So, let's start with CT.1:
Roma Maxima: Kern is our leader, if it comes down to a reduced bunch sprint I would think that he can aim for a top 3 even,but the question is if he can hold on over the hills.
Paris-Nice: Our double lead consisting of Rabottini and Geschke shall give us a good GC placing and good stage results. But hard concurrence for us.
CT.2:
Iberica: To be honest I thought it's categorized as Mointain stage . That explains why Rabottini and not one of our hill leaders is here. Still good chances.
København: Thanks to a weak starting field, Eisel is among the favorites here, and I hope for a top placing here, especially as with Thömel also one our top sprinters is here.
Crit International: Just saw that Geschke won here once. But our leader this time is Rabottini, who gambles all for the Moutnain stage. Strong field though, so no real expectations.
Kirchen's second account according to Spilak23, 21-07-2016 17:16
March is a big month for Suntory with 2 goal races, good job we took it easy in February then
Bardet had a great Vuelta a Tachira last year so I am gambling his (slightly improved) rubbish recovery won't let him down and he can podium again. Also sending Bling Matthews with the hope that some of the hilly stages will end in a bunch sprint.
Didn't have much time to plan this and after the disaster of MSR last year I have gone for Gent - Wevelgem as our one day goal hoping Hepburn and Dumoulin can bring it together for a sprint so Cav can do his thing (crash on the final bend? ).
Don't think I will find time to make the next previews still this weekend so just the next 3 for now :/
Sorry for my general lack of posts. Will improve again in the future
#10 Suntory
The Star: Mark Cavendish. Suntory profitted from Bunzl getting frustated by CarbonSports dominance in sprints last offseason as they could grab one of the most known sprinters. He has won 5 Tour de France stages in the past 3 years and you always have to expect him to add further stage wins to his cv.
The Wasted Wage: Mads "Bank of Denmark" Pederson. Earns more than Cav. Was signed as a longterm replacement for Cav. You could have signed someone like Cav for the money. Will not be on Cav's level for the next 3 years.
The Future: Suntory fields a rather young team with many riders capable of improving in the future and only Cav and Coppel close to the age of decline.
The Prediction: #10. Suntory may not have the one top star that will score 3000 points but they have a couple of guys who can score very well with good planning. Bardet is always good for a win even against the Big Four and Matthews, Dumboulin and Coppel are good for some results as well. Even Keukeleire can score some neat points on the cobbles. Having quite a few weak guys without chances to score will hurt especially as this could have been a dominant TTT team.
The Bold Prediction: Suntory will win 7 TTs.
#11 (Nearly) Allitalian
The Star: Moreno Moser. He's one of the most gifted puncheurs around and they are relying heavily on him performing exceelent in the hills.
The Wasted Wage: Gianfranco Zilioli. No matter how strong Moser is, it is an absolute waste of money to have two massively overpaid pure domestiques in Zilioli and Wackermann for the hills.
The Future: Most team members will neither improve nor decline much in the near future so Alitalia will have a good base to build on in next transfers. They'll have to remove that thrash at the bottom of the team bin (AVG <63) though.
The Prediction: #11. It's a team difficult to predict. A lot will depend on whether Moser can live up to his talent and if the TT top duo disappoints they might slip into the relegation fight. Oss though looks like a nice bargain on 450 wage.
The Bold Prediction: Oss will win a WT classic
#12 Sugoi
The Star: Philippe Gilbert. The former World Champion is widely seen as the best puncheur.
The Wasted Wage: Ryder Hesjedal. Just one of 52 mountain domestique on a team without a good climber.
The Future: With Gilbert & Styby aging and the lack of a mountain leader this team looks like it will need some major changes in the future. No talent looks like he could make an difference on the highest level.
The Prediction: #12 This team has to trust in Gilbert's skills as he's the only worldclass rider. Time triallist Durbridge and perennial disappointment Stybar are unreliable scorers who have to assist Gilbert.
The Bold Prediction: Stybar will fail to finish inside the top 20 in all monuments
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
Hoping for Van Keirsbulck to continue his performances in the two monuments (and maybe even AGR if he plays it right). Van Poppel should do good as well in ZLM, the rest is pure damage control.
Anyone wants to see my very little Preview & Statistics?
April Preview by CCC Sprandi Polkowice
Continental Tour Ranking | March | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 10th place (674 pts) 2017 - 19th place (548 pts)
Prestige Ranking | March | CCC Sprandi Polkowice 2016 - 24th place (674 pts) 2017 - 31th place (548 pts)
CCC Sprandi Polkowice in CT rankings:
Diego Ulissi
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
ITA
155
Mauro Santambrogio
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
ITA
151
Mateusz Nowaczek
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
POL
71
Paweł Poljański
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
POL
45
Daniele Dall'Oste
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
ITA
37
Patryk Komisarek
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
POL
28
Paweł Wachnik
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
POL
16
Pierre-Roger Latour
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
FRA
16
Maciej Bodnar
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
POL
15
Egor Silin
CCC Sprandi Polkowice
RUS
14
Two races only, also with not very strong team.
VDK-Driedaagse De Panne 04.14 - 04.17
Team
AVG
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
Komisarek
Patryk
74,5
71
70
70
69
76
Bodnar
Maciej
73,6
68
75
75
69
67
Poljański
Paweł
72,8
74
67
68
67
68
Giro del Trentino 04.16 - 04.20
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Latour
Pierre-Roger
74,6
76
74
68
66
69
Silin
Egor
73,4
74
73
72
64
71
Last year in April:
Giro del Trentino: Marczyński 14th in GC
La Fleche Wallonne: Santambrogio 7th, Nowaczek 18th, Ulissi 21st
So I think those are results absolutely to beat. But can Komisarek finally show his strength or again Bodnar will be higher than him? Can Latour and Silin be able to get high GC place in Trentino? Nothing really to expect from those races. Just hope I will get around 100 points total this month.
Ouch, more cobbles. Looks like TVM will need luck to stay out of the bottom 3 after this month even though we have two goal races with the Amstel/LFW/Liege triplet. Mollema can definitely get top 5 and hopefully even win one of those races again, but I can't see many other point-scoring opportunities unless we're active in breakaways. Van Baarle in Campania is an outside chance to place highly too.
FYI - Haussler is mentioned twice in the Dunkerque preview
April should be a very important month for us. If we still have a chance to surivive, we need not to waste it again. Oss has to shine in the huge cobbled classics - ha good joke - Moser needs not to disappoint in the Ardennes and Malori and Vorobyev need to score me a ton of pointerinos in the home Trofeo Campania.
However, I'm already tasting the bitterness ahead of us.
A big big month for us too with the first Focus Race coming up.
Boom is among the top favourites in every non-WT race he starts! So the pressure is definitely on him to perform. He starts a total of 6 races. Hopefully, we'll get to see good battles between him and Cancellara in the CT.2 cobbled races.
Atapuma starts as top favourite in South Africa, something I was not expecting, which is the only other race for us this month. Even then, the ITT on the penultimate stage might be just a bit too long for him to get a win. He'll need to blitz the field in the climbs. Let's hope for that please
This month could really make or break our season, and Porte doesn't even ride!
Could be pur turnaround, could very much not be. What's life withut some risk. Except Rheden, cause that was blimen' stupid.
April Preview For Santos-Euskadi
Continental Tour CT.1
Giro del Trentino 16.04 - 20.04
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Nieve
Mikel
76,1
78
75
63
64
75
Ospina
Argiro
75,7
77
75
67
67
69
We come in search of ultra-aggressive racing after the predictable last place in the TTT.
Colombia Team GP 30.04
Team
AVG
FL
MO
TT
PL
RS
Nieve
Mikel
76,1
65
78
63
61
72
Ospina
Argiro
75,7
70
77
67
65
67
We're one of only 3 teams with two or more mentioned riders in the favorites (why is it riders?) here but it's a TTT so the hoodoo is in place. The entire Mountain train is here, including, in a rare non-leading role, Jelle Vanendert, who is just off the favorites list. As we haven't been told the team strength I don't know what our goal is but this was one of the first selected races, so it's serious.
Continental Tour CT.2
Tour of South Africa 02.04 - 12.04
Team
AVG
MO
HI
TT
SP
RC
Nieve
Mikel
76,1
78
75
63
64
75
Appollonio
Davide
76,4
65
71
63
77
68
One of our biggest successes on GC last year with Rivera in white and Bennett just off the podium. We've got an even better chance with Nieve now here (plus Appo here for stages/points). We considered Vanendert and he could've been amazing but too big a risk, so Bennett is here for GC and hills. Rivera returns though I'm not sure if he can defend his white jersey. Bevin and Smith are for breaks/leading out Appo. PureBlack and JAV are here for breakaways.
VDK-Driedaagse De Panne 14.04 - 17.04
Team
AVG
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
Siskevicus
Evaldas
74.6
71
66
67
68
75
Top SisKEKvicus banter. Should superman his way to some stage placings. Hopefully.
Rheden GP 19.04
Team
AVG
FL
HI
CB
SP
ST
Siskevicus
Evaldas
74.6
73
71
68
75
71
Lol why are we here
4 Jours de Dunkerque 22.04 - 27.04
Team
AVG
HI
TT
PL
CB
SP
Siskevicus
Evaldas
74.6
71
66
67
68
75
Could be good, could be middling, could be bad. Superman Siskevicus with another leading role.
U23 Tour
Ronde van Vlaanderen Espoirs 01.04
Team
AVG
FL
HI
CB
SP
ST
Jacobsen
Sverre
68.3
68
68
66
68
68
Don't know what to expect here.
ZLM Tour 18.04 Profiles
I'll be honest, I don't know who's leading or where I put the file.
GP Palio del Recioto 21.04
Previous Results:
1
2
3
2014
George Bennett
Nathan Haas
Tim Wellens
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Ventura
Juan Ángel
70,1
71
64
68
69
63
Top 5 is a tough goal but it's a goal nonetheless. George Bennett won this race and went on to ride for our team. JAV will anway. We haven't told him that part though. Shhhsh
Liége - Bastogne - Liège Espoirs 28.04
Team
AVG
HI
SP
AC
ST
RS
Ventura
Juan Ángel
70,1
71
64
68
69
63
JAV in another race that suits him, lotsa competition but going for top 5 again.
24/02/21 - kandesbunzler said “I don't drink famous people."
15/08/22 - SotD said "Your [jandal's] humour is overrated"
11/06/24 - knockout said "Winning is fine I guess. Truth be told this felt completely unimportant." [ICL] Santos-Euskadi | [PT] Xero Racing
. That explains why Rabottini and not one of our hill leaders is here. Still good chances.
).
Ronde van Vlaanderen 04.04 
Tour of South Africa 02.04 - 12.04 
