Welcome to America! Starting in Aruba before going to the US1 5 flat stages, 2 flat TTs, 3 hill stages and 4 mountain stages. The GT of the continental division! Route reveal can be read here
Tour of America used to be 21 stages, now there are just 14, making the fun more condensed!
Race History
First edition of the race was back in 2011 with Franco Pellizotti winning the first edition by 13 minutes, after that Kiserlovski won in 2012 before Kashechkin took 2 in a row in 2013 and 2014. Berhane picked up the 2015 edition with a narrow win of only 23 seconds before loosing the 2016 edition to Pozzovivo by 38 seconds. Barguil would take it in 2017 with race legend Kiserlovski in 3rd. 2018 saw an even narrower win when Valls beat Talansky by 8 seconds, with Shikai winning the 2019 edition beating Warbasse with 3.08. 2020 and 2021 was won by Nerz, while Bennett won in 2022 and Eastman in 2023. Last year Elosegui helped his team to promotion by winning.
There are many strong riders present this year, but the biggest favorite might be Jorgenson. His teammate won here last season and this year he is here on his own, looking to copy him. His biggest weakness is his recovery, can that hold him back? His biggest competitor might not have many race days, but a big win here could be important for Glanbia and Meintjes. He comes here as the strongest CT rider, ready to fight for the win!
Novak are present hopeing to help his team avoid relegation, and will need to score really well to be able to do that, then again he is the best pure climber together with Seboka and Carapaz, while being better than them in most other stuff (Carapaz is the better timetrialist).
Yates and Arensman are two other strong competitors here, who might be able to get one of the top spots, same with Buitrago, Smith, Choi and Misbah. Strong riders who might be a bit dissapointed to see they are not the strongest sent here.
The field is stronger than I am used to, and riders like Lunke, Rodriguez, Munoz, Johannessen, Prado, Fabbro, Bennett, Spanopoulos, Vasyliv, Lafay, Raileanu and many more could end up suprising everyone. The most open GT this year?
Name
MO
MM
HI
TT
ST
RS
RC
Novak
80
79
77
66
74
76
77
Seboka
80
71
62
53
63
70
73
Carapaz
80
76
71
72
71
76
77
Munoz
79
76
73
66
72
72
74
Arensman
79
76
73
74
72
77
74
Meintjes
79
78
77
70
76
75
76
Yates
79
77
75
70
78
79
74
Misbah
79
75
70
75
76
73
74
Merchan
79
75
71
59
68
69
72
Choi
79
76
72
73
74
73
76
Bennett
79
77
74
63
72
71
74
Jorgenson
79
78
77
76
79
78
72
Fabbro
78
77
75
67
71
72
74
Johannessen
78
75
72
64
72
80
71
Smith
78
77
75
68
72
74
75
Buitrago
78
77
76
66
70
74
76
Lunke
78
75
72
73
76
74
78
Kuss
78
75
71
64
74
76
71
Quintana
78
74
70
67
71
70
70
Natarov
78
75
72
70
66
70
78
Rodriguez
78
75
72
73
73
74
75
Petelin
78
76
74
62
70
71
71
Sprinters
Enger and Abdul Halil are the biggest names present. strong sprinters, but the competition is harsh with a total of 9 sprinters 78 or higher present. Their strongest competitor is Adomaitis and Gibbons in my eyes, but the group also consist of Carsi, Marin, Afewerki, Coutinho and Hayakawa
Among those sprinters under 78 I would look to Wouters, Hamza and Zhao as the most dangerous ones.
Name
FL
ST
RS
RC
SP
AC
Enger
73
71
73
77
81
78
Abdul Halil
70
71
68
77
81
79
Adomaitis
75
66
74
75
79
78
Carsi
69
64
67
70
79
80
Coutinho
71
73
72
75
78
78
Afewerki
72
76
69
79
78
79
Hayakawa
72
73
66
74
78
77
Gibbons
75
73
72
73
78
78
Marin
74
73
73
76
78
78
Wouters
75
73
75
83
77
79
Tivani
70
68
78
76
77
78
Hamza
77
73
72
78
77
77
Liepins
72
71
66
75
77
77
Jimenez Retana
71
69
68
76
77
79
Zhao
74
68
74
74
77
81
Stage hunters
Starting with the TT specialists there are two riders who stand ut extra in Cataford and Van Moer. they should be the biggest favorites for the long TT, but riders like Kukrle and Belevics hope to steal their win. For the shorter prologue its hard to look past Chavanne, but the earlier mentioned TTers and Schomber will try to steal it. Do not forget a rider like Ciccone with his cool stat combo.
For the more punchy stages, outside of GC favorites we have to look at Jensen as a dangerous rider being the strongest puncheur, other interesting names include Fritsch and Serrano with a strong punch on the hills, tought I suspect that the GC riders will be really dangerous.
When it comes to stage wins over a longer tour we should not forget the rolours, with Andersen being the strongest among them with is allround stats combined with a great flat. Will also be interesting if riders like Manakov and Van Aert can cook up something interesting
Sorry for the delayed posting. A smaller preview than I wanted to make for this, but the last week has been more busy than anticpated and when I forgot this aswell...
Looking forward to what I am pretty sure will be some great reports!
Only our second participation in ToA, but a much easier decision to join when it’s a week shorter. Will be an interesting fight for the GC with lots of even riders.
Did not expect Enger to be here - he will be a big challenger for Abdul Halil, but hopefully having Coutinho here will give him the best train. We have a pretty strong team for the tougher stages also, but not sure if Johannessen is good enough for a top GC result. Breakaways might be his best bet if he’s allowed into it.
All eyes are on Novak for the team - he needs to score big for us to have even a ray of hope for survival. Our two top TT riders are also there with the goal of securing vital ranking points.
This is only my 2nd participation in ToA and I'm banking on this race to give me a good enough result to at least count this season more successful than my last 2 PCT attempt. Fingers crossed.
Really need some strong points here. Hoping for a top 10 in GC, youth ranking points and maybe some high stage finishes. Bennett should be able to get some strong finishes in the mountains but I hope he still supports the real leader in Rodriguez.
I thought I had brought a sprinter here but it must have been another one of the casualties from Zijlaard's schedule to make sure he got enough xp to level up.
So many good riders that don't even find there way into the preview - things are way too stacked for our liking.
With only two weeks, I think the stage 12 ITT is going to hold a huge amount of weight, pushing this even more into the Jorgenson category. Misbah another great choice to for the podium in my opinion. Hoping Arensman and Lunke can work together as well and not alternate stage leadership. Rodriguez might be my final pick for a top 5.
For the Turtles, Merchan is here for experience and maybe a great a race day on something like stage 8 or even a breakaway for stage 13. Rachid should be our GC leader as we pray for good fortune and that the ITT makes the difference between the GC contenders. Tivani returns to the ToA with hopes of regaining the green jersey after taking 2024 off. Would be way too much to ask, but hopefully some good stage results are in store. Oka here for stage 1 and the leadout duties. Main here for an outside shot at a Top 25. Kelly, Tuyizere, and Stroll will serve as pure domestiques and maybe find their way into some breakaways.
Looking at the startlist, the unmentioned rider that scares me the most is probably Prado. Prado could easily come away with a great stage 1, and really play a role in the GC battle should things go their way. Borisavljevic should also be able to fight above his weight in GC.
Thanks Heine for a great preview and for all the racing to come!
Our main hope is to score some minor GC points or breakaways/KOM with Vasilyiv, Spanopoulos, Bouchard or Gee. Maybe Wouters can surprise in the flat stages.
Thanks Heine for the great preview!
MG - Lotto - Caloi
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Not really sure sending Buitrago here was the right call. He showed in ToME that he can perform at C2 level, but this will be a big step up.Hoping his strong hill and acceleration can prove the difference on some of the earlier stages and keep him in contention until the high mountains. Could be wishful thinking though.
Really excited also to see Chavanne in his first prologue for the team. Sent him here instead of Luxembourg in the hope that he could win stage one and secure the yellow jersey for a few days at least. Schomber will be a tough nut to crack, but never say never. Chavanne is also our best sprinter here but it would take some serious randomness for that to translate into any points.
Really glad to be racing again. Don't have much hopes for the GC, but I'm hopefull Adomaitis can do something in the first few stages, Riccitello to fight for the white jersey and maybe Uwi to finish in the top15 or so. That would be a good race for us.
Disagree that the stage reducction has brought "all the big guns". It's a very good startlist nonetheless. Jorgenson tthe man to beat imo
GC Top 5
- Individually, our riders look more like top‑10 contenders, but the support cast is decent and the dual‑captain setup could help us punch above our weight. If Choi and Carapaz work well together, we might be able to overperform.
Stage Win
- With five riders highlighted in the preview, a stage win seems realistic. Schomber is our strongest candidate. Hamza may not be favorite in the sprints but should get several opportunities. McKenna is mainly in a supporting role but could get freedom on the right day. Carapaz is the long shot - he might get a breakaway chance if he loses time early, as kandesbunzler suggested.
A Few Stage Top‑10s
- With sub-top favorites in most terrains, we should be able to achieve some minor scoring throughout the race.
Not sure what we can expect with the hard stages this year, but Lafay and Rochas should be able to fight in the break, for stage wins and for the KoM. Geougeard and Armirail can always bring something, I feel, and then are the youngster who we want to finish the race
7/8 French riders also!
Thanks for the preview heine! Should be an exciting race.
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Losing to Chavanne is fair enough, but Van Moer... Disappointing from Schomber.
I guess it's how our season has been so far, and probably an omen for the rest of ToA:
One race day, one stage win, two jerseys for Chavanne in an Ethiopian Airlines jersey... If these trends continue we'll catch Bianchi and win CT...
In all seriousness though a great result for the team, really delighted he could pull it off. A very late addition to the team and late to make his debut, but already proving himself to be a good pick up!
Wasn’t expecting a huge result in stage 1. Marryatt did well and Carlos lost less then 30 seconds! Happy with that. Excited to get started in the first big stage!
[PTHC] Tour of America 
