Situated in the Ural mountains, the Perm Tour offers hilly terrain and occasionally inclement conditions. The climbing teams will attempt set a hard but controlled pace, while the time trialers and puncheurs have to decide whether to try to create chaos or just hang on for dear life.
  
  It is the least prestigious first division tour, but not the least competitive. Perm has been the sight of many exciting battles and several of the closest finishes in OCM tour history.
  
  MCT, the team of defending champion Harman Girault, have fallen out of the top division. This marks the second consecutive year the defending champion has not been present. In fact, the Perm Tour has never had a two-time winner in its ten season existence. This season, Claude Vorhees, Solomon Henschel, and Donny Staarman will attempt to be the first.
  
  The Favorites:
  
  Viggo Monsen is one of the most gifted riders technically to ever come through the OCM. The good news is this will help in the Perm TT, which snakes through Perm's city streets, before finishing along the winding Kama River waterfront. The bad news is the king stage is a straight up and down undulating course where the punchy climbers will have plenty of chances to attack. Monsen is among the best climbers in the peloton, but there are definitely better supported riders in this race who could drop him. It will be up to countrymen Ronald Ronnigen to stay with him as long as possible, ensuring at least a top ten and hopefully a top five finish. If that happens, Monsen could be very difficult to beat. He has spent the last week preparing for the Perm Tour at the world famous Physics and Aerodynamics Centre in Veijle, Denmark. Team Whalers manager JackO has dropped hints about his impressive form in the wind tunnels there and has even suggested that, although they would never do this, Monsen could make a go of it as a year round time trialer.
  
  Yasunari Yamauchi, who is in what may be one of his last races with Gradient Levellers, has never really broken through to fulfill the potential he seems to have. At the tender age of 25, there is still plenty of time for the talented Japanese all-rounder, but this may be a best opportunity he gets in a while. He is extremely well supported, with a strong cast of teammates including climbing powerhouse Tito Vera, easily the best domestique in the race.
  
  Two years ago at Perm, Nico Holt lost by a gut wrenching eight(!) seconds to Solomon Henschel. He came back strong and missed the podium by a mere three seconds in last season's edition. This perennial contender will be, no doubt, a sentimental favorite. Since moving to Ursus RT and gaining a sole leadership position, he has shown his true talent with five podiums already for his new team. A tour victory would be the natural next step in this evolution. The hilly opening stage could be where he finds the critical extra seconds, as he and Monsen are the probably the best of the GT contenders on that hilly, technical stage.
  
  Yasir Sahir has already shown he can do it, with his recent convincing win in the Volta ao Porto. His big advantage is his teammates, who are all very well suited for the king stage. Although Mass'ud Qutaiba could make some noise on the climbs outside of Ochjor, there can be no doubt that the team will be 100% dedicated to Sahir's ambitions. The list of riders who have won multiple tours in the OCM is a short one, and Sahir will be looking to lengthen it a little bit.
  
  England is very well represented at this year's Perm Tour. Their best GC hope is Truman Woodson of scuppernong. Despite his prodigious climbing talents and decent time trialing, he has a spotty history in tours. His did, however, finish second on Perm's king stage two seasons ago, and he is absolutely among those with a shot to win that stage this year.
  
  The Contenders:
  
  It seems amazing to say, but the 29 year old Dirk Herman is kind of a grand old man in tours these days. The stream of talented young GC contenders coming into the OCM seems to be never ending, and Herman may have missed his chance for glory. He showed his form early in the season, winning the classic Zurich-Bern-Zurich; and he is now hoping to peak again and prove the naysayers wrong.
  
  Giovanny Enrico has an impressive record at the Germany Tour, with a third and a fourth the last two seasons. He is a better time trialer than many of his other GC contenders; however CCFC have not sent a great deal of support for him, so he may be relegated to fighting for a podium spot.
  
  Vernon Kings was born and bred to ride tours and he is among the

best in the world at it. Last year he bursted on to the scene in incredible fashion with three tour top tens, two podiums, and a win at Germany. Many look at his skill set and wonder how he can do it, but the longer he keeps surprising, the more stubborn you have to be to doubt him. He has a great DS in Aurelien Windenberger, who has figured out how to get Fairfield Flyers Cycling in the mix with multiple weapons.
  
  Bajen Belfast have sent arguably the best combination of climbers and descenders to Perm. Their leader, Johan Rask, will hope to benefit from this teamwork and then surprise everyone with a credible time trial.
  
  Natanael Solano has already podiumed the Perm Tour once, and on a different team he'd be a serious threat to do it again. His priority has to be supporting superstar Nico Holt, just as he has had the honor of supporting Ame Anderberg many times. If he can finish inside the top ten on the king stage, who knows what he could pull out of his hat for the time trial.
  
  The Factors:
  
  Elias Holmstrom is probably the favorite or co-favorite with Nico Holt for the all-important Ochjor-Perm stage. He could very easily wear the leaders jersey heading into the Perm TT, just as he did last season. That jersey will have to give him wings though, as he will need at least a top twenty on the TT to stay in the mix. It's possible, but unlikely.
  
  In past seasons, a time trialer with some punch on the climbs like Corwin Wyeth would have been a serious contender for the Perm overall. The field has never been so stacked with all-around climbing talents though, and Wyeth will have to be the little engine that could to avoid accruing major time loss on the king stage.
  
  The guy who mapped out the blueprint for Wyeth is Solomon Henschel. He won this race two seasons ago, but was unable to sign up last year due to a paperwork error and some language confusion between the Perm Tour organizers and Team Whalers management. He has now lost team leadership to Viggo Monsen, making his chances even more unlikely than his past unlikely win. Thankfully for Henschel, he will always be one of the top favorites for Essex.
  
  Max Kruse proved last year that a sprinter could contend and Fergal Lemire is just the one to do it. He could be a factor in every single stage and may, at the very least, pick up some valuable blue and white jersey points that the other sprinters can't. It will be interesting to see how cway's captaincy will be split as they also have defending Essex Tour champ, Miles Finnerty in the fold. There have been rumors that they will ride for the talented young Kuwaiti, Nasir al Din Nawfal, but that would seem to be a huge strategic mistake, if true.
  
  The North Shropshire Wheelers are, like the Fairfield Flyers, usually a factor in tours. Honorato Pueyo, Claude Voorhees, and Hamlin Lindsay all have vital weaknesses which will probably prevent them from winning, but it's possible one could emerge as a contender. Pueyo is the best overall cyclist, but Voorhees probably has the best chance to surprise in the time trial. He may be the Wheelers de facto leader based on his own victory at Perm three seasons ago.
  
  The Sprinters:
  
  Jens Waesbergen is Cyklista's unequivocal captain and is a threat to win every stage except the mountain one. This has to make him at least a co-favorite for the points jersey.
  
  Although he doesn't have the top speed of Ferdinand Coy or Archer Houel, Torben Sturmann is probably the best pure sprinter in the field. Sturmann won the sprinter's jersey at Perm last year and is the other co-favorite for this year's honors.
  
  Unlike Waesbergen and Sturmann, Frank van Weenen is unlikely to contend on the time trial. He has a definite shot, however, to win the opening stage and grab the leader's jersey. He is not particularly well supported at Perm.
  
  Kyle Abston will have the luxury of a tremendous leadout man in the speedy Archer Houel. He still may need to pick up some surprise points in the stage three time trial to win the sprinter's jersey, however.
  
  If Nasir al Din Nawfal is really cway's captain, then he has to mentioned among the points jersey contenders. They have a very talented group of sprinters and whoever they choose to support is going to have a leg up on the competition.
  
  Other contenders for the blue and white, outside of Lemire and the five mentioned above, could be Jaroslav Brychta, Ferdinand Coy, Miles Finnerty, Luciano Nibali, and Grayson Bankston.