Written by Simon de Montfort of
  AnnoDomini
  
  Welcome to Antwerp in Belgium, where 24 teams have gathered to take part in the 30th aniversary edition of the top division tour Tweedaagse van Antwerpen. Lets take a quick look at the teams and their lineups and try to predict who will be fightint for the main trophy.
  
   Team Seidel
  This will be 7th appearance in the tour for Tarjei Thorvaldsen, captain of Team Seidel. He had mixed luck so far finishing 3rd and 4th in two races and out of top 10 at other times. He has as always strong pave pacers to help him so just needs to avoid bad luck and it will be ok. After winning the Roubaix Classic, Tarjei Thorvaldsen is a big favorite here as well.
  
   Rouches
  Two Belgian teams have signed up to the tour and both have English cobblers as their captains! For Rouches it is Garth Yocum. Garth is in his prime age and hopes to finish much higher than last year, when he was 19th. His very strong team mates should help him to jump into top 10. Garth Yocum won Pre-Roubaix which makes him even more comfortable for this race.
  
   Bywater CT
  Top Polish team arrives with Kadir Goncalves. The 31yo is a strong cobbler and has decent team mates, but he never managed to shine on the Belgium soil so far, finishing 11th and 15th in two editions he took part. Will we see a breakthrough this time?
  
   Team WonderDee
  Manager Christian has recently contracted a Romanian rider Iosif Petescu and decided to sign up with him for this tour. It will be the first tour for the 26yo cobbler plus his team mates arent cobblers at all, so the top 10 GC placing seems very unlikely.
  
   Peleton Pushers
  We already know Belgian teams have English captains. And who is the leader of the English team? A Belgian of course! 30yo Berry Huijbregs will ride his home tour for the first time and locals will cheer for him for sure, but he lacks TT skills so will not be a factor in the GC and may only hope for a stage result.
  
   Comfius
  The legendary Lucas Loudon comes back after what was his worst tour last season, where an injury on the first stage destroyed his dreams for a 3rd win in a row. He is now back, fit and ready to regain the title. If anything goes wrong for Lucas, the team has also Marcio Fialho, who is just as strong as "the Loudonator" and can win the tour himself.
  
   Pelles Gazelles
  Vuong Duc The never got on a podium in this tour and we dont really know why. IT looks like he has all skills needed to perform well and a strong team to support him. This season he is also in his prime age so maybe he can finally grab a podium here.
  
   CyclingClubChomutov
  The top team from Czech Republic arrives to the tour young Romanian rider Serban Turcas as their captain. It will be interesting to see how he performs against all those top class cobblers. He

as good experienced team mates to guide him through the stages and help to avoid rookie mistakes.
  
   Drake Racing
  Another young rider with a debut at a grand tour is Kirk Maley, 22yo Scotsman. He will try to surprise his rivals with an attack on one of the stages to grab a stage result. He will also try to fight for the best young rider jersey.
  
   AnnoDomini
  Julian Cichocki will captain the Polish team for the 3rd time in this tour. AnnoDomini has been slowly building up their cobble section and thanks to new trainees Julian will have a support of 3 pave pacers and 2 lead outs. He obviously lacks TT skills which puts him at a back foot for the GC, but the team stil hopes he can make it to the top 10. If bad luck strikes the backup plan is to fight for young riders jersey with Bernard Kozak.
  
   Team Majones
  This team is only interested in the prologue. Last season they got 3 riders in top 9 and with 6 strong TTers they wish to repeat this result. Around 15 strong time trialists have signed up to the tour so the fight for the win on the first stage will be challenging.
  
   Equipo Easy On
  The team from Bahamas will surely find the weather in Belgium quite miserable. Their captain is Richard San Nicolas, a man who 10 times a day needs to tell different people that he is not Saint Nicolaus and did not bring them any presents... Jokes aside, he is a decent cobbler, but like many others lacks TT skills and will mainly focus on a stage result.
  
   IndieRock
  The current Italian champion Andrea Camata is here in Belgium as well to fight for the GC - but not for the top spot, rather for the places 4-9. He was 5th last season which was his best performance in this tour - earlier he used to finish 8th or 9th. He is a great rider, no doubt about that, but Over the years he didnt improve much his TT abilities and may lose important seconds to his rivals on the prologue.
  
   Glamourade
  TOp Spanish team brings their young talent Marjan Mrak. This 24yo Slovenian rider has done only 11 races in his professional career so far, but we are told he is extremely talented and will be at the front with the best guys fighting for wins. If not for the GC, then for the YC for sure.
  
   Jonas Pro Cycling
  Is there any "reason" for a 35yo rider to captain the tour? Yes, there is one reason - Gale Reason! The Bermudan legend is here to defend his title from last season. Everyone asks themselves: can he do it? He just finished 3rd in Pre-Roubaix which clearly shows he has the legs and can perform very well, so with a little bit of luck he just might actually do it!
  
   1 2 Cycle
  One of best Polish cobblers Blazej Urbanek will lead the Dutch team for the 4th time in this tour. His last three placings were 6th - 3rd - 6th so he is a clear contender for the top 9 in GC. He has a mix of strong pave pacers and lead out sprinters to help him, so the whole team

looks fit and ready for the challenege.
  
   Cloud Atlas
  The best Clombian team will appear in Antwerp in their Belgian-style jerseys and will have Jacinto Cresaco as their captain. He had his first attempt at the tour last season but finished only 17th. He hopes for a much better result this time, however the team is not very strong and he may often find himself riding alone and thus may struggle a bit in the crucial moments of the race. But if he sticks with the best guys on technical sections and attacks in right moment he may succeed.
  
   Skogs Riders
  Swedish cobbler Samuel Gothe is a fairly unknown rider to a larger public. He has only 2 results in his palmares so far, both in Division 2. He will count strongly on his more experienced team mates and wait for an occasion to surprise the favorites with an attack or two.
  
   Opium Fueled
  No Belgian won the tour since Thobias Pelsers just sneaked in by 10 seconds in front of Rodolfo Gomez 11 years ago, so the pressure on Jean-Pierre van Bockorst is immense. He won the YC jersey last season and was 5th in GC the season before. He might have liked to have a bit stronger pave pacers but overall he is well prepared and will be fighting for the highest palmares.
  
   MOVISTAR KELME TEAM
  This is by far the strongest cobbling team in the world currenlty with 9 super strong cobblers in their squad. We will see 4 of them in the tour followed by two lead outs and the man to captain them would be Orest Czechowski. The 33yo Polish rider was 2nd here last time so now he will want to grab the top spot. Watch out for him!
  
   Logoloos
  TT team who's tour ends after the first stage basically - all they want is win the prologue and the Estonian Champion Arvo Kuku is their main asset.
  
   Nairobi City Cycling Club
  This team have raised a few eyebrows last year when they appreared on the cobble tour without any cobbler in their lineup. Many have laughed at the team manager Methode, but he knew what he was doing and in the end the jeers have been silenced when the Namibian sprinter Jurgen Krohne finished 9th in the GC. He is here now again to repeat that achievement and to prove that technique, sprinting and TT skills are as important in this tour as ability to ride on cobbles.
  
   Team EksilFG
  Another TT focused team looking for the prologue win. Thanks to the interest of the TT teams we will be having an interesting contest for the win on this very short 4km course!
  
   Ekaitz Team
  Last, but definitely not least, is a fully Spanish team lead by well known Timo Canseco. He won this tour 2 times and since then finished 4th, 8th, 11th and finally got back to the podium claiming 3rd place last season. He constatly performs on a very high level and nothing has changed over the years, so here he is again with very strong "companeros" to help him finish high in the GC one more time.