A new NT season starts ! 
NT season 30 ; the "Downfall" of Australia.According to me it is the end of an extreme successful era, because it seems unrealistic to expect another Australian WC title.
The current Australian quality level is not high enough and this NT season schedule is not favorable, mainly due to the hills-climb race.
It even could be possible that a podiumplace is not achievable this season.
But then again,
if all Australian tactics go right, and
if rival countries make big mistakes, and/or
if the points are very divided ;
who knows what might be possible, perhaps there will be a world champion with a relative low amount of points.
Only then Australia has still a chance to battle for the WC title. But the ( already optimistic ) season goal = a podium place.
I added stars in the NT races, to show "my expectations" of that race.
The stars rating is from zero ( = too bad ) to max. five ( = excellent ) stars, and I added a "subjective explanation" text.
It could be that "my expectations" are way too positive or way too negative, we will see what happens.
But one thing is certain ; Australia really has to battle for a good result in the season ranking.
What that result will be in the end, I have no clue.
But I expect that this NT season will be the end of an extreme successful era, and that another nation will be the world champion.
season 30 schedule =1.
Baar
HHHHH 118 km
⭐
Australia does not have high ranked hills specialists,
but maybe the surprising new 1A world champion Derek Jons ( nr 42 in the ranking ) can get an unexpected good result.2.
Duitama
MMMMM 265 km
⭐⭐⭐⭐
In previous season the Australian teamcaptain finished as 7th on 0:31" in this exact same race.
This could ánd should be much better, and I expect that he can ride at least podium if the tactics go very well.
Australia is good in the mountains, and hopefully a few extra points of others, just like in previous season ( extra 130 points ).
Despite this, no 5-stars-rating, because at least one other nation will score more total points, and most likely a victory is not possible.3.
Montreux
FFFFF 131 km
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Australia has a top contender with excellent support, in previous season he finished as 2nd.
But no 5-stars-rating, because Australia was 3rd in the day-ranking of total points,
ánd because in a NT sprint race anything can happen, including a disaster race with zero points for a favorite.4.
Breda
TT-FFFFF 36 km
⭐⭐⭐
Perhaps 3 stars is even too high as expectation, because I expect way less points as in previous season ( = 845 points ).
Hopefully the old TT specialists are still good enough to score a decent amount of points.
If not, we depend on the few below 30yo TT specialists, who finished mostly just outside the points in previous seasons.5.
Vlaanderen
FCHC^H 256 km
⭐⭐⭐⭐
Thé new speciality of Australia ( instead of TT ), because we have a bunch of young and amazing cobblehills specialists.
Unfortunately there are a few foreign rivals who are ( much ) better, and therefore no 5-stars-rating.
But right now it's difficult what to expect, because RVV has a different race GV as the standard cobblehills GV.
It is certainly possible that Australia will be the best scoring nation in future NT cobblehills races, but most likely not yet this season.6.
Andorra
MDHHM 187 km
⭐
There are just 4 Australians with a golden climbhills icon in the CFF-climb-ranking ( = nrs 103, 256, 302, 316 ).
The "best" one is not really suited for this specific race where a very high climb skill for sure makes a difference.
It could be 0 points, but still an optimistic one star because I like to think that top20 is possible due to good tactics & teamcaptain bonus.7.
Breskens
CFCCC 190 km
⭐⭐
Currently we have the nr 7 flat-cobble specialist of CFF, who finished 5th in the CFFCC race of previous season.
Hopefully he can achieve such a good result again.
Only a 2-stars-rating, because on flat-cobble, it is possible that some rival nations make a big points difference towards Australia.
