Written by Don Hamstre of don hamstre team
  
  The cobbles of Belgium. Very tough. Very rough. Very bad for your bike. Very bad for your back.
  Belgium has always been a place where wars have been fought, but the Tweedaagse van Antwerpen is not a sad war. It is a war with many losers, but only heroes. No good guys or bad guys, just guys working extremely hard to get the ultimate prize: winning the most famous race for the cobblers.
  But like all reporters, I will focus on the riders in the spotlights. Who are the favourites his time?
  I will give you my predictions, feel free to ignore them, but mind you, the hidden captain feature makes my job a whole lot harder
  
  ***** Reid Lenard, Bartoli Rivera, Lowell Shingleton
  
  Reid Lenard, POM Wonderful, is one of the, if not the, most talented cobblers in this tour. His team is not in division one, but could still sign up thanks to a cunning plan. They signed Filipiak, last seasons third place finisher, as a one-time teammate and used his wildcard to give Lenard his ultimate shot at glory on the Belgian cobbles. He has the skills to perform well, but can he handle the immense pressure of division one?
  With six previous appearances Bartoli Rivera, omega pharma lotto, is a true Tweedaagse veteran. But despite his many years of racing at the top, he has never won this tour. This season could very well be his last chance. With help of former Astana GP winner Teravainen, I doubt if he ever had such a good team. Will this be his season?
  Lowell Shingleton has won Tweedaagse twice before, so it is obvious he is one of the big names. His experience with winning will help him, but results from the past are certainly no guarantee for success in the future.
  
  **** Julian Pope, Aldric Persson, Mauricio Viola
  
  Julian Pope, Drapeau Noir, won last season, but I think he has reached an age were he isn't going to be able to repeat that. However, a podium finish is within reach and a top nine is almost certain.
  Aldric Persson is the chosen captain for Team Revolutie and also a very lucky man. Aaron Bailey is a teammate worthy of a king. Persson does not have the best skils on the cobbles, but his technical abilities

make up for that. A top five is well within reach.
  Viola, Glamourade, is the king of the cobbles. At the age of thirtythree, he is also very close to retirement, but with the experience this man has got, he must be able to get a good result. Im mean, the man won this tour seven seasons ago!
  
  *** Ignacy Pajak, Rogerio Echave, You Xiang, Jeremy Murphy
  
  Now I arrive at a team of which I really do not know who their captain will be. TACXkin has done this tour with two captain before, so I will just bet on both horses. Pajak is the better sprinter, so he is more likely to get a stage victory. But Echave can keep up with the pace longer if it is going really fast on the cobbles. My best bet for the General Classification would therefore be Echave, but you never know what manager Wesp will do, maybe he will race with Echave as teammate?
  You Xiang is the pride of Hong Kong. He rides for the Asian-minded team of Asymm Project. This means he does have lots of supporters form Asia, but also that he doesn't have the best support he could have wished. Sill good enough for a top nine in the general classification though
  Jeremy Murphy, lastplace1414 is a new cobble superstar. At the age of twenty three, he is probably too young and inexperienced to win TvA, but he is my favourite to win the Youth Classification. Certainly if he gets the support of Edward Simon, who would have been one of my favourites if he was captain.
  
  ** Vojislav Bogicevic, Muthu Chong, Henrijs Cepels, Heribert Parrera,, Santos Zubizaretta
  
  Bogicevic, Luveaucek, will also be a mayor contender for the youth classification. Support like Johannes Schoenmakers is very handy if you want to win the youth classification and this man has it, so he should get a podium in the youth classification.
  Who also should be able to get a top three in the Youth Classification is Mr. Chong. He gets full support from his Team mates at Hard Gaat Ie, although they are not as famous as those of his competitors. But still also a no-brainer for me in predicting the top three best young rider.
  Henrijs Capels,

Hommerts Cycling Team, is a decent cobbler, but has not yet shown he can live up to his potential. But this time he will get support from the youth classification winner of last season, Angelo Saltao. So maybe he can surprise us this time.
  Heribert Parrera is the chosen captain for Team Tirrila. Also a decent cobbler, but he has never really had his moment of glory. I very much doubt if this will be his season, but that means he will probably do well after all.
  Santos Zubizaretta will be the rider CGPBMARCH has got high hopes for. But with so much great competitors, I don't think he will be able to get a Ttop nine in the general classification. A stage result however, could make this tour worthwhile for his team.
  
  * Edward Simon, Johannes Schoenmakers, Aaron Bailey, Viljo Teravainen, Klaudian Filipiak, TRIVF
  
  These guys are all signed up as teammates, but the new feature gives him a chance at success. They could be the secret captains of their teams and that would instantaneously put them among my favourites.
  
  The cobblers are the real stars in this tour, but we also have a prologue. Nairobi City Cycling Club is here to take the glory there, but they do have some competition as Hard gaat ie, Team Tirrila, Team Revolutie, ABK and Die Tour Phantome have also signed up some TT'ers. Good luck to them in beating the Mighty Methode!
  
  We come to the end of this preview, but I will give you some useless statistics, because I can:
  - The Youth Classification has never been won by a rider outside of Europe, except for Curtis Defore, who is from Bermuda, but that is a part of the British Commonwealth, so he is a bit of a European.
  - The General Classification had to wait on his first non-European winner until last season, when American Julian Pope took the jersey back home over the pond.
  - Just fourteen riders from outside Europe have made it to the top nine of Tweedaagse so far
  - Only five out of the thirteen winners of the general classification did not have the letter S in their name.
  - Just eight different teams have won the general classification so far.
  - The winner of the King's stage was not the winner of the Tweedaagse in ten of the thirteen tours.