider mentioned as a contender for any of the stages!
Previous Edition
On Stage 2 of 2012, Roman Maksimov's Spanish leadout man left him in the lead with 1km to go.
Yet he could only finish 11th, with Thor Hushovd winning instead. Project: Africa will hope a similar Spanish lead out/Maksimov combination does better this time.
The rest of the race saw three hill stages that all ultimately ended downhill / on the flat. Stage 3 was the key stage, and two Spaniards dueled it out: Samuel Sanchez and Alejandro Valverde. Sanchez won, but did not take the race lead.
On Stage 4 though, Sanchez took 2nd behind Roche, and with Di Maggio taking the remaining bonus seconds it moved him into the race lead. And he secured the GC win after another Sanchez, Luis Leon, won the final stage.
Of this year's field, Weening was 4th, Di Maggio 9th, Wyss 13th, Hermans 19th and Cobo 20th.
Got to have a chance with Vanderbiest here to hopefully get a first win of the season but i fear Granjel Cabrera in these sprints hopefully a good leadout from Docker/Torckler will be enough.
Okay, with this weakish feel we're hoping to cash in big time. Maksimov is our big hope for stage 1 (maybe stage 2). A win will be terrific. Hategeka has got his chance to shine now and is coming off of good form from Tour of South Africa where he finished 10th against some strong competition. For the final stage, we've got Rangel who can out climb most other sprinters with his 69Mo and 66Hill - so hopefully the pace is relatively tough up those slopes.
So, a stage win and Top 5 GC is our goal for this race! Let's get down to scoring some points after a disappointing Tour of SA and Tour of Oman!
Thanks for the nice, in-depth preview SN Hopefully Maksimov can improve from an 11th place
Even with a more unexperienced team Marcel Wyss seems to be in the shape to repeat 2012th result (13th with Saab - Scania). He pleasantly anticipates the challenge.
Sending our best sprinter could turn out a lucky find. Hardly scoring on C2 level Armindo Fonseca's chances at Mallorca aren't worse.
Hmmm...another race where some opponents will score comparably huge, and certainly one I would've subscribed to if there were any spare race days to have Kelderman lead in...
I somehow doubt stage 3 has a mo/hill-ratio of 0 or close to that, which would rule Di Maggio out of the fight for the win a bit.
Will follow this closely to mourn our further downfall through the rankings with Middle East and Strade Bianche not likely to make up any of the losses in the near future.
Maksimov in a CSC-Orbea jersey... I can hardly remember those days.
Crossing my fingers for a repeat performance from Anton Martin to what he did at Tachira. Other than that Cobo should finish around 5-10 in GC but with the PCM AI so far, who knows what is going to happen.
Very pleased to see that we meet not so packed startlist for the first time, this can turn into nice point haul from rabon/Hoffman duo hopefully. I hope that mountain stats will not hinder chances of Rabon in stage 3 and his acc and sprint will help him to nice result.
Top10 is the goal for Rabon, but top3-5 cant be ruled out, that would be great. Hoffman is without pressure now, as he acknowledged he is noppt a worrld beater, so couple of podiums or top5s can do the job.
Indeed a relatively weak line-up. Looks like I can actually hope for a Weening top 5! And we have no one who can sprint here, so in the flat stages I want to join some breakaways.
Hopefully Maksimov can improve from an 11th place 
Looks like I can actually hope for a Weening top 5! And we have no one who can sprint here, so in the flat stages I want to join some breakaways.
