Written by Raimundas from Greenride
  
  A preview of the Nederlandse Tour Season 16. Analysed by peddelen, written by Greenride
  
  The Nederlandse Tour is the Walhalla for sprinting teams and the start of the eighth edition of the is only a handful of days away. To give tour fever a boost we made an analyses of the teams that join in this year to try and take over Dan Korošec’s crown.
  
  
  THE CONTENDERS (IN ALPHABETICAL ORDER)
  
  
  Alberta 1
  Although the team will fall apart for a while, shortly after the Nederlandse Tour, captain Conrado Fraga will try everything to finish off with a masterpiece in this Tour. Manager Sean told us: ‘I'm in with Fraga going for the GC win in our last race for a while. Hoping for a better prologue this year.’ Some the riders are negotiating new contracts to ensure their future, but they will have their focus on this race for sure. We will count Fraga in for some remarkable results and a top 5 in GC.
  
  Canutes
  The CanuTe will bring in a nicely balanced team with hilly sprinter Cor Ooijer, Riel Benet, one of the fastest men in the peloton, and time triallist Demy Schiphouwer. If Cor Ooijer manages to avoid crashing into street crossing dogs like he did in Monte Rosa Tour last year, he could well finish top 9 GC.
  
  Darkwave Recordings
  Kristoff Villumsen will be the target man for Darkwave Recordings. He can rely on a strong lead out train with a high team spirit. Villumsen is definitely one to note down for a top GC finish. Above that the Dane is still waiting for his first win this season, so we should not be surprised if he took a stage this Tour.
  
  Dingetjes
  Signed up last, but won’t finish last. Darius Yvard, holder of last years YC title, will join in for nothing less than another YC jersey? He can rely on one of the stronger lead out trains of this years contenders. We expect to see Yvard showing up in each stage and predict the Luxembourger more than one top 9 finishes and a top 9 in GC.
  
  Equipe 44
  Equipe 44 will bring in The Beast of the Middle East. This year is all about tours for Wajeeh. He came third in the Volta, fourth in Cymru, he won Essex and is heading for a seventh place in Germany Tour. What will be next? At least we note down his name for stage 4, the hilly sprint to Maastricht and a possible top 9 in GC.
  
  ExploGen
  Nico Kristoffers is a young and great all round sprinter, who has not yet shown his full abilities. This tour could well be his breakthrough as a captain. Last year he worked for Medina’s chances. We would not be surprised if the young Dutchman proves himself to be this tours dark horse for both GC and YC. Aside this we predict Lucas Olufsen a top 5 finish in the prologue.
  
  Glamourade
  La Furia Roja, the Spanish Fury will come to glamour up the tour. The main focus, as told by manager Charles Glamour, ‘is only to earn some money at least in 2-3 of the 6 stages. I haven't favourites riders, so with 20K earned in the Tour I would be pleasured’. This squad of bounty hunters might indeed be successful in a few stages.
  
  Greenride
  A Portuguese debutant at this level. The team will bring in 2 solid sprinters: Óscar Balsemão and David Pires. The second one will be captain and should be considered an outsider for GC. Manager Raimundas: ‘We might not be the best team, but we probably are the greediest team join in this year. We will challenge the big favourites

in every stage’. We predict Pires a few stage results and a top 9 in GC.
  
  Kremer
  The Polish team, named after the manager's ex-girlfriends surname, (chosen while drunk) is aiming for Polish sprinting star Borys Bednarksi. He can rely basically on his strong lead outs Filipos Papakonstadinou and Aiden Lalonde. Borys scored seven top 9 finishes this season so far and will aim to add a few more. Bednarski could finish in top 9 GC. If he's not drunk of course.
  
  Luveaucek
  Luveaucek brings in two massive sprinters. Manager Wryen states :’It's nice to be able to make this tour again. The field looks pretty strong! At the moment, we're riding for Barba and Malina. I'm hoping for a chance at the YC with Malina, but there's many great youngsters’. We note down Barba for a top 5 in GC and results in some stages. And Malina will be one of the biggest rivals of Rytis Kondrotas for YC.
  
  Megaman
  Strong debuting sprinting team to take into account. Anselmo Dávila seems to be in a good shape, looking at a nice series of results lately. With also Perez and Enriquez in the team, manager Lencko has a couple of very good sprinters to choose from to ride for. We consider Megaman an outsider for stages and GC, keep a close eye on them. And aside that, Aarón Alemao should be able to achieve a top 3 in the prologue.
  
  Nairobi City Cycling Club
  The Danish team will make it’s tour debut. Captain Leon Bødker has just had his topform, confirmed with two nice results in Division 2 classics. Can he continue his good shape and get some more results during this Tour? Manager Methode states ‘I don't expect much from the team’. In our opinion TT specialist Jesper Juhl should be able to get a top 5 result in the prologue.
  
  NECFTW
  NECFTW manager Noppes joked "NECFTW rides to win all stages, and we expect to get the YC, even if we don't have anyone who's young enough". A bit more serious the F5 King said: ‘This team will not be in for GC aspirations, but will certainly shake the tree in the hilly stage to Maastricht.’ We think that’s a realistic thought. Prediction: top 9 in stage 4 for Van Someren.
  
  omega pharma lotto
  The omega pharma lotto team is built around hill sprinter Wit Portai, with Nadhir Shafeeq as his lieutenant. We spoke to manager Contador, who told us: ‘Wit Portai is my captain. I hope for a top 9 in the hilly stage. And with a lot of luck maybe a top 9 in the GC’. That’s really modest. Wit Portai is our favourite for stage 4. A top 9 in GC could be possible as well.
  
  peddelen
  Asking manager pete why peddelen signed up he made his intentions clear: ‘Revenge for last year when Dussel got injured only half an hour before the sign up opened. Main Reason back then? Making Dussel the first Dutch winner of our home tour. And he is in top form.’ Dussel will be lead out by one of the stronger teams, so be ware! We predict for Dussel a top 5 GC and probably 4 top 9 finishes.
  
  Red Star
  Manager Petter is very clear about the Nederlandse tour. ‘We are in with Rytis as captain, who wants a top 5 result at every stage and to win both GC and YC. Goal of the season.’ Rumours say that the very talented rising star will come in topform, so we think it might even be possible he achieves these goals. We expect that his small experience will be compensated by his great skills, well-experienced team and his top form.
  
  Scilian
  Scilian will bring one of the strongest team, captained by former winner Gerald Karda.

Rumours say he will come in topform, but team manager Mark denies. ‘My goals were to have a good finish in the GC with Karda, but now he will not be in top form which I had hoped, so my main aim is a top 3 finish on the opening TT with Gilian De Schutter’. Gilian De Schutter is one of our favourites to win the prologue and Karda should be considered an outsider for the GC.
  
  StegaUnited
  StegaUnited will join with sprinter Eduardo Nino as captain. Although we don’t like to say it, we expect he will not play a role of any importance in this strong field of topsprinters. Not at least because of a lack of strong lead outs. StegaUnited may surprise us.
  
  Team Zero1
  Team Zero1 joins in with a team built around the solid time trialist Edoardo Iuccaro. This strategy payed off very well in this years Volta, with eight top 20 finishes and an eighth spot in GC. We expect he Italian to primarily be focusing on the prologue to score his tenth top 9 result. In our opinion, that should be a certainty for this years winner of Malmö TT.
  
  Yuri Superteam
  Yuri Superteam will definitely be one of the stronger teams in this years edition. Captain Patya Gordeyeva is flying in straight from Germany Tour, so his discipline might be a bit low. Patya previously finished third and second in GC (at a cynical one second from Torben Sturmann). We think he should ride another podium this years edition, although manager Yuri said on request “another podium this year is expected too much from us”.
  
  
  OUR PREDICTIONS:
  
  Stage 1: Groningen Prologue:
  *** De Schutter (Scilian)
  ** Olufsen (ExploGen), Alemão (Megaman)
  * Kondrotas (Red Star), Juhl (Nairobi), Villumsen (Darkwave)
  
  
  Stage 2: Groningen – Hengelo
  
  *** Kondrotas (Red Star)
  ** Gordeyeva (Yuri Superteam), Fraga (alberta1),
  * Dussel (peddelen), Barba (Luveaucek), Pires (Greenride)
  
  
  Stage 3: Hengelo - Eindhoven
  
  *** Gordeyeva (Yuri Superteam)
  ** Pires (Greenride), Dussel (peddelen)
  * Villumsen (Darkwave), Kondrotas (Red Star), Yvard (Dingetjes)
  
  
  Stage 4: Eindhoven – Maastricht
  
  *** Portai (omega pharma lotto)
  ** Wajeeh (Equipe 44), Fraga (alberta1)
  * Van Someren (NECFTW), Ooijer (Canutes), Kristoffers (ExploGen)
  
  
  Stage 5: Utrecht – Rotterdam
  
  *** Gordeyeva (Yuri Superteam)
  ** Dussel (peddelen), Fraga (alberta1)
  * Kondrotas (Red Star), Barba (Luveaucek), Karda (Scilian),
  
  
  Stage 6: Den Haag- Amsterdam
  
  *** Fraga (alberta1),
  ** Gordeyeva (Yuri Superteam), Barba (Luveaucek)
  * Kondrotas (Red Star), Villumsen (Darkwave), Karda (Scilian)
  
  
  General Classification:
  
  *** Kondrotas (Red Star)
  ** Gordeyeva (Yuri Superteam), Fraga (alberta1)
  * Dussel (peddelen), Pires (Greenride), Barba (Luveaucek)
  
  Youth Classification:
  
  *** Kondrotas (Red Star)
  ** Yvard (Dingetjes), Kristoffers (ExploGen)
  * Malina (Luveaucek), Casimiro Moya (Glamourade), Solon (alberta1)