It is time for Vuelta de los Castillos once again. The Tour, which comes to replace the financially bugged and awkwardly spelt Vuelta del Este Costa, as it also takes place in the East Coast of Spain, is only facing its third edition. What we know about the Vuelta from the two previous editions is that, despite great competitiveness and the fact that many kinds of riders (from SARS to pure climbers passing through allrounders) can do good here, the terrain is not of many manager’s liking.
  
   However, even if accused of extravagance (just ask a random manager’s opinion about stage 1), it seems that the community is also starting to get fond of the castles and commencing to mythicize the ascent to Morella, which is one of the toughest stages of the whole calendar. Need any proof? Here it goes:
  
   Falur Sigfinnursson (Die Tour Phantome), last year’s winner Godo Figueiredo (Greenride), Isak Dammen (johny 2), Wajeeh Essam (Luveaucek), Bonifacio Ballestero (NECFTW), Yannick de Craene (peddelen) and Roni Bosmans (The Killers) are the captains in top form, that makes a total of 7 captains that have planned their peak of form for this Tour. According to some, this never happened before; no Tour had received this amount of top form captains.
  
   With this panorama, some managers are already starting to lower their expectatives. Delion, manager of Ruddy Lind (winner of last year’s king stage), who had hopes for a podium before top forms popped up, admits that he will now be content with repeating last season’s top 9.
  
   One of the changes of Vuelta’s participants for this season is that we are having a bunch of climbers. Probably encouraged, after the doubts about what kind of rider is better suited for this race, by Figueiredo’s performance in edition two, many climb teams have decided to give this a go.
  
   The battle for GC is, then, almost impossible to predict. It will be a fierce and close battle, apparently, but just the road can guess the result right now. In our eyes, the teams and riders with chances are:
  
   Die Tour Phantome
  
   With Sigfinnursson twice close to the podium of Volta, Vuelta’s format will probably give him what he was lacking. Iceland’s volcano is coming with some amazing teammates, and is very likely to erupt to a podium.
  
  
   Drapeau Noir
  
   Ruddy Lind knows what is winning in Morella, which is the most decisive stage of Vuelta. Will he be able to ride for a stronger performace in the rest of the Tour, or is the no TF condition too much for him?
  
  
   Greenride
   Godo Figueiredo. Same guy. Same top form. Same help. But… stronger competition. Anyways he can make it, but he will have to do even better.
  
  
   johny2
  
   Isak Dammen, after moving from nrk to johny2 with his Norwegian companions,

is expecting to win a Tour again, but now he will have many more troubles. The fact that Cannonball Zelenka is also racing for the sprints may be detrimental to Dammen’s chances, but you that Top Form is inscrutable.
  
  
   Legia
  
   Garcia Dabino, as Ruddy Lind, is a man that has, apparently, all what one needs to succeed in this Tour (if you add the always needed luck), but no TF… anyways he is a good bet for top 9.
  
  
   Luveaucek
  
   Wajeeh Essam is one of those guys who always promised more than what they achieved. You probably don’t believe me when I tell you that the guy has only a result in his career. But still, he is one to watch here.
  
  
   NECFTW
  
   If a Spaniard may win Vuelta for the Spanish crowd, that is Bonifacio Ballestero. With Davie or Bizony as helpers, he may not get the GC, but it is hard to imagine that he won’t gain a lot of time in the mountains.
  
  
   peddelen
  
   Best manager of season 19 brings De Craene (yes, he has more riders than Dussel) and a strong pack of helpers. What will he do with Melazzo, who opts for YC, will probably decide whether De Craene has chances to win the Tour or not.
  
  
   Team Crazy Downhillers
  
   Chris Bauwens and one of the greatest sets of helpers of Vuelta. Doesn’t that smell like Tour victory? Oh, no TF! Anyways, this is my bet among the non-TFers.
  
  
   Team Revolutie
  
   Probably just throwing the dices (with all due respect to this great rider), Felix Jaudon will try to do well and shine in this “green triangle” field.
  
  
   The Killers
  
   Roni Bosmans knows that he must be a pain in the ass during downhills to tire his rivals out. If he doesn’t do that, the climbers will eat him.
  
   Yuri SuperTeam
  
   Joop Daems, who would be a good

option in regular conditions, can only be tagged as an outsider here. He will try to fish in troubled waters.
  
   The battle in the sprints, on the other hand, has the opposite situation. The teams saw that TP Plowman won the first stage last year, leaving only one stage for the pure sprinters, so few have signed up. This paves the way for The Beast Mollerup from ABK, who will apparently take easily the third stage, and is also favourite in Sagunto.
  
  
   ABK
  
   The doubts about Ahnfeldt-Mollerup are: will he be able to take SC, or will a GC guy take it? Other than that, he is not likely to lose the maillot to another sprinter.
  
  
   Asymm Project
  
   Susumu Miyazaki comes to Vuelta with chances of doing well in the sprints after there are very few rivals, and even if he may score something in three or four stages, he is too weak to craft a podium in SC.
  
  
   blast
  
   With Thomsen injured, Gai Qiang will try to score in the sprints. As said before, this guy only has chances because there isn’t a big bunch of sprinters.
  
  
   canutes
  
   Herman Eagles best days are apparently gone, but he has here a chance to score.
  
  
   Kremer
  
   Will Ferrin got an impressive second place in GC last year, but he will need a lot of luck in the mountains to repeat the exploit. Jan-Olof Holm is also a force to be reckoned with.
  
  
   Quick Step Minded
  
   Izak Van Bethlehem is one of the few guys coming with a full 5-man train of leadouts. That should take him to a couple of top 9 at the very least.
  
   Finally, the young guys will face one problem as none of them are team leaders: being able to be in the top 30 of the stages in order to get time bonuses. Alfonso Melazzo (peddelen) is the favourite, coming with top form and making the most of his great climbing abilities. Timothy Connor (Legia) will be his main rival, while the unknown Aguinaldo Fernandes (Yuri SuperTeam) will try to do something with his top form. Other than these guys, only the outsider Arnold Waldmann (Kremer) seems to have what it takes to be on the YC podium.
  
  
  
  (Feauture: Clickable Teamnames!)
  
  Written by pundit Holger Czukay from
  Asymm Project to OCM Magazine