Here we are. Welcome to, perhaps, the top CT stage race on the calendar. A packed startlist with many of the top GC riders in the division attests to the importance of this race. Those who sent big guns here will hope that another breakaway win won't take all the glory as it did last season. A hard route, with a very difficult looking summit finish on stage 7, not forgetting plenty of climbing on stage 2, should see the best battle it out for the GC win.

For the GC:

	Mountain	Hill	TT
Winner Anacona	79	74	66
Gian Piero Signorini	78	69	65
Darwin Atapuma	78	73	62
Richard Ochoa Quintero	77	73	66
Abolfazl Gilanipoor	77	71	68
Yasmani Martinez	76	72	73
Jakub Novak	76	73	76
Tyler Brandt	76	69	73
Yoann Bagot	76	73	65
Thomas Peterson	75	68	73
Edoardo Girardi	75	67	71
Karol Andrzej Domagalski	75	71	74
Nabil Baz	75	71	62
Thomas Koep	75	73	72

You know the names by now, if not where the hell have you been! The above look the most likely to challenge for the GC. Taking into account that hilly TT on stage 4, which looks a hard one, with big gaps to be had there, you could argue that favourites for this race will be the likes of Novak and Martinez, who are both good against the clock. Though any differences there could be more than nullified on that stage 7 finish.

The above list certainly does not contain all the riders whom could feature in a GC battle here. Also present include: Sørensen, who has been one of the more consistent GC riders this season, Dyachenko, Nieve, an armada of decent climbers from Sancor Cycling Team and Haga, who had a phenomenal Tour of America last season on home roads, and is on great form from Slovenia. Not to forget Roe, who has finished multiple stage races well in the top 10 this season.

For the sprints:

	Sprint	Acceleration
Blaise Sonnery	78	73
Aidis Kruopis	78	77
Ben King	78	73
Rafael Andriato	78	76
Allan Davis	77	74
Khayabkhyrvaa Uugunbayar	77	75
Ruslan Tleubayev	77	77
Kim Marius Nielsen	77	78
Pawel Franczak	76	76
Martijn Verschoor	76	75
Bruno Lima	76	80

With three stages, perhaps, for the sprinters, there could be good points to be had for those who sent the quick-men here. No top level sprinters, with regards to speed, are here but all of the fastest here can cope with the undulating terrain.

Elsewhere we see Tennant and Aramendía, both will be solely focused on the TT. Then we have a host of teams looking to score big from breaks making it to the finish.