Hello, and welcome to China for the 4th edition of the Tour of Beijing. Since its first edition in 2013, the GC battle has normally gone down to the big named puncheurs in the peleton. Will it be the same again in 2016.

	Hill	Sta	Acc			Hill	Sta	Acc
Kinoshita	81	80	77		Bystrom	79	75	76
Flügel	81	79	74		Bilbao	79	77	75
Anuar Aziz	81	78	71		Betancourt	79	72	74
Gautier	80	76	77		Cunego	79	74	74
Ulissi	80	83	75		Schumacher	79	75	69
Roche	80	78	72		Barrio	79	69	67
Zaini	80	74	70		Caruso	78	76	77
van der Hugenhaben	80	77	66		Roux	78	78	75
Vogt	80	78	61		Vanendert	78	77	72
Ben Nasser	79	76	77		Landa	78	70	69

Last year’s winner Jonathan Bellis is not present on the startlist, but we do see a return of the 2014 winner and runner-up in 2015 Carlos Betancourt.

Stopping him from becoming the first two-time winner in the Chinese capital are a number of riders, who all stake a good claim to the winner’s crown themselves. Kinoshita, Flügel and Anuar Aziz lead the stat charts in the list of favourites, but closely followed by Ulissi, Roche and Ben Nasser, who have all ridden well on similar terrain this season.

No one should count out Gautier and van der Hugenhaben during the race, whilst Cunego, Schumacher, Vogt and Bilbao all have outside chances of a podium place.

	Fl	Sp	Acc			Fl	Sp	Acc
Vanderbiest	74	82	77		Matthews	75	79	79
Impey	74	80	81		Hayakawa	73	79	79
Bouhanni	74	80	77		Aberasturi	74	79	78
Serebriakov	74	80	77		Reinhardt	71	78	84
Haussler	73	80	76		Kruopis	73	78	77

Whilst the GC may favour the Puncheurs, there are still two stages that are a sprinter’s paradise. Stages 3 & 5 are tailor-made for the peleton’s fast men, and it is clear from the startlist that a number of teams saw the opportunity in a race normally dominated by hillier rider.

Vanderbiest is the clear favourite for these stages, but will no doubt be pushed all the way by the likes of fellow countryman Bouhanni, Impey, Serebriakov and Haussler.

Matthews, Hayakawa and Aberasturi could be a good shout for strong finishes also, along with Reinhardt and Kruopis.

However, with a number of these riders having team-mates aiming for GC honours, it will be interesting to see how many domestiques will be sacrificed in the lead-outs.

2015	Jonathan Bellis	RBC Pro Cycling
2014	Carlos Betancourt	FCB - Polska
2013	Fabian Wegmann	Sram-Riboxx Cycling Team