Wales forever! That is the motto of the proud Welshman. And it does seem like this once again as the Zyte division hilling elite gather around Welshpool preparing for another edition of this incredible race. But before the Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (English: Land of my fathers) sounds at the start let’s take some time to evaluate this years startlist
  
  Welshpool - Bangor
  Welshpool, famous for cockfighting until the practice was outlawed by the Cruelty to Animals Act is the venue for stage 1. This is the stage the hillers have been eyeing since the start of the season. Even top division big guns are ready to claim victory here. Top favourite here must be Thodoros Drimalas who was born to win this stage. Other riders who are expected to claim a podium spot are Arfan Husain, Damario Crusellas, young Godfried Veldhuis, Mohamed Nuri Mosbah and good old Herman Eagles.
  One weird thing is that the big guns have bad (hill-)support; Drimalas has to rely heavily on Jamaican superstar Ferrin since the rest of the team is not really impressive. Same goes for Crusellas, probably the rider in the best form of the field but he has only Mayer to get him to the final hill. Mosbah has no

hill support at all. Which leaves only Veldhuis with good support. What about Eagles? Canutes is the strongest team by far, but rumours are he did not even start as captain but has to share this role with Langenberg who seems to be in the form of his life and could be an outsider for this stage.
  
  Newport ITT
  Blue collar town Newport is the traditional host of the ITT. This year there is loads of great Timetrialists probably since last years edition was won by Alkvist. The crowds will be cheering for local hero Leon Roush of Onie who is a Newport born giant. He is not one of the topfavourites mainly because Karelracing brought his strongest team: Anton Levin, Teodor Lindahl, Jasper Dolliver, Klaas Nellisen are considered to get a top 9 in this stage. Although they seem to be a bit tired. Other favourites are: Thanassis Dadakos, Reginald Haney, August Elofsson, Lasse Alkvist and Jaakko Virén. From the GC contenders we might expect good results from Husain, Eagles, Langenberg , Crusellas and Drimalas. However riding TT’s in tours might produce positive or negative

surprises.
  
  
  
  
  
  To Cardiff
  The finals stage ends this year in a packed Millennium Stadium. As traditional this will end in a sprint. The GC is already set so we don’t expect the GC contenders in a bunch sprint. Who will end up on the podium for this stage? Ron Sherman is the only topsprinter to enter this year so he must claim this stage. Behind him there is fierce competition between Diedrich Rinzema, Jaakko Virén, Dries Francx and Rien Roogaars.
  
  The Classifications
  For GC the top contenders will be Eagles or Langenberg , Crusellas and Drimalas. Outsiders are Veldhuis and Husain. Other outsiders are last years winner Lasse Alkvist who even trained a bit on his already impressive TT skills. Another dark horse is Ultrajectums Reginald Haney, but there is doubt about his form. Another great rider is the very young Rik Rosendael. These riders need to cling on the first stage and try to make the difference in the TT.
  For YC we need to consider only 2 riders, Veldhuis and Roosendael, and Dadakos will claim 3rd place.
  
  
  Written by pundit Pees Criem from
  ultrajectum to OCM Magazine