Written by Roprop of Twente Cycling Team
  
   Monte Rosa Tour
  These are busy days for tour fans. After Belgium, Italy and Portugal the stage for this exciting tour is Switzerland. Once a prestigious division 3 tour, it is now the stage for the more unexperienced managers to try their luck in a real tour. Hopefully this will give them a boost on their road to top division. Now, let's take a look at the teams.
  
   Cyclists
  The first time to sign up in this Tour was Cyclists and ow boy, this is a team to watch. Their captain Chad Talkington will have the green fairy watching over his shoulder and a good support squad to help him up. Last year he gave his boss a trophy from Juberi - Pas de la Casa. Can he give his boss a jersey this time around? I certainly think he has a shot.
  
   Team Wappels
  Experience within this team will not be a problem. Leader Richard Erty already has two Division 1 classics on his name and he is still in the prime of his career. At the age of 30, he will be a threat for the GC as well as results in the mountain stages. The only thing that might break him down is his lack of TT skills, as the prologue tends to be a GC killer. And with Frederik de Brouwer, they might be lucky in the hills as well.
  
   Herens Cycling
  Never ever has a Swiss rider brought a jersey home from Monte Rosa. This might be the year though. The home team brings a strong climbing squad and a young leader. 'The goal is the YC and everything else is a bonus' is what the manager told me. In their first MRT, Herens Cycling and Miroslav Arbenz will look to promote Swiss cycling and, in the process, become the best Swiss team in the OCM world.
  
   TC Cyclo
  This young cycling team will bring two very good riders to Switzerland. Nikolaas Slagter and Bram de Graaf(Both 24) will be given their opportunity to shine in the mountains as the Dutch Dynamic Duo. And who knows, maybe they will even have a remote chance at the YC.
  
   Team EksilFG
  There are not a lot of good sprinters in this climber oriented tour, but Team EskilFG brought a darn good one. With 228 sprinting points, the parade in Genève should be a lock for Torgeir Brenna. In the rest of the stages, they will have to survive or pull of a succesful break away. Either way, it will be a tour of waiting for the Faroe Islands team. Waiting for the final stage to strike.
  
   celtas cortos
  If there is any way to describe this team it would be 'all-around'. With the highest stat of 75 in any category, it's hard to call a specialism for this team. For now, I will throw them in the climbing category. Stage top 9s will be a reasonable expectation for this squad, which is getting ready for their first Monte Rosa Tour.
  
   Valerie Pro Cycling Team
  The last ever rider from Chile to win a stage in MRT was Victor

Pardo in edition eleven. With 2 Chilean teams in the race, there is a good chance this will happen again. Good old Placido Carballo will be having a very good chance of doing so in the sprinting stage. He will have to beat the Norwegian Torgeir Brenna though, which will be an interesting challenge for the experienced sprinter.
  
   Larouster
  Another sprinter enters the stage. Albanian captain Rei Marku will be an outsider for the final stage, but he might lack the neccessary support squad to be a real contender. With a broad array of decent riders, they might be willing to try and break away in the other stages though. If they manage to break away, they can go a long way.
  
   Bilsky
  Bilsky is an intersting team to watch. Libyan captain Abdulhamaid Othman is in Top form, and nobody knows when it is going to end. Will he be a real contender for the YC, or will his great form end before the mountains arrive? Without Top form, this team seems likely to be a real contender. But if he does, he might be thé story of this tour.
  
   Help
  From the Oceanic area we welcome Help back to Switzerland. Even though their manager decided to save the Top form of his captain Brooke Diguid, he is undoubtabely a favourite for the Youth- and General Classification. The only wall Brooke might hit is called the prologue though. Without any TT skills, his tour might be over before it has even begun. But if he can survive the prologue, we are looking at one hell of a talent.
  
   Schiavi di Don
  The goal of the Don is as simple as it can be. Win the YC. With Phineas Scott in Top form Schiavi di Don might be looking at its first jersey since their move to Italy. The same problem mentioned for Brooke Diguid is here for Phineas as well. The prologue can be a Classification killer, and some prayer might be neccessary before we officially start at this edition of Monte Rosa Tour.
  
   nao
  I don't think there is a team which is in better shape as this South-American team. With Timo Palocios in Top form they have a really good chance at winning the hill stage and with the rest of the team in as great of a shape as I can possibly imagine, who knows what will happen. Victoro Lapenti is a decent climber and with this support, he might be able to pull off a decent classification in their first tour ever.
  
   Red hood riding
  Imagine you are riding your first ever tour and you sign up the wrong people. Ouch. This is exactly what happened to Eichnon of Red hood riding though. On the positive side, they did bring an amazing cobbler to Switzerland. If at any point the peleton will find cobblestones, don't be surprised if this team will push the pace. If not, expect this team to enjoy the wonderful landscape Switzerland has to offer.
  
   Ahmed Cycling Team
  And we have another Sprinting team coming in aiming for the last stage, just before the flowers are being awarded. Former Giro di Sicila winner Mohamed Yassine

Medressi is getting old, but his experience might make up for his legs growing older and he has a decent suupport squad backing him up.
  
   Starlynk Bermuda
  Internationalization is definitely something which applies to this Monte Rosa Tour and this team is the perfect example of this phenomena. The youngest team in this tour has two decent Bermudan sprinters, but they will probably have to show their national colours in some break away attempts. And even if they don't: A first tour is always special and fun. Enjoy it while you can!
  
   Fighting
  Just when you think there are no TT-teams showing up, here they are! Bart?omiej Krajewski and Marius Hågensen are both very capable of winning the prologue and that will be the goal of Fighting for this tour. Given the low level of competition in this discipline, goal might be easily confused with expectation here. Everything except a win is a dissappointment, a difficult level of pressure for these riders.
  
   Pasiegos Cycling
  Durango Lazaro is a great rider, and someone who shouldn't be overlooked in the GC conversation. Durango is not in perfect shape though, as he lacks some race shape. Despite that, he will still be an interesting rider to watch as this tour goes along.
  
   Vagabundos
  Only one reserved spot was excerised for this tour. And Vagabundos brought one hell of a team with him. Paul Godefroid was last years captain, but from the looks of it he will be in the supporting crew this year. Diogo Taveira looks on schedule to hit top form and he is aiming to give Vagabundos their first jersey in their history. As Burton Day and Laurentiu Rusu are also supporting the Portugese rider, he is my personal favourite to win this tour. Now it is up to him to show what he can do.
  
   Twente Cycling Team
  So that would be me. And with a very late signup we bring one more contender to the stage. Anousone Keovilay returns from top division and he is ready to shine. The competition is tough though, and the Laos captain is not as young as he once was. The battle with the giants will be interesting though. And with Tjeerd Reniers as a wonderful team mate, we are ready to go. That is, if nobody gets injured.
  
   Cycling team FPS
  Our very last contestant is from Denmark, the promised land from Team Zyte. And where we were just short on TT teams, another one decided to join at the deadline. Marvin Waddington and Cristofor Fritea will have to battle with the guys from Fighting to prove which team is the strongest in their discipline. The first day is key, and the first day is coming closer.
  
  Favourites General Classification:
  *** Diogo Taveira, Anousone Keovilay, Chad Talkington
  ** Brooke Diuguid, Phineas Scott,
  * Miroslav Arbenz, Richard Erty
  
  Favourites Youth Classification:
  *** Brooke Diuguid, Phineas Scott, Miroslav Arbenz
  ** Timo Palacios, Bram de Graaf
  * Nikolaas Slagter, Abdulhamaid Othman