Written by Simon de Montfort of AnnoDomini
  
  38th edition is coming up. Last 6 editions were all about a duel between Drozd and Farruco.
  How will it be this time? Lets take a look at the teams who signed up and try to
  predict what they may achieve this time.
  
   Team Celeste
  The best Swedish team comes with a bunch of very strong and experienced climbers. They will be supporting Kane Laporte, a 28yo rider who was 8th and 5th in last two editions. Probably another top 9 for him this season.
  
   AnnoDomini
  Polish team brings a climbing sqaud to the tour, but on the pre-tour press conference the manager expressed his doubts as to what kind of tactics should the team decide on: "Our main leader is of course Eleonor Berka, however we also have an option to bet on Orlando Kacciavurian and try to win a YC jersey for him or go for stage results with Danny Roogaars, if he is on top form. So the final decision is yet to be made".
  
   NECFTW
  Dutch team will be led by either Peter Langeveld or Cristiano Clavet. Both are relatively young and hungry for a success. Clavet is eligible to the youth classification and will surely be a strong contender. Wether he can achieve a lot in the GC remains uncertain...
  
   Starlynk Bermuda
  The 6 riders from Bermuda will not be the factor in the GC and team's captain Guy Lesley will only focus on a stage result in the mountains. The team has also a decent sprinter Alex Minear,a national champ, but without any lead out support he is unlikely to deliver.
  
   Comfius
  Manager Jempie brings a team of hillers to the tour. They will focus on stages 4, 5 and 9. A Dutch rider Bob Alards will lead this best Belgian team and try to secure some results.
  
   V02maXXers
  This top German team bets on their Polish all-rounder Beniamin Chrzanowski. He is relatively young (25yo) and his 4th place at the Worlds in S38 was great, but apart from that result he was rather quiet so far. Interesting to see what can he do in his first big tour.
  
   Hog Bay CT
  Second all-Bermudian team on the sign up list has Gresham Witham as their captain. This 24yo climber finished 3rd last time and lost the YC jersey by 36 seconds. He may win it this time, but will not defend his 3rd GC place as in this edition the course favors more experienced riders.
  
   Nefal
  The best OCM team Nefal signed up to the tour with Sal Dambrosio. This young Italian downhiller. has already shown some talent this season as he finished 2nd in YC and 5th in GC in Vuelta de los Castillos. For sure he will be the main contender for the best Young Rider jersey, especially when in top form, but may lose time in GC to a few older and more experienced guys.
  
   Indurain Team
  Polish national champ Patryk Drozdowski is here to win the tour for the 5th time. He has help from every corner of the world - his team mates are from Britain, Kenya, South Africa and Puerto Rico - so his chances to establish a new record of 5 wins in this race are really big.
  
   Pekac
  Drozd main rival will be of course Farruco Alonso, captain of Pekac B, top Czech team. Farruco is in great shape, he won the Vuelta de los Castillos this season already, so expect a thrilling fight between those two.
  
   Team AEK
  First sprinting team on the list brings Minas Dadakos, former winner of the Sprinting Classification in S36 and Kevin Surface who was 5th in SC in S37. Manager Adilson Silva confirmed that the Greek rider will be selected as the main sprinter and will be in top form so he will be fighting for the jersey for sure.
  
   Team Majones
  With three time trial specialists Team Majoes is obviously targetting TT stage results. They also have a Swedish sprinter Blader Fahlin, but he has his best years behind him already, so we dont expect anything big from him.
  
  

Team EksilFG
  The riders arriving to Germany on a ferry from Faroe Islands would be a mix of sprinters, a hiller and a time trialist. The last one is Huldar Borgestursson, reigning World TT Champ and he will of course hope to win the Prologue and the Munich ITT stage. Rashidi Namubiru is the team's sprinting captain - he has a good season already with 2 wins and 4 podiums so he has high hopes for some more results on German soil.
  
   Hells Grannies
  Surprisingly Robert Mjelde will not show up on the tour this season. Norwegian team arrives with a climbing team led by the Danish star Ludvig Kristiansen. His win in Alpe d'Huez Classic earlier this season shows he is in good form and should stay with the best climbers till the very end of each summit.
  
   1 2 Cycle
  Belgian sprinter Christopher Feaux will have his first Gemrany tour, even though he is already 30 yo. He is fast, has the experience and a great lead out train which already allowed him to win 3 races this season, so definitely a strong contender to the SC jersey.
  
   Il Grillo
  The famous all-Dutch youth academy team joins the tour with an all rounder Laurens Driessen. He comes back to the tour after a 3 years break (he finished 10th in edition #34) so no high hopes, but a few results earlier this season gives him a fighting spirit.
  
   Rantanplan
  It is a debut in Germany tour for this French team. As their manager confirmed on the press conference, they come to learn and will simply enjoy being the part of the tour family. Joachim Holtslag will lead the team, but it is quite possible that other riders will be given a free role and will attempt some breakaways.
  
   Jonas Pro Cycling
  Top Danish team has Armando Silveria - a sprinter who does not need any further introduction. With 11 results achieved so far this season he arrives to the tour very confident. He won the SC here in edition nr 35 so he knows what needs to be done to repeat this success.
  
   The Broad Backs
  This Dutch team has signed up with an all-African team of climbers. Milton Cafe will be their team captain and his manager hopes the rider wont be stopping by at the coffee shops along the way, only that he pushes on the pedals as hard as he can to grab some stage results in the mountains.
  
   Spin Doctors
  Another team to debut in the Germany Tour is Spin Doctors. One of the best sprinting teams in the peloton has surprised everyone with announcement that Kirby Abner, a relatively unknown rider, will be their captain for this race. This may seem odd but if such stars as Kyle Wyles and Sherlock Toll agree to be his lead outs, then this has to be a well-thought decision.
  
   Cycling Team FPS
  Spanish captain of Cycling Team FPS Saul Soldadera knows this race quite well already. He finished 7th last season and 3rd two seasons ago and arrives to Germany grab another top 9 in GC. He didnt do well this season so far, but we believe this was because he was training hard for the Germany Tour.
  
   Nobodies
  The team arrives to the tour with a Danish TTer Sven Ulstrup and five different riders from South America. Team's tactic is then to hunt for stage results - Sven should do well in stages 1 and 7, young Colombian Valenzuela may attack in the mountains while the other guys will try their luck in breakaways.
  
   Stroopwafel
  The first team with a wild card is Stroopwafel. Some say they have been invited to the tour only cause they promised to provide some waffles to the race organizers. The team did not take the race too serious and signed up with a bunch of breakaway riders, but they will have the crowd's support thanks to the rider called Magic Gold who will be in top form. I am sure that deep inside our heatrs we all want him to win one of the stages.
  
   Pelles Gazelles
  Second wild card team is not going to mess around and means business here - they bring Ruru Leonard, a very strong sprinter, national champion of New Zeland and a bunch of decent lead outs. It may be a very good tour for them.