An Americas based team who has had to go south of Mexico and across to the baltics to snag some climbers. Not really convinced that Montenegro and Piamonte wer super choices but both came relitively cheap. I like Haga and Selander but not wasting more years at Continental level, they badly need protour or at least PCT HC experience to improve further. Still Haga may well be a threat in stage races with good all round ability he should be consistent. None of the sprinters look that super, I recall some from the old CDiv2 days but that was a step down from C2 class. Cannot believe Bahati has found a team once more - he is of the Bos, Samai Samai league of thought.

Smart money is usually with teams who keep a compact line up, but I feel here Dell - 361 have not quite read the XP systems correctly overpaying for riders who should really be riding in higher divisions. Rosskopf, Cruz and Eric Young have been signed to fairly high contracts but look likely to fail to deliever the sort of results their wage demands. On the positive note Raisin and Feillu are good battling climbers who will land consistent results I feel in stage races. The sprinters are a bit too low grade for my liking too.

A second new Scandinavian side, though seem to be just shy of the best quality with perhaps one too many ordinary riders purchased. That said Sorenson, Cioban, Westling and Renang are all good leaders on their terrains and Lovassy just about gives them a cobbled presence. There is a nice balance of experience and youth here - though the youth talent looks a little thin on quality Lindau possibly the pick. Race planning will be key, I fancy Sorenson to pick up a result or two.

Hard not to like South American team - though if we are honest are going to find results fairly difficuly to come by. Zurita looks marginally the best climber here but he does not really stand out amongst the CT climbers. Orozco has been fairly anonymous for a couple of years in the PCT ranks and should welcome a chance to shine in C2 races. However Alpina may have underestimated how strong the climbers are at this level. Forero is good enough to snag some wins, his drop down from PT very welcome at his stage of the career. The team have a very strong talent pool though with many good climbing prospescts. Very nice to see a fully focussed Colombian team following the demise of Cafe du Colombia two years ago.

An amazing pool of young talent at Lierse, though this year it will be mainly about the cobblestones in terms of success. Joseph has the stats to dominate on the cobbles and he has solid back up with a couple of good Belgian cobblers too. Peeters was good at the Japenese squad last year for sprints and should give okay value again this time out. This team though have really built with development on their mind and this could be a very interesting project to follow long term. Vasilyev, Theuns, Stuyven, Senni, Cerny and Dall Oste all should develop into fine riders. It may be tricky though to give all the riders the XP they need (only five qualify for Avenir for example).

Slightly understrength American team with two headline talents in Dyball and Hughes who really needed higher strength races. Still both are decent enough with Rudaskov give the team some presence in the climbs. I fear they will struggle though to stick their honourable cause too much in the limelight, the climbing compitition is just too tough. Haddou and Fisher are far too expensive, neither are really good enough even at the lowest level. The team also have some nice attacking riders with the likes of Lammertink, Bajadali and Frazer who knows they may get more results than this writer predicts.

The enormous tidal wave of Tinkoff's success washed over the disappointing news that Russia's second team Lukoil disbanded. Welcome news then that a new Russian based team have emerged in the Ctour. The fact that Ameriabank have loaned out Foliforov from Tinkoff is also good. The bad news is however that this team is painfully weak beyond sprinting - Serbriakov is top class for C2 and in Popov and Pozdnyakov they have two other dangerous sprinters for mountain and hill terrain, still a lack of real bite on specialist terrian will make this a tough season.

As promised a climbing squad under the moniker of Euskatel, though quite what Bavaria has to do with the team is anyones guess! Euskatel did well on the transfer market picking up some excellent sigings in Jeannesson, Duenes, Parra Bustamante and Moinard - this was useful considering how much a Fernandez cost them. As others may well point out this team are a little too one dimensional, climbers teams sometimes struggle to pick up the points you may think in the continental ranks. Still Euskatel have 5 of the top 30 or so climbers in the division so will likely be happy to be noticed as soon as the road goes up. On a personal note I will be fascinated to see how Moinard goes.

Southern Europe squad who have acquired some dangerous punchy sprinter types that have proved successful over the years. Dall'Antonia and Bole could make a dangerous double threat along with solid stage racer Martinez who has been steadily scoring points for a number of years in the continental ranks. A couple of nice talents have been added to the solid hill climbing base. Hill climbing base but perhaps not quite there as Gazelle so famously were last season.

A clear case of a leaderless team with no real plan of how to score strong enough to sustain any type of momentum and it could be a long year for Eddie Stobart. The good thing is this team do have a nice amount of domestiques for future seasons and if featured in breakaways may just take more results than they first appear. Some very high wages paid for mediocre riders like Earle for example. Two riders who could surprise are sprinters Renshaw and Opie. Renshaw took some good results at Cadburys last year and Opie whilst needs better racing then CT races has better than average climbing ability for a C2 sprinter.

Very flavoursome Danish team who have calmly gathered some of the best cyclist Denmark has to offer. Ostergaard weighs in with De Haes and Joseph as amongst the best cobblers and there should be a nice three way battle between Risa, Lierse and Carlsberg for the best CT cobbled team. Ostergaard definately has back up on this terrain. Beyond this it may be a little tough for Carlsberg with Rasmussen and Ranneries needing to rely on great acceleration rather than the fastest top speed. Beyond cobbles team may disappoint, but Lasse Bochman could be a good scorer in hilly stage races with TT's.

With three Australian teams, it is nice that there is another from New Zealand certainly to replace the Cadburys team that has a special place in my heart. Here is a team that may benefit from a lack of strength in the hills and on cobblestones in the CTour. They have cleverly or luckily avoided the stage racers arms race and in Roulstan and Passalacqua they have unearthed perhaps two useful riders along with star sprinter Meyer. They have possibly the best TTT in the division also. A good solid team who have promotion credentials.

Mendes could well be a big star of the division, comfortably the best punchaer in CT. Bank of Ireland will get success out of him, the question though is what can they get out of hill hating Drapac. Oz Cycling decided to offload him, but with careful study of course profile he should find some races where he can launch his best sprint. Whilst Irish hopes will rest on McConvery and Kelly this is very much a two man team with other odds and sods added. Not sure about some of the talents added, Harrison is good but needs higher level racing and loaned in Jacobsen adds nothing, this lack of depth may see this team finish just outside of the top ten.

I think Evonik have been quite clever here, avoiding the congested mountain teams and the lardy quick sprinters to build a decent European based teams. It proved tough to bring in many Germans but in Geschke and Willwohl they have two good riders. Geschke proved more than useful in the PCT, he could be devestating in the CT on the right terrian. Joeaar could be the key, whilst not as good against the clock as Stannard he has the climbing ability the Brit badly lacks and could challenge Elizjen (or even better avoid the Dutchman). A presence on cobbles will be useful in particular Dupont and Saramotins sprint stats should not be ignored. A well balanced squad this one with some great youth prospects also.

One of the two teams with financial issues, which again is a shame as Siam had the elements of challanging for a top ten position. Now you feel the team is a bit more limited with only Rodrigues capable of top end results. The focus now will be on development of the curious bag of Asian delights. Goodness only knows what is the common language of this team that has combed through the Eastern world looking for riders who just may succeed in cyclings professional ranks. Inevitably for this team to be successful they may need to bring in some Europeans and/or Americas cyclists to mentor the rough edges but for now a fun project to watch.

Had some troubles during transfer season meant this team lost one of their high level climbers, which took the shine off what had been a decent transfer season for In and out. Two former Red Bull ites (with my transfer policy there are loads of formers too ) I fancy both to be pretty decent at this level. Rodas, Aulas, Paiani, Di Gregorio and Gaimon should be thereabouts in top 10's, possibly top 5's which will give the team a decent steady stream of points and success. A slightly motley crew of talents here and some strange salaries paid means that you feel that this team had the potentially to be slightly better.

With Jaguar going african and Good Energy and Pendletons slowly going more European there was a place for a new (or two new) British focussed teams. This is the best of those taking advantage of Jaguars 'C2 Only' offer to land the best Tter in the division. Stannard is unashamedly TT focussed and thinks nothing of dropping back even for the smallest of hills so he needs careful management. But on his own against the clock is peerless in this divison. Elsewhere much expense was spent on bringing in Rowe and Tiernan Locke but both are top quaility and whilst will not be a dominent as Stannard they should grab many high results. The mixture of talents may well be the way with C2HC and this team could be outside hopes of even lifting the C2 division title. Rowe should have good leadouts and JTL has the right sort of support options. The only regret maybe that this team didn't bring in some developmental talent - but that is not always necessary.

Powerful Swiss team who hit the jackpot with a relatively cheap move on former Wiggle pair Wyss and Schar. This duo with Hollenstein and this teams mixture of hilly guys and fast finishers will make for an interesting year for Vontobel. Not sure about sprinter Fonseca, he may well prove to be a slightly over expensive sprinter who struggles to bring home quality results. Hard to argue though with this well flavoured and well built squad I wish them well toward a decent top ten place. I think.

There are plenty of climbing squads in C2 and as the name suggest Maloja Mountain Nomads are well stacked in this area. Iglinski continues to step down the divisions as he ages I think he is certainly one of the very top climbers in this division this year and will certainly rival Arroyo. In Schwab Maloja should be able to spread themselves over all mountain races well. Beyond this Maloja have looked to smaller hills too with Fahnert and Schafer, I think they are little below par here though and low grade cobbler Matzka and sprinter Gajek I don't think will yeild much profit. At first glance I though this team will be top 5, but C2 teams seem stronger overall this year and the main one dimensional approach may not be the way to go. Certainly promotion candidates however.

Swiss - Asian team back for a second year in the C2 ranks, volunteering to stay in the lowest rung and considering the difficulties many former C2 teams had in the transfer market may be a smart move. Stayed carefully within the teams selected regions again, which does unfortnately limit things. Far too much wage has been given to on loan Saggiorato who will not develop quickly, a ridiculous move for both teams involved. Alizadeh had a reasonably impressive year last time out, but climbing has got even better in C2 this year. Schurter may be more successful with hilly riders once more ignored and Awang may do better this year with acceleration perhaps more important for sprinters. Some good talents have been snapped up - very welcome to see a team go after some less known cycling nations which is one of the brilliant things about the ManGame its diversity.

Not dissimalar to Americas rivals Azteca, this is a great attempt at a climbing and sprint combination with less of a focus on sprinting and perhaps a little more attention on climbing depth. Nicacio is a great stage racer who has been getting top 10's in contentental races for some time. Txurraka also could suprise the slightly higher respected climbers in the division with his gutsy determination, though Godoy could be more important as his ability on the shorter climbs may reap more dividends. Very much looking forward to seeing Manarelli in the CT division - he could strike a number of times in stage races. Great to see a number of teams from the Americas sprout up this is a developing part of the world that should be a great cycling hotbed.

One of the surviving C2 teams from last year and for me one of the favourites for the overall team standings. Risa have cleverly snapped up transfers from other teams with Haas, De Haes, Bugge and Matthews all very decent riders at this level. Risa have learnt which riders do well and snapped some really good ones up. In the hilly and cobbled classics they have genuine race winner contenders and in Matthews they have a sprinter without climbing or acceleration problems. They have good TTers, lead outs and roulers this team really will be thereabouts in every race. Will be very suprised if they are out of the top 3 teams this year.

A welcome addition as jesleyh a very active community member has formed a pretty crack squad despite coming into transfer season relatively late on. Moreno, Elijzen, Duggan, Lebris and Vingerling make a quintet of points scorers with TomTom looking likely promotion candidates. Elizjen looks the surest of these five, he is a very strong rouler as well as Stannard's chief rival against the clock. Moreno is beginning to age, he was brilliant last year the risk is that he cannot quite stick his head above the climber waves as he so often has over the years. There is the trademarked hilly core with Mate and Toribio cleverly lifted cheaply off the transfer market to compensate for slightly overexpensive Duggan. TomTom have ticked a number of boxes already I think jesley has a good tactical brain to possibly take this year by storm following in DubbelDekker and Alakagom's footsteps.

One of the returning teams and out of the ashes of Banco Costa Rica comes ONCE Eroski, this is an improved team and should be battling for top spots this year. I think this is the strongest of the many C2 climbing squads with veterans Arroyo and Castano joining Costa Rican duo Esquival and Rojas Villegas. Guillen is an interesting one, he can misfire but with careful selection has always got wins wherever he goes. One of the stage racing teams tends to finish highly and i think with Arroyo this team have stacked the deck correctly he is going to be too strong for the plethero of 76 climbers out there and with 48 race days this year he will strike hard and often. Team have drafting in a couple of really good talents also including the excellent Ecuadoran Carapaz.

Kentauras has long been an admirer of the Man-Game, many will fondly remember his 'Psuedo ManGame' attempt. Kentauras has built an impressive all round squad of climbers and sprinters that is capable of scoring plenty of points. A key focus seems to have been on finishing speed and experience with one of the higher average ages on the division. The slight question mark may be over the lack of winners - which is often badly needed in mountain terrain. In the sprints the team have the potential to build useful trains but will the game allow for this. Ardila, Haedo and Duque have quite the ManGame histories and should see Azteca challenging for top five team standings spots with the likes of Farrar, Rodriguez and the general sqaud depth.

This team have a similar emphasis to Gazelle's highly successful template with a team well stacked for hilly races led by former Tinkoff mainstay Kolobnev. Alongside this they have Ochoa Quintero who is one of the top climbers in the division Nutresa certainly have chances of high positions in the division. The C2HC structure does downgrade the Gazelle model though, and I am not sure about the sprinters. Caethoven, Richeze, Haedo and Averin are all great leadouts in any division but may find themselves battling behind faster sprinters more often than not. Still I have a feeling this team will go well and sneak into the promotion places.