Written by Michael of English Sprinting Team
  
  The fifteenth tour of the stars and stripes is here! Twenty eager teams have entered to win points and money, but not all of them will. Let’s take a look at them:
  
   Flanders Fields
  
  The first team to enter this season’s edition of the Race of the Minuteman have brought sprinters to the peloton. Kai Diggele has only been in the team for a couple of weeks, but he’ll have the captaincy. He’ll have four decent lead outs and a water bottle carrier to help him out. Diggele won’t have top form, but he should do well in the sprinting classification.
  
   Vitória FC
  
  Now this team have got one aim only and that is to win both stage two and six and secure their first sprinting classification jersey! Local American sprinter Dominick Helton will be the last man in a six man sprinting lead out. This team have got a lead out worthy of zyte division, so they’ll do very well here. No top form though. Will that be their undoing?
  
   Optimus Prime
  
  The third squad to enter, and again, another sprinting team. We believe that Fabio Sosa will lead the team in the sprinting stages, but Vidar Lien is top form ready and could reach it with a bit of luck. In any case, the sprint stages this season are going to be won by tight margins. Four trained lead outs will support the captain of this team.
  
   Grant Thornton
  
  Last season’s sprinting classification winner is here again. His name is Douglas McKenzie, a local hero at this tour for being the first American to win the sprinting classification. But this season will be a lot harder. He won’t have top form and there’s more competition. He’ll have five lead outs to help him, but will entering Rotterdam Classic hinder his chances?
  
   aussie555
  
  The first general and youth classification contender is Pejo Petek. The young twenty four year old is a more than decent climber and has been time trial centred. He won’t have top form, but he’ll be in good shape. The only real problem for him will be his team mates. Two of them are untrained and one of the others is only half trained. Will his team mates stop him from winning here?
  
   RC Giessen
  
  Shawn Breinholt will be going for stage wins in this tour. He won’t be a bad tour captain, but I fear he needs to be time trial centred for next time. The captain will have five team mates to help him in his search for stage victories. His general classification challenge will depend on the luck he gets in the time trial stages, which means we won’t have a clue!
  
  

FretexHIBAS
  
  Recent Monte Rosa Tour youth classification winner and third place in the general classification rider, Erland Almås will try to repeat his success here. His support is decent enough and he won’t be in bad shape going into the tour, so he shouldn’t do too badly. The youth classification will be his main goal and I think you’ll have a decent chance at winning it.
  
   Borussia Milano
  
  One of the first trained time trial riders is Henny Traa and he’ll be helping the team captain Bart De Moor in the climbing stages. Going to the Americas with them will be three okay team mates and a water bottle carrier. I would say that there best hope will be in the first time trial and they might have a small chance of a top nine in the general classification.
  
   Team Trier
  
  Injury hit captain Farley Redman will be in the final day of his recovery when he’ll have to ride the first time trial. He’ll lose quite a bit of time, but he should be fine going into the two mountain stages afterwards. And he shouldn’t be in too a mad shape either, so all is certainly not lost for this team. He’ll have five team mates to help him up the mountains and he’s one of my favourites for the stage wins.
  
   Manisaspor
  
  The all Turkish team of Ozgur Akman will be captained by tour rider Senel Nedim. He should hit top form by the start of the tour. He’s got a great chance to win this thing! The team that will be with him aren’t bad at all. Five trained team mates with decent team spirit. The king stage will be his strongest stage to attack in.
  
   LFC Rado team
  
  All round sprinter Yonas Yehualashet will be looking to get a couple of results in the tours flat stages. Stage two should suite him especially well. A couple of his lead outs aren’t great but as a team they should at least get a couple of top nines.
  
   NSCT
  
  We have another all national team in the tour, this time from Sweden captained by Kevin Västberg. He’s going to try and win the youth classification, but he isn’t time trial centred, so he should lose a bit of time on the first stage to the main contenders. He isn’t top form ready either, so he might find it hard to get individual stage success in the tour.
  
   PRS
  
  Another youth classification contender for this tour is Arjan Kruys and he’ll captain this team. He looks like a weaker version of Hartmann Sadolin, so it’ll be interesting to see how this rider gets along in this tour. His support will be a mix of sprint and climbing, so I really don’t know what to expect of this team.

  
   Blues Racing
  
  Lonzo Chilavert will represent the home team in this tour. He’s there only climber, so his aim will be to get top nines in the mountain stages. Philip Jordan, for me, is there best chance at scoring points in the sprinting stages. The four support riders vary in skill, from mountain to sprint, so it looks like this team will try to score points in all stages.
  
   Gruppo Anti
  
  Local climber Luis Vincent will try and win the youth classification at his home tour. This will be his last opportunity to do so, seen as he won’t be eligible next season. His support will consist of five trained team mates. He got second in the youth classification and fifth in general classification at the Monte Rosa Tour this season, can he follow that up here?
  
   Qvibra Pro Cyclingte
  
  Climber hiller Birger Varg will captain this team. He shouldn’t do too badly in this tour. He’s time trial centred and has got one of the best co captains around in the form of Anton Birch. The fur supporting riders are all young and freshly trained and shouldn’t do to mad a job. I think with a bit of luck, Varg could get a reserved spot for next season.
  
   ALAITZ ATHLETIC TEAM
  
  Min-ho Ryu is a very good hill sprinter and should do well in the sprint stages of this tour, especially in stage two. Also, Luther Seybold should have a good chance in stage five of getting a result. He’s well suited to climbing time trials. The rest of the team will help Ryu in the sprint stages.
  
   Lusitano
  
  Well, this is a great team that is coming back from a break, so all there riders haven’t really got any form. Augusto Campelo will try and get a top nine in the sprint stages, but I don’t think it’ll happen.
  
   Honor et Patria
  
  Last season’s runners up bring Guálter Matos back again in top form to see if he can win it once and for all. But it’ll be harder this time, as the team management have managed to sign up for both this tour and Perm Tour. Will the double sign up work in their favour or will it hinder their chances in this tour?
  
   TJ Banik OKD
  
  Last but not least is another sprinting team which will be captained by Theo Bruintjes, Otto Landa or Cyrus Wyatt. The other three riders, one untrained, will be the lead outs for this team. The good thing with having three potential captains is that if something we’re to happen to one, then you can chose the next one.
  
  Good luck to all the teams involved!