After last year’s success, only a concern of conflict of interest has kept 100% Me out of the ProTour. This developmental squad for British based riders is one of the best examples exposing younger riders to the pro peloton and 4 riders have been loaned to Protour teams to add to their experience.
The Brit pack of Peter Kennaugh, Ben Swift and Mark Cavendish makes 100% Me THE sprint train of choice in every race they enter in whether it be a ProTour race or Continental Tour race. These sprinters have few true parallels on flatter stages, all three would rate in anyone's top 10 sprinters in the Continental Tour if not the world.

Meanwhile Geriant Thomas and Adam Blythe have worked hard to refine their skills on cobblestones and should finish in the top 5 in those type of races this season. Ian Stannard has a big engine and should place well on long flat Time Trails but is not quite a replacement for the outgoing Bradley Wiggins or the loaned out Andrew Tennent.

100% Me are not completely limited on hillier terrain with Irish pair Nicolas Roche , Dan Martin, and Aussie newcomer Wes Sulzberger capable of getting good results from the right field. The new young prospects look a little bit weaker than the usual crop with Irish sprinter Sam Bennett the best of the UK and Ireland born talent. The most exciting prospect brought in is the New Zealand Time Trialist Jesse Sergent.

100% Me are unashamedly British, though it still remained a surprise that they allowed Mikhail Ignatiev to leave after a hugely successful year(5th in Continental rankings) for him last year. They received a large sum of money for him that was used in part to bring in Kennaugh and Stannard and in part to continue developing the talent they have.
Perhaps the last challenge for 100% Me would be to develop a true British Grand Tour contender, it will not escape anyone's notice that this team refuse to involve itself any mountainous terrain. Are the British public satisfied with Sprinters and cobblestone heroes?

Vespa, have made big noises about being in the Giro d'Italia and it is hard to argue that they do not deserve the opportunity.

Gert Steegmanns is the big star of this team and should get some great results in the Cobbled Classics. He is backed up by the more than useful Verbist and the experienced Quinzato for these races. Steegmanns is also a fine sprinter in his own right should enable Vespa to get results in field sprints.

Francesco Ginanni is a strong climber with a good kick, but is more of a follower than an instigator. He may be offset by having the more attack minded Proni with him on hilly days but he looks as if he could blow up at any stage. The remarkable Paulo Bettini is still riding and will no doubt attract a lot of attention but he will be used more as a road captain then as a true team leader. It will be difficult to guarantee good results in some of the targetted Italian hilly classics with the likes of Pozzato and Ricco riding for rival teams.

Vespa do have some prospects in stage racing with Bosisio for the overall contention. In Sprinting Gatto and Gavazzi are worth mentioning but the sprint competition in the Continental Tour is hot at they may be aiming for top 10’s rather than stage wins.

The Irish part of the sponsors do not have a lot to cheer, but in young Ciaran Cassidy they should get some TV time. He replaces the loaned out attack minded Adam Petrie-Armstrong who will be trying out ProTour races to continue his development.

For Vespa, success will probably be judged on their involvement in the Giro d'Italia and their ability to remain the cream of the Italian Continental crop. This writer believes they will make the Giro but whilst the going will be tough in lesser Italian races their experience will shine through.

Wiggle have been spending a bit of money in the transfer season and rather than punching above their weight, they now are looking to win the continental rankings. A tall order, but their signings and long list of talent show them to be a versitile squad indeed.

Mikhail Ignatiev has moved across from 100% Me and will once again barring accidents dominate Time Trial races. Ignatiev is also a good climber and has learnt to harness his attacking ability and will enable Wiggle with their Italian pack to really force the pace on Hilly Classics. The Italian Pack of Simone Ponzi and Damiano Caruso should deliver on home territory and with Ignatiev and useful Belgian rider Ben Hermans these riders will be a threat in any hilly classic. One is intrigued to see if Wiggle will look to get an invite to Pro Tour races, they certainly could threat at that level.

Wiggle also have some useful stage racers who can climb high mountains in their squad and one would expect them to look into entry into the Giro d’Italia and be a presence there. Incoming Dario Cataldo has grown up in teams more used to one day success, but is a fine climber in his own right. The aging Rinaldo Nocentini can no longer be relied on in the high mountains, though indications are that Wiggle will not be sending squads to the top Continental races where long climbs feature.

Luke Rowe is more than capable of delivering results over the cobbles and in the sprints and has a reasonable squad to help him deliver that but may have to find himself tagging onto anothers train from time to time.

For a squad with lofty ambitions, Wiggle have a large amount of developmental talent in their squad and will look for some of their younger riders to step up this year. Paulo Locatelli, Paulo Scarponi, Davide Appollonio and loaned out Matt Rowe are ones for the future but keep an eye out for attack mad Chiaffredo Grippo who should get some TV time this year!

The scary thing about last year's 3rd best Continental tour rider Rein Taaramae is that some say he is still to improve. Already an accomplished stage racer and possibly the best all round stage racer in the Continental tour Taaramae starts off as an early contender for top of the Individual rankings. Much will depend on how he is raced however, Taaramae would be big favourite to defend his San Luis title but will he ride in Langkawi, Missouri and Burgos? Where does the Swedish favourite Gustov Larsson fit into this after finishing on the podium in Denmark and Portugal, early indications are that IKEA will not even be going to those races this year! Criticisms from last years campaign felt that the IKEA team spread themselves too thin last year and bad days from individuals cost them. Could they be pairing Larsson and Taaramae off?

Outside of those one would argue Jose Alarcon's climbing ability alone makes him a contender for races like the Tour of Langkawi and Urkola Ugoera. Considering the price of fellow climbers like Jose Serpa and Yeison Delgado in the market this year it appears IKEA have quite a bargain for the Alarcon.

To gain promotion IKEA need another dimension and the signing of Neils Albert goes along way towards pushing IKEA toward competitively in Cobblestone races along with the already useful Pieter Vanspreybrouk. Meanwhile Jerome Giaux and Mattias Westling should gain some top 10's in field sprints and German youngster Aleksander Flugel is dangerous on hilly terrain particular on downhill stretches.

As one would expect IKEA are desperate to develop the next Swedish star and incoming Jonas Bjellmark is a good climber. But the biggest things will be expected of Slovakian Peter Sagan as much of the other Swedish talent looks a little lightweight in comparison.

Much for IKEA will depend on their race selections and whether Taaramae can reach his true potential.

Olympus really showed a number of people last year that they were a team to be taken seriously. The sponsors may have been disappointed, but Olympus were a hop and skip away from being a protour team this year.

The problem for Olympus was to replace fading and eventually departed star Cadel Evans. Jack Bobridge and Simon Gerrans are the best that they could come up with and in terms of this years success they may be a bit short of the quality required.

Manual Lloret was their number one rider last year and remains so and given the right type of calander is certainly a top 10 continental tour contender. He will be backed up in stage races by incoming Ricardo Van de Velde and Moises Duenas. Tom Stubbe, Columbian Mauricio Ortega and possibly the man for their Malaysian races Matteo Carrara complete a formidable stage racing line up.

Romain Feillu is a toughman sprinter and he is backed up by Igor Abakoumov and finally Malaysian Azizulhasni Awang who will certainly keep the sponsers happy. These three form a good little sprint squadron, but feel a little light on strength to deliver the team victories as promised by the manager.

The overwhelming feeling from this writer is that Petronas punched above their weight last year and could find themselves overtaken in the next season due to greater focus on the races they dominated last year.

With all the will he or won't he of Alejandro Valverde, it is easy to forget Santander has several fine riders of their own right. Santander really should be considered along with IKEA-Bianchi as one of the favourites for promotion to the ProTour.

The loan swap deal of Tenorio for Abal shows good long term planning, Tenorio needs ProTour racing to fully develop and Abal is by and large Tenorio's equal for now. He joins the experienced duo Juan Jose Cobo and David Lopez Garcia who will demand attention in Spanish stage races. They are joined by youngsters Angel Madrazo and incoming Rafael Valls, the future of Spanish stage racing looks secure. Surely a candidate for a Vuelta d'Espana wild card.

Santander have always fancied themselves in hilly classics also and two other riders to add to those listed are Jesus Del Nero a dangerous attacking rider and the sprinter Francisco Ventoso who can survive will all but the best punchaers to contend bunch sprints.

Aitor Galdos and Oscar Guerao add to the teams bunch sprinting expertise giving Santander a real all round excellent team feel. The single minded nationality also extends to developing talent that has in addition to Madrozo, Valls and the outstanding loaned out Tenorio have climbers Jonathan Castroviejo, Rafael Serrano and a name you may see attacking Daniel Allonca.

This team will rise from the ashes of over expensive Valverde with a number of well valued riders start off favoured for promotion.

Adding Belgian Jurgen Van den Broeck to the roster has given this Portuguese based team an added edge. It has been well known for some time that when the road goes up Sport Lisboa get going, yet so one dimensional were they that often other aspects such as Time Trials and the flatter stages were neglected.

Lets run through the climbing talents 24 year olds Florentino Marquez and Mikayil Krasnoperov and 25 year old Brazilian Magno Nazaret. These guys love to climb and they have back up in the forms of Daniel Moreno, Francesco Terciado and Francisco Colarado. There are at least 8 other riders that other teams would call mountain specialists on the roster a mix of Portuguese and Columbian talents.

There remains a feeling though that this one dimensional nature of the team is to their detriment, despite changes to combat it there will never be enough mountain stages to justify such a roster. The 11 stage Volta a Portugal is a case in point with just 2 mountain stages.

The likes of Sprinter Bruno Lima and incoming Matthew Lloyd are not going to be enough to get results outside of the mountain arena, but then I am not sure that is Sport Lisboa's aim.

When the roads go up look out for their jerseys!

Impressive transfers Monfort, Rabon and Claeys has transformed Team Lego from a not really anything team into a dangerous hilly classics squad.

Maxime Monfort and Frantisek Rabon have some good results behind them and could be set for strong seasons with the right motivation. Both have chased stage races when in fact they are better suited in all probability to one day races they are likely to recieve support from also acquired Dimitri Claeys. Koldo Gil is always a threat when the road goes up and the indications are that he will lead the team in Langkawi and Portugal. He will have notable support in swiss climber Hubert Schwab.

Elsewhere Gerald Ciolek will look to improve on his tally of 3 wins from last year and he has plenty of European support in the shape of experienced Stefan Radochla and Czech Jiri Hochmann.

A patient European sponsor is good to see and young talents such as Italian climber Artemio Moschella and German Sprinter Andreus Stauff well show the sense of long term investment. Watch out for the Lego men to finish top 10 this year.

Andre Griepal and Fabian Wegmann would have made this American based team a real danger team, unfortunately due to financial irregularities they were forced to lay two of their best riders off. It is worth pointing out that Mercedes were only just above the cap and the punishment was harsh but the wage cap is such an important restriction understandable.

So how do Mercedes stand, well they are left with the outstanding signing of Filippo Pozzato, who much of their season will depend on. The indication is that he is intended to be used as a punchaer rather than on cobbles and he will be someone that management will focus much of their attention on.

Sprinter Juan Jose Haedo leads a useful sprint team that also includes German Eric Baumann, Taylor Tolleson, Benoit Sinner and the wage cap buster Anthony Jose Brea. They may well be pressure on Brea as the last signing he was the one that put Mercedes over the top so to speak.

In the mountains Mercedes will have a presence in Peter Stetina and Thomas Peterson who are both the darlings of the sponsors and Mercedes best hope in stage races. Finally the signing of young Jetse Bol at least gives some hope for the future!

With all that being said it all seems such a shame to lose the talented duo and will severly dent Mercedes oppurtunity at cracking the top 10, something that seemed destined when Pozzato put pen to paper. Perhaps the goal for this season is for Pozzato to dominate the individual scene, something he is fully capable of doing.

Pendleton's were highly active in pre-season, they are desperate to improve on last season's 14th place. To be fair there was a big gap between 14th and 15th and last season's issue was perhaps a lack of all round strength or a bit of bad luck and they would have finished higher. It is perhaps a bit surprising after all the activity things seemed to have turned full circle and Pendleton's like AON Global will be relient on the same two riders to deliver results.

Behind the scenes there has been an attempt to shuffle the pack and get a bit more strength in depth. Egyptian sprinter Cherif Abdullah remians and is joined by the useful fast man Borit Bozic which Pendletons will seeck to get somewhere near the success of Juan Van Heerden. Pendletons lead out train expertise is building a reputation - good time triallers can double up in this respect and the British sponsers will be delighted to welcome veterens Bradley Wiggins and David Miller.

Pendletons also have some useful punchaers, Italian Andrea Moletta the stand out rider in this regard - though other squads will look a little stronger in this regard. Bringing in British talent was the priorty and seeing loaned out Thomas Faiers and Peter Kennaugh will encourage UK cycling fans that there is some prospect of good stage racers coming through.

The problem for Pendleton's will be maintaining sprinting excellence with Van Heerden and getting the best out of Gilbert even then it is hard to predict anything but squeaking into the top 10 for the ice cream boys.

No doubt Bbox boast some of the most attacking riders in the peleton, none more so than Thomas Voeckler. Voeckler has long been the darling of the French crowds and he is joined by former team mate the more steady Jerome Pineau. They with the legion of other attacking riders will look to animate in any stage of any race and this may occasionally get them results. They are the enemy and anti-thesis of the bunch sprint - they lack a truly great sprinter with big Sascha Damrow capable of holding it with the fast crowd.

Bbox are not completely one dimensional and have a couple of stage racers in Sergio Paulinho and Mikel Asterloza of genuine quality and they are backed up in the high mountains by Brazilian Alex Diniz. Neither are the type of riders that win races and it is a surprise the team sponsers rate their chances in Slovenia and Langkawi.

Hayden Roulston and Rory Sutherland will go well in Time Trials and Leif Hoste should go well in the De Panne Tour it is well suited to his characteristics.

However overall it is hard to see Bbox getting consistent results, frustration may begin to creep in at endlessly seeing riders in breakaways only to be chased down time and again. We wish this exciting the best of luck trying though!

STOP PRESS: and a late signing of Andre Greipal corrects the no sprinter policy - Greipal will no doubt be latching on to others trains and will give Bbox a great chance of consistent high finishes

Brajkovic for Kohl and Zubeldia was good business, though I am not sure spending that amount of money of Perez Sanchez was good business. That money may have been better spent, but UBS were happy to pay it as they chase their season goals once again this season.

However quirky one finds this team, they will surely improve on last seasons showing. First up Stefan Schumacher is a tremendous rider, the only choice is where will he be best deployed. It would appear as if he will be going after the Italians and Iberians, though surely the Volta would be a waste! Indeed UBS have other strong stage racers espicially in the mountains were they seem set to challenge in Langkawi, San Luis and Portugal with riders like Francesco Perez Sanchez, Bernhard Kohl and Haimer Zubeldia.

For the sprints Max Richeze is joined by powerful German Robert Forster and it will be interesting to see if Daniel Thorson's incredible acceleration can be put to use and whether bulky track man Jason Kenny can work on roads. You have to admire UBS commitment to multinationals with Johan Le Bon and aggressive Kazach Chu Thien Sinelobov worth watching.

One awaits the haphazard season UBS will throw at us, I predict a top 5 finish for this strong team.

Sam Bewley has been loaned out in a creative talent swapping deal 33 year old Thor Hushovd comes in for his last competitive year in the peloton. The mighty Thor will look to target Cobbles as well as sprints and he looks the star of a superb squadron on sprinters. Hushovd also is a useful Time trialler. He is joined by last years star Jimmy Casper, Columbian Juan Pablo Forero, Said Haddou, Michael Vanderaerden and attacking Tiziano Dall' Antonia. These are all capable sprinters and gives Milka a real look of consistent high finishes.

Outside of the sprints the squad is a little bare, with just the capable Alex Efimkin for hilly classics and versitile Time Trialler Thomas De Gendt who should do well in selected stage races.

Milka have an extensive youth policy and much will be made of their potential in the next season with Sam Bewley and Stefan Denifl out on loan this year and some wonderful youngsters coming through including the commentators nightmares Yevgeni and Ruslan Nepomnyachsniy, Aussie track star Leigh Howard and Italian Time Triallist Adrian Malori.

It will be interesting to see where this season shall lead, I would expect Milka to achieve their season goals this year and really push on the season after.

Youtube will be at the forefront of stage races and should comfortably improve on last years lowly position. However top quality stage racers do not come cheap when you have to compete with pro tour teams. Still a stage race squad that has Franco Pellizotti, Igor Anton, Przemyslav Niemic, Amets Txurruka and Richard Ochoa in are going to go well.

Youtube have vowed to focus on stage races and this is going to have to be it because they lack any sort of option outside of this. Niemiec can time trial well and Pellizotti could concievably pull off a result in a hilly classic but no doubt about this team have not got anything for field sprints Britain James McCallum is not up to quality.

Some would question the sale then of Oscar Friere, but Youtube - Twitter would have been having budget issues without him, the problems they have had again with offering Pellizotti an inflated wage packet to ride in a modest Continental tour team.

Good performances in stage races are a must and it will be interesting to see if this team can get a GT wildcard.

El Al will be looking for race wins this season with their hired talents and play the waiting game with the wealth of inexperienced Israeli riders.

Sylvian Calzati and Sylvian Chavanel have given their last top year to the project and both have the kinds of qualities that will give this team results. Konovalovas should place well in stage races without high mountains and a time trial to show his skill. Meanwhile, the popular Saul Raisen and Brice Feillu will continue to make the neutrals swoon.

I am not sure Mike Friedman will get too many big results but at least will be present in sprints. But El Al PDC's main aim this year will be to blood their Israeli youngsters. It's a brave attempt the team look lightweight compared to some of its rivals.

Quiksilver Kraft worked hard this transfer season almost completely remodelling the old unsuccessful Acque and Sapone team. What they have come out with is a very useful all round team with a long term plan to the future.

In the short term perhaps the biggest strength in Quiksilvers team is in their stage racing. The all rounder Yasmini Martinez will be very useful for stage races as he climbs and time trials well and is attacking enough to take advantage. For the really mountainous stuff the team has spared no expense to bring in Yeison Delgado who should do well in the stage racing scene also. Finally experienced Juan Migeul Mercado brings lots of European stage racing knowledge.

Allan Davis is one of the better sprinters around the continental tour and he has back up in the Italian Crescenzo D'Amore. Both riders will enjoy lead outs from two excellent time triallers Jose Ivan Gutierrez and Aussie Zack Dempster. Finally Staf Scheirlinckx will be moving away from his cobbles focus to work on bringing occasional results in hilly classics and stages on tours.

Quiksilver have recriuted numerous high calibre young riders Bjorn Selander, sprinter Freddy Cruz and Climbers Paul Mach and Carlos Becancourt the pick of them.

This looks like it will be a much improved year for Quiksilver with top 10 not out of their grasp.

Whisper it quietly but the playboy manager of this team wishes for real success this year in the Continental Tour. With a large turnover of riders and staff, it seems as if the team formerly known as British Airways has hit the runaway at full speed.

Cillit Bangs big target in the next season will be the classics (hills and cobbles) and any kind of race with a time trial in. It is a tried and tested formula that we have seen from other teams. You actually have to build a team for it and Cillit Bang have wheeled and dealed to create a dangerous team. Bellis, Gusev and Ben Nasser will be a threat in any hilly race and likewise the threat of Gusev, Kopp, De Maar and Eichler in cobbled races will give others something to think about.

Chinese Time Trialler Haijan Ma, Malaysian sprinter Anuar Manan and Mongolian Sprinter uugunbayer are actually quite good in the continental tours more selective race entries. Also watch out for Dutch fast man Usmael Kip.

You have to ignore some of the more novelty signings that is a sign of eccentricity one can forgive (though no doubt the jersey will be an unforgivable eyesore), Cillit Bang will be a dangerous force in this years Continental Tour and certainly should look for a top 10 finish.

Yamaha Greenpeace are a little like Red Bull Cycling, simply too many nothing type of riders. There is little doubt you will see their jersey on the attack however with some attacking climbers in Ivan Parra Pinto, Giovanny Baez and perhaps the best chance of results with Dainius Kairelis.

Cadel Evans is not going to be the force of last year but should still be thereabouts in San Luis and Burgos. He should receive reasonable support in the mountains from Shaun Lewis and Fabio Montenegro.

Finally the late signing of Daryl Impey just may give Yamaha a stand out result or two, because Impey is a strong sprinter who survives hills well. The other sprinters Yamaha acquired in Matteo Praimo, Dimitri De Fauw and Ashley Hutchinson looked a little below par in the type of compnay they will be against.

Overall Yamaha will be a jersey you will be seeing in races this year, though this writer is not sure you will see them too often at the business end of stages.

Unicredit had the look of a good all round team, but disaster hit in losing superb punchaer Matthias Kessler due to just going over budget. Without him their best hope in those types of races is for Gasparotto to win from medium bunch sprints, which he is certainly capable of doing.

Unicredit certainly have the look of a mean sprint squad with a genuine multi victory threat in Danilo Napolitano, which could yet rescue their season. Add to this quick men Fabio Borghesi, Alejandro Borrajo and Boy Van Poppel Unicredit should not disgrace themselves in bunch sprints.

Outside of this notable names include Chilean stage racer Sergio Ortega, the aging Tadej Valjavec and Danish Champion Brian Vandborg. Unicredit also have a number of young riders though confusingly two have been bought in on loan in Daniel Teklehaimont and Matthias Brandle who are good young riders but you have to question why Unicredit are blooding them with little pay off. At least they should profit from the development of young Dane Rasmus Quaade.

Unicredit would have been a possible top 15 threat with Kessler, but unfortunatly now sprints are just too unpredictable to place too much confidence in consistent high placings no matter how good their twin Italian sprinters Gasparotto and Napolitano are. Though a year of experience will do Unicredit the world of good and they will no doubt rectify mistakes in the transfer market next time.

Perhaps the most ambitious of the new teams, Bacardi - Colt started off the transfer season in fine style with the transfer of Kim Kirchen and Matthew Goss. Kirchen is a highly useful stage racer and will do well in the tours like Burgos and Missouri. Meanwhile Goss is certainly among the top 20 sprinters in the Continental Tour and should certainly feature in field sprints.

Bacardi - Colt other Marquee signing was the big one excellent attacking climber Ricardo Ricco, he was certainly the kind of rider Bacardi had in mind when they set their goals. Ricco will no doubt lead the team as often as he can and like his team will make bold predictions and he can certainly back them up.

With those three riders making about 60% of the wage cap, Bacardi- Colt have picked up the best riders they can from all over the world. French trio veteren sprinter Jean-Patrick Nazon, Aurelien Passeron and Julien El Fares come to mind along with Lithuanian punchaer Gediminas Bagdonis as riders that could possibly make an impact.

The problem with Bacardi's ambitious promotion prospects is they simply do not have the depth of other rival squads. Ricco is a sensational attacking climber who should at least give Bacardi an entertaining first season.

Veterens Iban Mayo, Ivan Basso, Isidro Nozal and Luca Paolini have seen better days and will no doubt be looking at lesser races to showcase their talents. Still the money spent on bringing Columbian mountain star Jose Serpa should at least give Pirelli a shot at winning stage races in particular at Langkawi (mind you the field will be red hot).

In fact Pirelli will be looking at delivering in stage races is indicated by their goals and riders like Canadian all round stage racer Ryder Hesjedal and more than useful Kenyan climber Zakayo Ndbri.

Outside of that it is hard to see Pirelli making much of an impact, Albert Loddo is a good sprinter whose quality tends to be consistent high finishes as opposed to taking out sprint victories. A rather half-hearted attempt to sign youngsters has only ended in getting an eclectic bunch including late bloomer Nick Kinney, Belgian climber Ben Curfs and French Time Trialler Stelly Robert.

With no less than 7 riders signed on loan, including 3 of their best mountain climbers, Bimbo Nutella clearly felt that free agents in this respect were attracting too much attention. Nevertheless they have now a dual faceted team which can gather results in two distinct ways.

On cobbles they have the battling Bernhard Eisel and Greg Van Avermaet who should give them a good presence. These two are especially useful winning sprints for small and medium sized groups. They are certainly the stars of the team.

The loaned in climbing trio of Mwangi Samwel, Iker Camano and Vitor Rodrigues will give Bimbo Nutella a chance on mountainous terrain. But competition is hot in this area and it will be hard to gaurentee consistency.

Time Trialler/ hill climber Dan Craven and punchear Ruben Elviro Lobato stand out as good chances of top 10's elsewhere. Bimbo also have a host of young talent, some of which strangely they have loaned in from protour teams. It will be interesting to see how they use such riders, the pick of their own crop will be Moreno Hofland and Portuguese attacking rider Marcio Portela.

I find it difficult to judge how good Bimbo Nutella actually are, they team does not seem complete and there is something unsettling about having loaned in so many riders who are not going to get telling results. Top 20 in team standings and any sort of victory would be success.

Watch out for the Pokerstars jersey on the continental tour this year, with an array of attacking talent they will truly make other teams work hard for their victories.

Pokerstars biggest presence will no doubt be in Cobbled races, where most of their team is more than comfortable at negotiating parcours that others often dread. They perhaps lack a true star, but with likes of attack minded David Boucher, Kevin Van Impe and Anthony Geslin in the team watch out for them in the latter stages. If things do reform watch out for the improving German Roger Kluge.

The team also will be a threat on flat stages and classics without the dreaded cobbles. A dangerous sprint squad of Dan Holloway, Samual Dumoulin, Marco Guillen and Jurgen Van Loocke is captained by superfast German Eric Mohs. Meanwhile before the finish Martijn Maaskant, Jimmy Engoulvent, Fredrik Ericsson and Jelly Wallays will light out the proceedings with attacks!

Pokerstars also have one eye on the future, in particular watch out next year for Jacopo Guarnieri loaned out for protour experience this year, he will return no doubt ready to dominate sprints. In the team now watch the development of American John Degonkolb, he could be even quicker!

Pokerstars have made no bones about not being a stage racing team - which is where they will not be present. When the road goes up the pokerstars boys are going to struggle to make an impact - only Time Trialler Stef Clement will have a chance in this type of terrian.

It will be interesting to see how this team get on, they should get some spectacular victories and may be the best of the new teams.

Red Bull had a busy transfer season, but signed too many redundant nothing type of riders. Their hopes will be based on good results from under strength fields.

They certainly have a good squadron of mountain climbers with several names from south America to back up the stage racer duo of John Lee Augustyn and Konstantin Siutsou. These two aint going to win in Langkawi or Portugal unless they have a bit of luck, but could get results in lesser races.

Meanwhile the sprint quartet of Arashiro, Sutton, Haider Anuawar and Manarelli are hardly going to going to give the best sleepless nights but at least will score consistent points for the Red Bull team. Of their younger riders Michael Matthews looks like he could be half decent given the right development.

Red Bull lack the star quality and will struggle to make it anywhere near the top 10, but mediocrity is no disaster for this type of team who will no doubt look to consolidate in the coming years. Any sort of victory shall be celebrated.

Not dissimilar to the Pokerstars team, Intesa has packed its squad with Cobblestone experts and Sprinters.

On the cobbles Roy Sentjens leads a useful team of cobblers including Dimitri Kozontchuk, Bobbie Traksel and Johan Vansummeren. The useful thing about most of these riders is that they can animate stage races on flatter and slightly hilly days.

Intesa also has several sprinters giving them the oppurtunity to grab stage wins or at the very least high placings. Lead by the highly paid Hutarovich, Mirko Lorenzatto, Claudio Cucinotta, Ruben Bongiourno and Marco Bandiera will make sure the Intesa men will be present in every field sprint the team is involved in.

Intesa do lack any true climbers and most of the stage racing potential rests on Dimitri Grabovski's Time Trialling ability. Youth development is not a completely closed book with a couple of good young Italians cobbler Benedetto Monterastelli and Edoardo Giraldi along with French climbing talent Thibaut Pinot.

Like most of the newer teams Intesa real star quality and have sensibly focussed on consistency rather than overspending on trying to set the world alight. With a bit of luck Intesa could challenge Pokerstars as one of the best or the newer teams around.

We like the attempt Tinkoff has made to create am entirely Russian based (plus a few token Eastern Europeans). With a rider like say Mikhail Ignatiev they would surely be a top ten candidate, as it stands they may fall a little short of these expectations.

Tinkoff have a very good stage racing squad, with genuine all round capabilities on mountains, hills and Time Trials. The experienced Evgeni Petrov and Vasili Kiryenka lead a number of other younger talents such as Timofrey Kritsky, Aleksej Kunshin and Maxim Belkov which should ensure good placings in stage races. Targeting the 21 stage Tour of America is canny as the best cyclists will surely avoid racing such a demanding race.

Aleksai Markov will no doubt recieve excellent support, Nikolai Trusov also sprints fast enough to get good results in the sprints. Tinkoff will also be present in hilly races with the likes of Ivan Rovny, Aleksandr Kolobnev and Pavel Brutt well capable of producing the result to ignite celebrations in Moscow.

Tinkoff is nicely committed to long term Russian racing and despite that single minded policy have constructed a nice squad. But once again it could have trouble containing the type of Punchaers and climbers out there and it could be a season of near misses rather than a glorious set of victories for mother Russia.

Several of the newer squads have hoped to focus on one nation or in Telenor's situation the group of Scandenavian nations. Telenor have managed to at least stick to a core of Norwegian, Denish and Swedish riders but inevitably looked further afield to get the results they want.

Tomas Vaitkus looks well suited to their targetted races, a tough rider best known for his sprint finishes but can hold himself together on tough terrian. He leads a useful sprint squad with the likes of Greame Brown capable of delivering good results and well as Sebastian Siedler and Fabio Sabatini.

Telenor have also a built a good little stage racing squadron led by the poster boy of their team Fredrik Kessiakoff, he will be well supported with the likes of Thomas Rohregger pretty much his equal. Experienced stage racing duo Christian Pfannberger and Benjamin Noval add credibility to the stage racing ability of this team outside of Scandinavia. Kessiakoff could also snag some good finsihes in hilly classics.

A crafty talent sharing deal has been struck up with Danish wonderkid Rasmus Goldhammer coming in and the likes of Thomas Vedal Kvist and Lucas Schadlich going out on loan.

A good solid top 15 team by the looks, though much will depend on how Viatkus goes.

In the sprints Falcon Husqvarna will be well represented. Captained by the dangerously fast Francesco Chicci Falcon have a number of quick men who should at least get top 10's on a regular basis in flat stages and classics. The sprint squad includes on loan Jacapo Guarnieri, Kenny Van Hummel, Aussie Simon Clarke, Finn Matti Pajari and South African champ Christoff Van Heerden.

Outside the sprints however the talent looks a little lightweight, the best chances of results will come in the form of attacking dutchman Johnny Hoogerland. Swiss Marcel Wyss can go up and down hills fast and may get a result in the right race and if Theo Eltink finds a weak stage race he could cause an upset.

Falcon have a number of riders who really need Pro Tour experience to further develop their careers Guarnieri is a strange loan move and Danish sprint trio Nicola Austrup, Thomas Kristiansen and Christian Ranneries are rather being held up in this squad.

Falcon look destined to rely heavily on their sprinters in races that have already a number of rival teams with slightly better sprint options. This could lead to a rather barren season for the Scandinavian based team.

Highroad TomTom set out to create a youthful Belgian squad with some experienced riders thrown in and that they have. The squad is led by Maxime Vantomme, who is an excellent sprinter and copes well with Cobbles. There will be a lot of pressure on Maxime because outside of him the best oppurtunities this season for Highroad will be in Time Trials.

Michiel Elijzen is a good bet for stage races with time trials and hills, he is an attacking rider and could give Highroad a good result in Missouri. Meanwhile Jan Ghyselinck, Michiel Van Aelbroeck and Ben Day are all good Time Triallers, so Highroad will obviously look at all races with Time Trials in.

Highroad are definately here for the long haul and have gone to great pains to bring in some great young prospects. Aussie all rounder Travis Mayer, Columbian climber Darwin Atapuma and Belgian cobbler Kris Boeckmans came in at some expense and should give good value in the long term.

When you compare Highroad to their Continental tour rivals, it seems that only two riders look capable of getting results and on too many days this team will simply be making up the numbers. You have to believe for Highroad TomTom any success in its first season will be greatly received and after developing their younger riders will be in a better overall position next year.