Written by Frank Holwerda of
  Holwerda Cycling
  
  The World Cup is coming to Sweden this season. Many managers have been preparing their teams for the races. The road race is a stunning 274 km long and 144 riders will be participating.
  This will be the 41st edition of the World Cup and the second time the World Cup is hosted by Sweden. Until last season the WC was won by only one Swedish rider. It was the famous Äme Anderberg winning in editions 4, 7 and 10. Last season Äme finally got his successor in Folke Fogelström. But Folke will not be defending his title, because his manager has decided not to participate in any race. So the chance of a Swedish rider winning is very small for only one will be participating: Roger Källström from AnnoDomini. His manager might give him the chance to shine, but there are other good riders in his team. Maybe, when it’s really cold, he could surprise the whole bunch with an early breakaway, after which he will not be seen again until after the finish.
  When we look closer at the former winners of the WC, the only rider who ever reached two successive wins was Garami Gedeon from Hungary in editions 29 and 30. No threat from Folke here, he will keep that record to itself. Former winners who do have a shot at a second WC title and another season in the jersey are Marcelino Santambrogio and Stijn Heremans. They have both been selected by their

managers to participate.
  The Netherlands will have the most riders in the race, they will have 18 riders, which is way more than Spain (11), Italy (10) and Belgium (9). But this does not mean that The Netherlands will get the Rainbow Jersey without a fight. It is time to see who will be the favorites for the race on Sunday.
  I have one big favorite. He is from team Comfius and, although there are multiple strong riders in the team, Gregório Lago seems to be preparing himself in the best way. He will without a doubt captain the team and I think no other team can present a captain with a strong team like Comfius.
  This does not mean others cannot win. The WC race is a one-day race, so bad luck or bad legs could ruin everyone’s day. So who are the other to look at:
  Matias Mattez from NECFTW has a strong team to support him as well as Nick Boezeman from Team Oasis.
  Wesley van Dongen from mapei bianchi, Johannes Elders from EpoTopTeam, Royce Dodemaide from Team Chili, Otto Skoglund from CCFC and Baltazar Radondo from Cloud Atlas are all very strong riders.
  Tikhon Rykov from Drollevangers, Roderick Kenton from Rantanplan, Sal Dambrosio from Nefal, Igor Derzhavin from CyclingClubChomutov and Shem Loroupe from Indurain team and Jeffrey Napier from rouches are dangerous outsiders.
  The rest of the teams will be fighting to get their captains in the top nine.