I know it's a bit early, but to keep the ball rolling I'll get on with Bayern
Preview
Bayern Rundfahrt is the biggest German stage race, but not a race for the traditional stage racers!
The race consist of five stages: Four flat ones and a Time-Trial.
That makes for two main group of contenders (apart the chance breakaway)
The Sprinters
One name outshines all the other sprinters in advance: Marcel Kittel. German based team SGL – Magix have come to dominate their biggest home race. His main challenger looks to be Tom Veelers with Rojas and Davis expected to mix in there as well.
Just below them are a huge number of excellent riders hoping and capable of cheating the big names. We count names such as Ciolek, Gavazzi, Förster, Love and many more.
The Time Triallists
Just as in the sprinters category there is one rider, who can only lose the Time-trial as winning will be nothing more than expected: Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss superstar will be challenged by 3 times world TT-champion Michael Rogers as well as riders like Alex Rasmussen, Max Detreute and Klaas Boogedal.
The bookmakers favourite for the win is Cancellara, while Rasmussen is expected to battle for the podium as well as he might get a few bonus seconds in the sprints to supplement his strong Time Trial. Should Kittel be as dominant as expected in the sprints he will be a serious contender for the last spot on the podium.
Will anyone be willing to help Kittel’s team chase the bunch sprint?
Will anyone be able to slightly challenge Cancellara?
Will the organizers have calculated the victory-chances correctly?
Will anyone come up with better question?
Only time can tell!
Team Overview
As in Glava Tour of Norway the organizers made a clever formula to assess the riders chances of overall victory.
Allianz – BMW Cycling Team
According to the organizers this is the strongest of the German teams in this race, but what they have in width they lack in top. They have several strong outsiders, but no obvious favourite. Could be the team to animate the breakaways?
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Van Avermaet
Greg
75
72
68
69,8
Ciolek
Gerald
75
75
64
68,4
Simon
Julien
73
74
63
67,4
Garzelli
Stefano
67
65
68
66,9
Nerz
Dominik
66
65
64
64,5
Leukemans
Björn
75
65
62
63,7
De Waele
Bert
72
64
60
62,0
Ginanni
Francesco
68
71
53
60,1
AXA - Pinerello Cycling Team
Ortega should be able to get the team a few top 10’s but apart from that AXA should probably aim for the breakways.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Kiendys
Tomasz
68
70
67
68,1
Der
Zsolt
65
70
67
68,0
Ortega
Joaquín
69
72
63
66,5
Sampson
James
68
68
62
64,4
Clarke
David
64
62
62
62,1
Young
Eric
71
70
56
61,7
Bulgari - Inditex
They have two good outsiders for the TT in Veloso and Oliveira and several strong finishers should they get to the line without the biggest sprinters. Could be a dangerous team for the big favourites!
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
César Veloso
Gustavo
69
67
74
71,3
Ratto
Daniele
72
71
70
70,5
Oliveira
Nelson
72
61
74
69,4
Penarossa
Silvio
66
61
71
67,3
Sanz
Enrique
72
72
63
66,6
Favilli
Elia
73
74
60
65,6
Cimolai
Davide
70
73
59
64,5
Colbrelli
Sonny
71
72
57
63,0
Domino's - ASR
In Michael Rogers they are more or less guaranteed a good GC through the TT. On the flat stages they will be riding for Davis, who should be able to get some podium finishes.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Rogers
Michael
71
67
77
73,2
Van Winden
Dennis
73
67
72
70,3
Pate
Danny
75
61
72
68,3
Paulinho
Sérgio
65
60
71
66,9
Davis
Allan
74
76
59
65,7
Clarke
Simon
67
69
62
64,7
ING - InBev Cycling Team
ING has the perhaps best sprint train in the peloton, but no top sprinter to put on the back of it. Alex should ride a strong TT and if everything pans out perfectly might even be able to mix in the bunch sprint.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Rasmussen
Alex
75
73
76
74,9
Markus
Barry
72
73
68
70,0
Leezer
Tom
72
72
66
68,4
Karpets
Vladimir
67
60
73
68,2
Kocjan
Jure
67
73
62
66,1
Bellemakers
Dirk
69
60
69
65,9
Tankink
Bram
70
66
63
64,4
Van Dijk
Stefan
74
74
57
63,8
Magners Pro Team
The Irish/Canadian team has brought a strong line-up to Germany. Detrute is one of the strongest TT’ers here and both Förster and Gavazzi should be able to mix in the sprints. Can they agree that one of them is a leadout man it should be a very strong duo.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Detreute
Max
65
58
76
69,2
Amador
Andrey
68
67
70
68,9
Förster
Robert
74
75
59
65,4
Gavazzi
Mattia
71
75
57
64,0
Van der Sande
Tosh
67
68
58
62,0
Fischer
Alex
61
65
54
58,2
Motorex - Credit Suisse Pro Cycling
This team has fielded the biggest surprise on the startlist. Fabian Cancellara is the one rider everyone is looking at for the GC, so he will be in need of full support from his team – even though he is the type of rider, who might even try to cheat the sprinters on the flat stages as well…
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Cancellara
Fabian
82
69
81
77,5
Pozzato
Filippo
78
74
71
72,4
Kohler
Martin
69
68
72
70,5
Eichler
Markus
70
67
68
67,8
Albasini
Michael
70
66
68
67,4
Wyss
Danilo
72
72
64
67,2
Zaugg
Oliver
62
64
63
63,3
Nintendo - Ambuja Cycling
Nintendo should have the possibility to get at least a top 10 every single day. Boaro is a decent TT’er, while Rojas almost guarentees a 4th place or two…
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Boaro
Manuele
70
68
74
71,7
Rojas
José Joaquín
74
76
66
69,9
Boogedal
Klaas
68
58
76
69,3
Selig
Rüdiger
73
74
65
68,6
Gretsch
Patrick
71
60
73
68,4
Shimizu
Miyataka
66
65
62
63,3
Iino
Yoshinori
66
68
58
61,9
Pervyj
Biondo is perhaps the best all-rounder here. He is reasonable fast and has a decent TT. But will that be enough and will he lose his chance of valuable bonus seconds by leading out Khalilov?
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Biondo
Maurizio
73
74
72
72,8
Chuzhda
Oleg
69
69
72
70,8
Popkov
Vitaliy
70
65
73
70,1
Kump
Marko
70
73
64
67,5
Khalilov
Mikhaylo
72
75
57
64,1
Novikau
Siarhei
63
63
62
62,4
Pro Team Haier
It looks like a team designed to go for some decent GC-placings with Monfort and Sergent both being very competent timetriallists. Guess they’ll chase the breakaways on the other stages though.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Monfort
Maxime
71
68
76
73,0
Sergent
Jesse
73
64
76
71,7
Gruzdev
Dmitriy
67
67
73
70,6
Golas
Michal
72
72
68
69,6
Dennis
Rohan
69
68
67
67,5
Wilmann
Frederik
67
62
67
65,3
Red Bull - M&M's Pro Cycling Team
Terpstra and Gerdeman could be counted as outsiders for a GC top 10, but to achieve big things Red Bull will probably need to get in a freak breakaway.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Terpstra
Niki
76
62
74
69,9
Gerdemann
Linus
70
60
75
69,5
Starzengruber
Harald
66
70
64
66,2
Vrecer
Robert
65
65
64
64,4
Preidler
George
68
68
62
64,4
Eibegger
Markus
63
64
62
62,8
SGL - Magix
The German team with the best captains by far! No one can expect to beat Kittel in the sprints – especially considering he has Schulze to lead him out. On the TT Durbridge should be able to get a top 10 and with a bit of luck the team might end up with two riders in the top 10, a points jersey and 3-4 stage wins.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Kittel
Marcel
76
80
71
74,4
Durbridge
Luke
74
65
75
71,5
Bakker
Jeffrey
64
63
70
67,3
Schulze
André
73
75
59
65,3
Di Gregorio
Rémy
65
61
64
63,0
Belka
Mathias
63
68
58
61,8
Doi
Yukihiro
65
60
59
59,7
Sony Ericsson Cycling Team
The Swedish side have a solid rider for the TT in Ignatiev, but they shouldn’t put the champagne in the cooler just yet. Perhaps they probably could wait a bit to buy it as well…
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Ignatiev
Mikhail
74
68
74
71,9
Poos
Christian
69
69
69
69,0
Löfkvist
Thomas
67
63
72
68,6
Foder
Daniel
68
67
66
66,5
Coyot
Arnaud
68
69
64
66,0
Amorison
Frédéric
72
70
61
64,7
TAP - Michelin
Vicioso has a shot at a GC top 10 at best, but the team will most likely focus on setting up Veelers as one of the main challengers to Kittel.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Vicioso
Ángel
72
71
72
71,7
Veelers
Tom
74
77
66
70,3
Love
Samuel
75
74
63
67,5
Rutkiewicz
Marek
65
67
64
65,1
Tulik
Angelo
68
68
61
63,8
Rousseau
Jean-Eric
70
67
59
62,4
Sousa
Rui
63
60
63
62,0
Team CSC
The Americans have travelled far to get here, but probably won’t get much back home with them…
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Pipp
Frank
64
70
61
64,3
Lewis
Craig
60
60
66
63,6
Mannion
Gavin
65
61
64
63,0
Stewart
Jackson
66
68
59
62,5
Bahati
Rahsaan
65
70
57
62,0
Femal
Peter
66
70
53
59,6
Team Cymru Wales
The Welsh site should probably focus on getting in to breakaways chasing the odd chance of a stage win and perhaps the mountain jersey.
Last Name
First Name
FLA
SPR
TT
Victory
Lancaster
Brett
72
71
70
70,5
Kruijswijk
Steven
70
64
72
69,1
Van Leijen
Joost
70
68
68
68,1
Haas
Nathan
68
66
65
65,5
Walker
Nicholas
67
73
61
65,5
Brown
Graeme
74
74
55
62,6
Adams
Stephen
65
72
54
60,9
Triks Custom Season
The Dutch based team has a lot of connections to Germany and has brought both Wagner, Hondo and Zabel to blend in the sprints. The big question is how the roles will be split. Will they have the discipline to form a strong train or will they chase individual success?
Yep hopefully he can get a few of those, he's in good form coming off a (wait for it...) 4th place in Glava Tour of Norway
I swear Boogedal is a classics rider not a TTist though
EDIT: Urm yeah what has happened to Trentino? Nearly a month since the first stage was posted and nothing since!?
Edited by Stromeon on 28-08-2013 19:09
Luigi: Sorry. For some reason your team has been archived as mainly Dutch in my head. Forgot to change the text when I realised that it was registered in Germany
I'm hoping for some decent racing as it should be everyone against Kittel/Cancellara on paper. But then again the PCM-AI isn't written on paper...
)
Marcel Kittel. German based team SGL – Magix have come to dominate their biggest home race. His main challenger looks to be 
Tom Veelers with Rojas and Davis expected to mix in there as well.
Gavazzi, 
Love and many more.
Fabian Cancellara. The Swiss superstar will be challenged by 3 times world TT-champion 
Michael Rogers as well as riders like 
Alex Rasmussen, 
Max Detreute and 
Magners Pro Team 
Pervyj 
Pro Team Haier 
Red Bull - M&M's Pro Cycling Team 
Sony Ericsson Cycling Team 
