The race follows the route of the 2012 World Championships, in the Limburg region of the Netherlands. The race will start in Maastricht, and then make its way to Valkenburg, taking about 100 kilometres. From there, the racing will take place on a lap of 16,5 kilometres around Valkenburg, featuring the infamous Cauberg. We expect the course to provide for three races similar to the 2012 World Championships, where Belgiums Phillipe Gilbert took the rainbow jersey by a few seconds over Edvald "The Boss" Hagen of Norway. There might not be a rainbow jersey on offer this time around, but it should still be three great races to watch!


The Route


European Time Trial:


Not much to be said about this one. David or Alex might be able to get a Top 10-15 if they have a really good day, but that's about it.


David Millar riding in our colours in '11

European Road Race:



This is a very important race for us. Dan might have been underachieving a little bit so far, but this is the race he can change all that with. He might not have the best support, with Fabian being the only one we expect to be there with him in the finale if the race was tough, we certainly have the will and determination, and i'm sure Michi or Tommy will give their best in front of home crowds. Our two young signings, Nicklas and Robbie, will be there too, but as absolute domestiques or breakaway riders, since this terrain suits neither of them.


You'll never beat the Irish, you'll never...

American Time Trial:



This is a race that we really fancy our chances in. Tejay van Garderen and Taylor Phinney should be Andys main opponents, but on the right day, we feel he has what it takes to beat them and stand on the top step of the podium. Ryder and Christian are also fine time triallists, and Davey might not be what he used to be on a time trial bike, but he told me he's feeling great so far this season and hoping for a Top 5 here.


Andy in his NC jersey

American Road Race:



Again, this is a race we think we can achieve a medal in. We will probably only decide leadership on the day, since Ryder and Andy are both strong enough to do something here. Whoever leads will have Tom, Pete and Christian as domestiques, all of them are expected to be there or thereabouts in the finale. Lastly, bottle carriers will be Alex, Tyler and Jake.


Ryder in the Giros Pink jersey

Aufrazian Time Trial:



We've got one of the big favourites here, with Rohan. He is however the only one of our riders we expect to do anything against Durbridge, Porte, Kim and Co. Jack, Rob and Lachlan are all only there to give Rohan information on conditions on the road.


Rohan at AtoC

Aufrazian Road Race:



Again, Rohan is our only rider really capable of doing anything, with our other riders from the region mainly sprinters and bottle carriers, as which everybody expcept for Rohan will function in the earlier parts of the race.


Him again, this time on a hill



Time Trial:
Easy. Four of the worlds top five time triallists are from Europe, so we expect all of them to do well. Of course multiple world champion Tony Martin of Germany and Omega Pharma - Quickstep is top favourite, having won his worlds title on this course last year.
Next in line is Swissman Fabian Cancellara, also multiple world champion, riding for BMC. Many doubt if he really has what it needs to challenge Martin at the moment, but even if he might be getting old, he's hungry for succes, and won't want to go home without a medal.
Then we have a duo of brits, coincidentally being the winner and runner-up of last years Tour de France, Sir Bradley Wiggins and Chris Froome. Wiggins has been tipped off to do better than Froome, because rumour has it he's aiming for the Giro, so coming in to shape earlier, with Froome hoping to win Le Tour later in the season, in July.
Sylvain Chavanel, Jordan Birtles and Alex Dowsett are riders that'll all contest for the Top 5, however there is a significant drop in quality from the two Brits to this group.
Marco Pinotti, Adriano Malori, Lieuwe Westra, Edvald Boasson Hagen, Michal Kwiatkowski, Oreste Ghita, Silvio Pennarossa and Fredrik Kessiakoff will probably fight out the remaining Top 10, if they have a great day maybe even Top 5.


Der Panzerwagen winning in '12

Road Race:
This event is probably the most wide-open of them all. Notoriously unlucky Alejandro Valverde from Spain is top favourite for the win. He is one of the strongest on the hills, and he also has the kick needed to take it in a sprint, should a small group make it over the Cauberg. He also enjoys excellent support, with riders like Rui Costa, Benat Intxausti or Giovanni Visconti.
Also hoping for a podium finish are Italian Vincenzo Nibali, reigning world champion, who won his rainbow jersey on this very course last September, and Ardennes Triple winner Phillipe Gilbert from Belgium and our very own flying Irishman, Dan Martin. Each one of them has the individual quality to win this on a good day, though Gilbert and Martin will struggle in the latter parts of the race, since their teams can't field the best support for them.
From here on it get's unpredictable, with Michal Kwiatkowski of Poland, Hollands Bauke Mollema, Francesco Ronaldo from Portugal, Roman Kreuziger from the Czech Republic and Peter Sagan of Slovakia will all be eyeing a Top 5 or 10 spot.
Of course there are tons more riders that could do very well, but we suggest you look them up in this post, because there are simply too many different riders to go through them all.


Gilbert winning in '12


Time Trial:
BMC duo Taylor Phinney and Tejay van Garderen are the ones to beat for this one. Phinney is the one of those two that is regarded as the slightly stronger, but both of them could win it, depending on their form on the day.
Our man Andy Talansky is the next on line here, and could also challenge for the win here. He will really want to get a good result here, as a good measuring point for the nationals and the worlds.
Next up is Costa Rican Allrounder Andrey Amador, who could be challenging the likes of Talansky or van Garderen on a good day, to bring a freak medal to the middle american country. On par with him should also be Canadian Svein Tuft, though many fear he isn't the rider he used to be.
Johnny Schmidt and our man Davey Zabriskie are riders that could be eyeing a Top 5, contrasting in it being a first for Schmidt, and one of the last for Dave.
Jaxton McNutt, Jordan Lewis, Ryder Hesjedal, Tom Danielson, Christian Vande Velde, Rigoberto Uran and Brent Bookwalter are more riders that might be looking for a Top 10.


BMC's Dynamic Duo

Road Race:
It might seem like a weird choice, but Costa Rican young gun Delfi Cervero is top favourite here, having both brilliant endurance and ability on the hills. He has beaten some of the records on a few of the most famous hills of the Ardennes in training, but so far he struggles to transfer that skill to the road. His big disadvantage however is that he only has Murillo Fischer and Dominique Rollin as support, both of them not really being the best on the hills.
From him we come to Colombian Puncher Carlos Betancur, of French outfit Ag2r La Mondiale. He is somebody a lot of people think will have a bright future, but he's yet to achieve a major result. Maybe this will be the race he can do that in? In terms of support he has fellow Colombian Christian Muriel and Canadian time trial specialist Hugo Houle. Both not bad for domestique works, but it'll be hard for him to control the race with just two team mates.
Then we have a trio of riders all rated similarly, with Sky duo Sergio Henao and Rigoberto Uran, as well as defending Giro champion and Garmin rider, or should i much rather say ryder, Ryder Hesjedal. The two Sky men will both be eyeing a good performance, and there also the first favourites to bring a proper team, consisting of Dombrowski, Boswell and Pate, who might just decide to contest the race however, and ride away at the start, never to be seen again. Of course Ryder also has good support, with Talansky, Danielson, Stetina, and Vande Velde as stand out riders on the hills, thus making us the team that should and will control the race from the start.
Now, let's come to the outsiders. Chris Horner, the oldest participant, will surely want to do something, though not many think "Mt. Baldy", as BMC's manager likes to call him, can do much.
Young gun Nairo Quintana is another one to look out for, though the winner of Tirenno-Adriatico doesn't seem as good on the hills as in the high mountains.
Sojasuns Travis Jones should also be there in the finale, as should punchy sprinter or sprinty puncher Jorge Cristobal Riquelme of Belkin and Chile.
Jordan Lewis, Andrey Amador and Lampre duo José Serpa and Winner Anacona should do well too.


Will he get his first major win?


Time Trial:
Po-ding Kim is the stand out rider for this championships. His skills on a time trial bike are said to be two levels higher than his competitors, thus making him the real rider to beat here. He can also handle the hills well, which should help him on the Cauberg, though that isn't expected to be a game changing aspect of the course. Also due to his North Korean origins, many think he will be extra motivated to do his beloved leader proud.
Next in line is our rider Rohan Dennis and Sky's super domestique Richie Porte. Both are said to be equally strong time triallists, with Porte having the edge both on the hills and over the length of the course, which might make him the slightly better rider of the two for this sort of a race.
After that we have Aussie Trio Michael Rogers of Saxo-Tinkoff, former world champion in this discipline, Cameron Mayer and Luke Durbridge, both of Australian outfit Orica-GreenEDGE.
Then there's a big gap down to riders like Dimitry Gruzdev, Jesse Sergent, Cadel Evans, Travis Meyer, Jack Bobridge, Damien Howson and Brett Lancaster are more riders that might be looking for a Top 10 or even a Top 5 placing.


It's Michael Rogers in his rainbow jersey

Road Race:
First up is a rider from a nation that's well used to win medals in long distance events, though normally we'd be talking about running. That's right, the top favourite here is from Kenya and rides for Sky, it's Thabo Jango Sithembile. He might have the strongest super-domestique in Richie Porte, who might even lead himself, but except for that he onlyhas classics specialist Matt Hayman and sprinter CJ Sutton with him, so not the strongest support to ensure he has the best chances of finishing it off.
We then have to move on to the rider with the strongest team, Simon Gerrans. The winner of Milano - San Remo has to be the one to beat beside Sithembile, for having both the skill, the experience and the team to pull it off. With him he has a full nine rider team, consisting off such big names as Goss, Impey, Davis, Howard, Meyer and Clarke.
Then we have former world champion Cadel Evans to look out for. He might have had an awful season so far riding for Team Phona.., no wait, BMC, but he can still ride a good classic, and just like Gerrans he's got a load of experience to help him do just that. His team however consists of nobody but himself, so he'll have to rely solely on the other teams, mainly Orica GreenEDGE, to bring him to the final.
Now it's time to look at a rider that's out here to do nothing else than bring pride to his glorious nation, it's Po-ding Kim of Team Europcar. He is the only rider with a realistic chance of achieving two medals, and i bet that's exactly what he'll be aiming for. He has Laotian danger man Lue Khamse Khamphan with him, alongside Yukiya Arashiro and Natnael Berhane. Not the strongest team of all times, but it should do to make sure he'll be up for it when the race comes to the decisive points.
Then it's time to look at Aussie and former time trial world champion Michael Rogers, riding in the Team Saxo-Tinkoff colours. He is however getting old, and has nobody of real class with him, Rory Sutherland and young Puncher/TTist Jay McCarthy being the best. Also, should he be in Asia before the competition we strongly advise him not to eat any meat. He isn't planning on retiring just yet, is he?
Now we have our own rider, Rohan Dennis lined up. He isn't really a specialised Puncher, but he doesn't handle the hills too badly, and has Jack Bauer, Robert Hunter, Lachlan Morton, Nathan Haas and Steele von Hoff with him. We're not expecting too much from him, however a Top 3-5 would be quite nice indeed.
Heinrich Haussler, Matthew Lloyd and Louis Meintjes are other riders that can't be underestimated, though this either isn't their favourite terrain, or they're too young to be real favourites.


Gerrans winning MSR


Francesco Moser:



Michael Schröder:



Peter Griffin, BMC:




Of course there will also be a prediction game for this one, one for each event. You can send in predicitons at any time, for all at once, or if a few races already have been uploaded, just for the remaining ones. This won't count towards the Monuments overall, it's a standalone competition. The rules are the same as the last time, and whoever get's the most points over all six events wins.


In the next regular tracker there'll also be an Interview with the team, looking back on what has been and what will come, rider developments and maybe some early transfer talk, as we hear Orica are very keen on one of our riders. If you have anything you would like to ask us, don't be shy to send in one or multiple questions.