Rob Gesink just seems to be more and more the Dutch Levi Leipheimer.
Although Levi was better in time trailing and in 2008 at the Vuelta he suddenly even was able to attack.
But that's why Gesink always is getting just 3-5th anywhere.
On paper this Parijs - Nice should be a great chance for him to teach his citizens wrong. He did outperform much overrated Van Garderen last year at Mount Baldy in any way. But there are always moment where Gesink is able to lose it.
To me - if he's on form - De Gendt is much more a favorite. He should do well on Col de Eze as well as in he other stages. But he's also not very explosive at all.
Fuglsang should be able to own this on paper. He's a good time trailer. And he's also kind of explosive. He was an upcoming hilly classics rider 3 years ago and he was up there at the Tour de Suisse in 2011. Based on that he should be able to outperform all other guys without any problem on this course. The thing is. We don't have any indicator that Fuglsang is able to reach this level next week. Maybe his pre-interview wasn't serious and he's just overmodest. But it's also possible that his form isn't any good and he will be 7th or so in the end.
You should always have Voeckler in mind in a constellation like this. Because otherwise he will jump away in a moment where the other aren' concentrated and mock his contenders by winning this bike race. Maybe he's just a one trick pony. But hell he's a very good one.
Quintana no I don't see him winning here. It's too early in the season and the course isn't really made for a pure climber.
Westra in last years form actually could win this. But I have my doubts that he will be able to perform that well in a big race again anytime in his career.
Van Garderen could strike this if he's just riding decent and consistent on this parcours. If there's nobody to stand out either in the hills nor in the mtg that could be enough to write P-N on his name.
I also mention Big Phil here, because I still don't know what are his plans and why he's attempting here. It's not much likely but this race could be an indicator whether he's trying to do a Di Luca this year. So I'm just mentioning him here, because if the unlikely case will become reality I could say "Well, I told ya"
