Written by Mark of Mark Pro Team
The 12th edition of Fast on Wheels has just started with the unexpected victory from the 22 year old Polish Krystian Piotrowski. Will there be more unexpected victories this week or will the usual big power houses show their skill in sprinting, hill climbing and timetrial this week?
With 19 riders with an average of 50 or more, the Danish tour organization can’t complain about the participants. With former GC and YC winner Gerard Cygan (edition 8) and former YC (edition 11) winner Sikesdi Ákos also present we are up for an exiting week!
Team preview
Cycling team FPS
TT team with GC contender Cristofor Fritea (AV51, Romania) as captain. Also Marvin Waddington (AV51, England) and Victorino Gonzaga (AV51, Spain) are strong TT riders. Cristofor Fritea (4th) was favorite winning the prologue, but had an off day, although he only lost 4 seconds. Victorino (2nd) did better and was very close winning the first stage. Cycling team FPS had 4 riders in the top 6 in the prologue, they are favourite winning the 37 km long time trial this tour (stage 5). The fans are expecting at least one win this tour!
Mark Pro Team
Hill sprint team from South Korea with Nam-jae Heo (AV54, South Korea) as GC contender and Tiago Dornelas (AV53, Portugal) as YC contender. Heo (7th) did well in the prologue, although his result in edition 9 was slightly better (6th). He is definitely on track improving his 3rd position in the GC from edition 9. Dornelas (21th) gave everything he had during his debut in the prologue, but it wasn’t enough for a good result, he lost 20 seconds.
Auro team
Hill sprint team with GC and YC contender Conan Sawhill (AV54, Engeland) as captain. Despite not being in topform, he showed his good form (9th) losing only 9 seconds against the prologue winner and losing only 1 second against GC contenders Heo and Jørgsen. His hill climbing abilities and the excellent support from his team makes him a dangerous contender for the general classification.
Red Brigade CT
Hill sprint team with former GC and YC winner Gerard Cygan (AV54, Poland) as captain. Cygan (10th) is not in topform, but did well in the prologue improving his former results in the prologue in editions 8 (15th) and 10 (12th), he is on track winning the general classification for the second time.
Borussia Milano
Mixed | | team with GC and YC contender (TT, CB, SP) Lauro Hormandi (AV53, Italy) as captain. His performance (14th) in the prologue could have been better, but was not that bad since he only lost 16 seconds. There are some possibilities winning some time back in the coming stages.
CC Est
Sprint team with SC contender Dieter Ulmendorf (AV50, Germany) as captain. He showed his good form despite his lack of talent in timetrials (23th).
PVAXX
Young inexperienced team from Bermuda with upcoming hill sprint superstar Troy Hardee (AV54, Bermuda) as GC and YC contender. Although he is not in topform, he showed his talent, this resulted in a 17th place 18 seconds behind the prologue winner.
Larouster
Sprint team with SC contender Rei Marku (AV48, Albania) as captain. He is not good in timetrials. Place 49 in the prologue is his best performance so far, but we are sure he able to show his sprinting abilities during this tour.
Shirks Racing
Sprint team with former YC winner Sikesdi Ákos (AV49, Hungary) as captain and again in topform. Also his teammate Brian Reid is in topform. Ákos (12th, 15 seconds behind winner) improved his results compared to last season (29th) he is also on track prolonging his youth classification title and he might have a chance winning the general classification as well.
Desassossego
Climbing team with Gerard Kurek (AV51, Poland) as captain. Since he lacks sprinting and flat road abilities he isn’t a contender in the classifications. He did well (11th) in the prologue only losing 13 seconds. We expect something from him in the king’s stage.
Valerie Pro Cycling Team
Chilian sprint team with GC and YC contender Bert Pieters (AV47, Netherlands) as captain. Pieters (40th) didn’t live up the expectations so far and was far away from his 10th position in the prologue from last season. We expect more from him during this tour.
Umbuso weSwatini
African sprint team with Shibonelo Tsoane (AV42, Swaziland) as captain aiming for a stage win. Tsoane (28th) did well during the prologue, despite lacking TT abilities. He is the best African rider in GC at the moment and is hopefully able to show his sprinting abilities during the tour.
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Piratos Panamericanos
Sprint team from Panama with Gustavo Roa (AV42, Panama) as captain, they are aiming for a stage win in one of the sprint stages. Roa missed a corner during the prologue resulting in a disappointing 81th place.
LFC Rado team
Sprint team with 2 riders in TF aiming for a stage wins. Krystian Piotrowski (AV42, Poland) who is in topform beats all odds winning the prologue of Fast on Wheels yesterday. This is his first ever win. Also Adam Lunde (25th) (AV44, Norway) is in topform, we expect something from him as well this tour.
Forza17
Hill sprint team with GC and YC contender Gustav Jørgsen (AV51, Denmark) as captain. He did well in the prologue (8th), since he lost only 8 seconds against the winner. He didn’t lose any time against other GC contenders. Also Vizitiu (16th, 16 seconds behind winner) showed his talents.
Adidas ScotiaBank
Sprint team SC contender Marcus van Engelen (AV46, Belgium) as captain. He is not in topform and is currently 38th in GC and 20 seconds behind the winner Piotrowski. We are looking forward to his performance in stage 2.
Caixa Galicia
TT team with GC contenders Reymundo Arteaga (AV51, Portugal) and Oscar De Craene (AV53, Belgium) as captains. Especially Arteaga showed his good form in his 3rd spot in the prologue, De Craene (5th, last season) couldn’t live up the big expectations and ended 13th, losing 15 seconds.
Team MaXy
Slovenian sprint team with SC contender Urban Mohoriè (AV46, Slovenia) as captain. We don’t have to worry with place 39 for Mohoriè during the prologue, he will get his chances this tour.
Team Grue
Inexperienced team aiming for a stage win with Gualdim Leão (AV43, Portugal) as captain. They were present during the prologue and Dutchman Gerrit Wessels (67th) got the best result for the team, but they were never a contender for the stage, they have another 5 chances left.
HIGH SPEED
A break away team with Conroy Stansfield (AV52, Scotland) as captain. The team looks somewhat tired compared to the rest of the teams. Stansfield is not good in prologues and is happy he ended in the top half (46th).
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