Although Tom Dumoulin (Jumbo-Visma) had to withdraw from racing at the last minute, we can find plenty of big names in the peloton of the first European stage race of the season. Some of them riding with their new teams at the very first time.
Unlike the most recent editions, there is no individual time trial in the program. On the other hand, three from five stages (1,3 and 5) can ends with a bunch sprint easily. Especially Dylan Groenewegen (Jumbo-Visma), Fabio Jakobsen (Deceuninck-Quick Step), Alexander Kristoff (UAE Team Emirates), David Cimolai (Israel Start-Up Nation) and John Degenkolb (Lotto-Soudal) can be pleased with this news, but we also have Matteo Trentin and Greg van Avermaet (both CCC), Luca Mezgec (Mitchelton-Scott) or Philippe Gilbert in the peloton.
Key moments in the battle for the GC-places are the 2nd and the 4th stages. The course ends with a short but steep ascent (1,8 km with an average 8,6%), ideal for Alejandro Valverde (Movistar), who has already won this race three times (2004, 2007 and 2018). By the way, other former winners of the race are in the bunch: Wout Poels (Bahrain-McLaren) from 2016, and Ion Izagirre (Astana), the last year’s champion.
The other important stage on Saturday ends with a bit longer and definitely steeper (5 km, 12,3%) uphill finish, which will determinate the final results of the race the most. It might be a bit too hard for the riders in this early stage of the season.
Besides the already mentioned former winners, it’s worth to watch Tadej Pogacar (UAE Team Emirates), Marc Soler (Movistar), Dan Martin (Israel Start-Up Nation), Dylan Teuns (Bahrain-McLaren), Jack Haig (Mitchelton-Scott) or Tao Geoghegan Hart and Michal Kwiatwkoski (Ineos.) James Knox (Deceuninck-Quick Step) is another rider whose name we had to learn last year. He is probably going to be worth to watch this season too.
According to the results of the Mallorcha Challenge last weekend, Movistar seems to be in the best shape currently. Marc Soler has already won a race and Alejandro Valverde has a 2nd and a 10th place in his backpack.
All the stages:
Startlist:
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.