A TTT will open this first edition of the Lost Gems Race Series. Or rather a combined TTT and team presentation.
It will only have minor effect on the individual rankings as each rider will get the same points as his team making the differences rather small, but it will be a good way to get to introduce all the teams.
You will know the jerseys but most of the riders will be new names, but you already know that by looking at the startlist…
Metinvest is the first team on the route. Much of their focus will lie on Liepins, who is used to the jersey but the Baltic riders looks like a gathering of underdogs in general.
Becherovka-Kiwibank is sponsoring the Italian team, though their slovenian stagiaire Pibernik have also made the team.
Pibernik also seems like the best bid for a top result in the hilly race while Trosino could do well in the ITT.
Bonsucro have gathered the best of Brazil, Venezuela, Uruguay and Bolivia
Most well-known are Bonsucro-stagiaire Chiarello, who is a solid allrounder and the strong TT'er Anaya, who rode for the now disbanded Repsol-Cativen last season. Roccaforte could be mentioned as an outsider for the flat race.
Oz have a tradition of destroying TTT's but with none of these guys racing for the team last season they might not have had the time to get the disciplin properly worked out.
Cooper might ring some bells as he rode for Fletcher last year. Prominent names count Flakemore and Christie for TT'ing and Glasspool as an outsider for the flat race.
Jaguar-Eritel host riders hailing from the Northernmost part of Africa.
They have some good depth on the team. Debesay for the hills, Debretsion for Andorra and Aadel in the flat could all produce some results.
Meiji - Cannondale have gathered the East-asians with their own two stagiares as the main profiles. Tsubaki for the climbing and Yamamoto as one of the main favourites for the flat race. You might also recognize Guozhang, who finds himself unemployed after the closing of Dell.
Another former Dell-rider who attracts a bit more attention os Keough riding for RBC Pro Cycling here. He will be a favourite for the flat.
Former Wounded Warrior Mayho could be an outsider for the mountain course while his former team mate Arnold and former Heineken rider Putt will mainly be working as helpers.
FCB-Polska have dropped the Polish connection for this series as they sponsor the Iberian team.
While the region has a great cycling-tradition they look like they will need a good bit of luck to do much in these races, having outsiders at best for a couple of races.
Project: Africa hosts a team with their two stagiaires Beneke and Gichora. Van Zweel and Hendricks looks like the strongest bids for some good results though.
AMEX could have a small advantage today as they have as many as 4 riders used to riding together. Too bad they're not that strong TT'ers though.
Koch and Kulimbitov in Grand-Duche seems the best chance for a good result for the team.
ONCE-Eroski sponsors the Central American team. They have some good TT-depth as well as some outsiders for the climbing-races.
Team TomTom have gathered the best of Benelux around their own stagiaire Reinders. He will be their hope for the hills, while they will need a good bit of luck everywhere else. They do have plenty of outsiders though so anything can happen for them really.
Rothaus-Aegon have decided to sponsor the Central European team out of sheer goodwill.
They shouldn't expect to see the team win much though with Peter Simon and Michal Habera being the profiles of the team…
Volkswagen-Mapei are sponsoring the German and Austrian riders. In Schoch they have a favourite for the flat race.
Droste and Nappa are outsiders for the ITT and hills respectively.
Live Nation was the worst team of all last year, but with Manninen they qualified as hosts for the Nordic team.
Eidsheim is a challenger for both sprint and cobbles, Andersson has a solid TT and Laukkala has a chance of doing something in the mountains.
Also woth noticing that this is our first glance of an Icelandic rider ever. Rumour has it that his contract has already been finalized only awaiting the MGUCI's allowance to be signed.
Siam Cement - Lonovo host a group of Asians. Lim and Kholadouz are used to wearing the jersey while Hamdan Fernando and Moazzemi sems the most likely to produce a result.
Privatbank-Nemiroff have a team based around Ukraine and neighbours with stagiaire Orlov, warchol and Nitu as riders to watch when the road isn't flat.
Vesuvio with Savitskiy hosts the Russians and Belarussians. They have some solid TT-depth but apart from that they'll look forward to the flat races the most.
Alpina-Avianca seems to have been built around usual Alpina-rider Navarro with former Wounded Warrior Burman as a strong lieutenant. In general the team prefers climbing, but Alvaro could be dangerous in a sprint as well.
One Bulgaian on the team was enough to get Boing-Bulgaria to sponsor.
In the former Nordeus-rider Borisavljevic they have a strong bid for the hilly race, the mountains as well as the overall rankings.
Ugrinic could provide a strong ITT results, Maric is a decent cobbler and Bouglas has a very good sprint so this should be one of the most prominent teams of the series.
In-n-Out have a very talented French team due to having Dulin on the team. He also looks like a profile on the team while former Maloja Mountain Nomads rider Guillemois is one of the many riders in the peloton with a decent sprint. Jouffroy could do somthing on the cobbles.
Grupo Nutresa has the most international team here with riders from 7 different countries from both Europe and Asia. Besic is the biggest profile but they should probably hope for a succesful break if they want a win.
Turks, Qatari and Israili riders on the same team will either be a disaster or a beacon of peace it seems.
Bouyoges is another very international team, though they only have Europeans.
Biggest profiles are the stagiares Matt and Teuns while Mercier is an outsider for the expected bunch sprint.
ASDA and Bank of Ireland have teamed up sponsoring the team from the British Isles. They have more depth than leaders so it can really go either way for them.
