After the presentation to Vuelta de los Castillos OCM Magazine takes an inside look at the participating teams and stages. Your reporter asked the team managers to share their thoughts on the favorites for the stages, youth and sprint classification and of course who they think will be the winner of the first Vuelta de los Castillos.
  Furthermore we asked them their hopes and expectations for their own team. Lets see what your reporter and the team managers have to say. No order intended of course.
  
  
   IGF
  IGF bring their star all-rounder Wit Feaux in topform to their first tour in Top Division. Much will depend if he's able to compete with the best climbers in the two hard mountain stages. If he can hang on there Feaux should be considered as a hot outsider for the overall win. Manager Koen has stated he definitely expects a result in the general classification. Furthermore Jammy Verbeeck is a rider to watch on the TT stage, he's very well capable of riding a top 9 spot there.
  
   Team Unibet
  The only Swedish team in the inaugural edition of the Spanish tour has arguably the strongest support team off them all for their captain Joos Valkenaers. With the likes of former tour winners Filip Orzechowski and Felix Holm, tour experience is abundant in this team. Will they be the 2nd Swedish team to win a tour this year? It will be hard, but not impossible.
  
  Survey Fact: 64% of the participating managers think Jens Waesbergen will win the first stage of Vuelta de los Castillos. Can the world nr. 1 live up to the expectations? Most of the times he get the business done, that's for sure.
  
   Kremer
  
World Champion Boris Bednarski is done partying and will try to show he is worth in the sprinting stages while Hungarian rider Zahorecz Emil aims for a good result in the climbing stages and a top 9 result in the general classification. Team manager Wojciu is aiming high: “Top9 for Zahorecz in GC. Bednarski will fight for SC. At least top9 in 3 stages.” Hopefully hedging his bets wont cost him dear.
  
   Greenride
  
The Red Lobster aka Avery Nijholt is on a mission. He aimes to be World nr. 1 and in the process of becoming that, his goal is to beat current rank leader Jens Waesbergen at least once. There seems no better place for this than Vuelta de los Castillos. With his ability to do well in the sprinting stages and the hilly stage Nijholt is strong contender for the sprinting classification. The GC is non existent for manager Raimundas.
  
  Survey Fact: 5 riders are named as possible stage 2 winner. Darel Randel is favorite with 6 votes, followed by Chris Bauwens with 3 votes. Joop Daems and Zack Davie get 2 votes. 1 manager thinks Desmond Ledgerwood will be the strongest
  
   canutes
  
The 1st of the four competing dutch teams, canutes, comes to spain with a squad aiming to do well in the hill stage with team leader Rolo Chilavert. Boss The canuTe stays silent about team tactics in the other stages, so maybe we will see the team trying to disrupt the plans of other teams by breaking away as much as possible.
  
   Team Tirilla
  
“I expect that Conrado Fraga will be able to show his quality in the sprints which are very well suited for him. We will also try to catch some break aways in the mountains and in the hills so hopefully we will achieve some good results in the first edition of this new tour.”. These are the expectations of Tirilla. When Portuguese superstar Fraga is around, you know he will be there to do the job!
  
  Survey Fact: Managers favorite for stage 3 is (again) Jens Waesbergen. But not as clear as in stage 1. 6 riders are named with Waesbergen

getting 42% of the votes.
  
   Team Crazy Downhillers
  
Young man Chris Bauwens is the hot favorite to win the youth classification in this tour. Or as manager Rene Rasmussen states: ”YC should be a walkover for Bauwens.” With the whole team only focused on getting Bauwens as high up in the general classification as possible a podium finish in the general classification looks a certainty. Much will depend on elite team mate Umberto Impellitteri.
  
  
   Drapeau Noir
  
With captain Rudy Lind also competing in Cymru Taith it’s hard to say what he will be able to do here. Team manager Delion is faced with a difficult choice: Try to defend Lind’s position in Cymru’s GC or give this up so he can arrive in Spain in better shape. When opted for the last, the Danish rider should be a contender for a top 5 finish in the general classification. Who said managing a cycling team is easy?
  
  Survey Fact: Just over half of all the managers pick Joop Daems as their favorite for the king stage. 4 managers think Chris Bauwens will be victorious.
  
   Equipe Hollandia
  
Team manager gwk was very clear in his expectations: ”Stagewin”. The man who will have to do this, is Romania’s nr. 2 rider Spiridon Apetri. Last season he has proven he can compete with the worlds strongest sprinters and he will have to prove that again here to beat the likes of Waesbergen, Fraga, Reinhold and Sturmann.
  
  
   NECFTW
  
NECFTW comes to Vuelta de los Castillos with a clear plan: Get Zack Davie up the mountains as quick as possible. The Australian is a force to be reckoned with in the 2 mountain stages, even with the absence of his trusty helper Ipati Bizony. He will probably lose to much time in the time trial to be considered a podium contender for the general classification.
  
  Survey Fact: Avery Nijholt is the man to beat in stage 5, 50% of the managers at least think so. Other names named: Fraga, Feaux, Reinhold, Chilavert and Bednarski.
  
   Equipo Easy On
  
Team manager Eli speeks: ”EEO is not happy that Perm got replaced and with the new tour's setup: the stages are not very interesting. One podium is the aim but hard to achieve. More realistically, one top 9 in a sprint and one top 9 in the TT.” Is this a underestimating of his own team or does he like the position of underdog now? When EEO is around you know there is a victory in the air…
  
  
   The Killers
  
It is very well possible this season Jens Waesbergen will reach a milestone no other rider before him has ever achieved and will not be topped easily:100 results. Again: one hundred results… He should be able to add some stage results to his total here and will be a fierce competitor for the sprinting classification.
  
  Survey Fact: The managers expect a two man race in the concluding time trial. Elton Lonergan gets one vote more than Gregory Levis does. 1 manager thinks neither of them will win. Dark horse Benjamin Zkumavka gets his vote.
  
   Yuri SuperTeam
  
When asked about his expectations, Yuri of Yuri SuperTeam, answered: ”Top 9 GC + 1 stage Top 3”. Modesty is a virtue mister Yuri but we think you can do better than that. Rumor has it he states much more ambitious goals in private: ”Top 3 GC + 1 stage win.” We think this is very well possible. The highest spot on the podium is not out of reach for Joop Daems.
  
  Survey Fact: A whopping 94% of the teams are convinced

Cris Bauwens will be the best youngster.
  
   radu
  
Slovakian team radu brings a wide ranged team to Vuelta de los Castillos. Francis Beery for the climbing stages, Rogerio Nadol for the flat sprints, Kurt Spohn is there for the time trial and Guust de Sausois likes the hills. Manager Rasto hopes for a top 3 in a stage or a top 10 in the general classification.
  
   Luveaucek
  
Desmond Ledgerwood will captain Czech team Luveaucek. He should do well in the climbing stages and has a good chance on a podium finish in the general classification, although the discipline in the squad might be a bit low . Manager Wryen admits: ”We may have raced a bit to much lately.” Your reporter thinks the Englishman will do well, nonetheless.
  
   Legia
  
The 2nd polish squad competing, Legia, will put all their cards on Bealeric Islander Garcino Dabino. A man who should be very well capable of achieving a top 5 finish in the general classification with hopes on more. If he can keep up in the climbing stages and do well in the time trial, he could go all the way.
  
  Survey Fact: No less than 7 riders have a shot at the sprinting classification, according to our managers. Waesbergen is favorite, but Nijholt, Fraga, Reinhold, Feaux, Sturmann and Kondrotas are in there too.
  
   johny2
  
Ask the participants of Germany tour season 16 what Elton Lonergan can do when he’s in his best of forms. Team manager johny is clear on the objectives of his team: “A win in the time trial and the tour win.” Will one time trial be enough for Lonergan to make up for the time he will probably have lost in the 2 climbing stages?
  
   CCFC
  
CCFC joins Vuelta de los Castillos with Darell Randel as captain. The man from the Bahamas is a strong climber with quite decent time trial abilities and should be a strong GC contender. A man with more than “decent” tt abilities is Olexandr Nagy, he could do well in the final stage. Einar thinks the team can get 2 top 3 results on stages and a top 5 in the GC.
  
  Survey Fact: When asked which rider they think will be the biggest surprise in this tour names like Zahorecz, Kaisen and Valkenaers surface. Elton Lonergan is named the most times, but can a former GT winner actually be a surprise?
  
   Shinboners
  
Shinboners bring a two headed monster to Spain. Netherlandse tour winner Torben Sturmann and climbing captain Rob Kaisen. Sturmann will compete in the bunch sprints while the Belgian Kaisen will lead the team in the mountains. Sturmann should be able to go for the sprinting classification but Kaisen seems to have to weak time trial skills to be a contender for the GC.
  
   Red Star
  
Norwegian team Red Star of course bring the still young Lithuanian powerhouse Rytis Kondrotas. With his sprinting skills and ability to well in hilly stages he could well be the winner of the sprinting classification. Although young enough to compete in the youth classification he doesn’t climb a mountain well enough to be considered to win it. Jan Ness will try to get a result in the time trial.
  
  Survey Fact: When asked who will bring the jersey home, Joop Daems is the rider most managers fancy to do so. Breathing down his neck are Chris Bauwens and Elton Lonnergan
  
  The OCM Magazine wishes all competitiors good luck in Vuelta de los Castillos and thanks all the managers who took the trouble on giving their expert predictions. The race is on!
  
  
  Written by pundit Noppes from NECFTW to OCM Magazine