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Tour de France.

Caleb Ewan not selected for the Tour. That's devalued the sprint races a bit for certain. 

If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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Deadline was wrong for today. Stage started two hours earlier than was forecast.....because of the World Cup.

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Pitbull Steelers | 5 years ago
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Thanks, i'll take a look and join for the TdF 

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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Sure thing Pitbull!

At the top of this page is a link in the 'More' drop menu to get to the Fantasy Cycling page. Once there, you'll see three competitions to play and you sign up by clicking the 'Play' option. There should be some info that you'll have access to before you sign up.  There is also a 'How To Play' option at the top for even more information.

After you've signed up, you'll be able to have a look through the competition at the stages and rules, scoring notes etc.  Use the 'Pick team' option on stage 1 to go to the transfers page. Purist competitions have no transfers once the competition starts, Standard have 42, just about 2 per stage with 2 extras.

Any other questions, just post them here, or make a specific discussion thread and I or another mod can help you out  1

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Pitbull Steelers | 5 years ago
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Hi, i'm new to this so could someone explain how i join to play ? 

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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He's such a good rider Andy. He definitely has it in him to compete this time for sure. 

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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Roglic is the dark horse for the race, but he's persistently told us that he's there for stage hunting and to support Kruijskijk, who's the team leader. He's sais it's too early for him to go for Tour GC, but he's tempted next year.

That might all be bullshit and he'll be up for it this year, but who knows,

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Got asked today for a good long(ish) betting  shot for the TDF by somebody on a footy site.  

He'd never heard of Bernal so that was one that pricked his ears and the other one I named for him was Roglic.

so...what do folk think of his chances?...

i'm thinking his constant rise and rise towards the top of the sport may just continue. ..Hard to call how he'll do in the highest mountains because he may well exceed expectations...or maybe not. ...

Any thoughts?

 

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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It's a strange one this year for sure Andy. Bernal, Thomas, Froome, Quintana, Landa, Soler, Valverde all going up hill from just two teams seems very crowded on top of the other GC folk.. This is going to be interesting.

 

 

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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Valverde will help for sure, as for the other two, who knows.  A lot will depend on their TTT and then who's strong enough to hold on/attack in the mountains.  My money's on Quintana.

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Movistar team announced with Valverde, Landa and Quintana as joint team leaders (as expected) and Soler as some sort of domestique...

That's one very good GC team they have there....

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CXR94Di2 replied to Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Dr Winston wrote:

Movistar team announced with Valverde, Landa and Quintana as joint team leaders (as expected) and Soler as some sort of domestique...

That's one very good GC team they have there....

 

Too many chiefs not enough of the other. 

Yes they will work together until they see a personal chance for taking time.  It will need two to become helpers early on to aid the leader.

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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He has indeed Andy...just taken aback a bit by his price. If SKY have a really good TTT on stage three he could be picking up pts  every day from then onwards.

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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He's picked up a hell of a lot of points this year man.

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Jeez. Bernal is a tad expensive. Crikey.

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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Caleb Ewan to Lotto Soudal is the rumour.

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ktache | 5 years ago
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I am interested to see what sponsorship promos ITV4 will have this year.

That slow riding beardy bloke for watchfinder last year was really quite weird.

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JohnnyRemo replied to ktache | 5 years ago
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ktache wrote:

I am interested to see what sponsorship promos ITV4 will have this year.

That slow riding beardy bloke for watchfinder last year was really quite weird.

Weird? It was an utter disgrace. Turning the bike upside down!!!!

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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A result of sorts today for Cavendish with a second place to Viviani. Things are looking up.

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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@Yorkshire Wallett....Yes I agree...they are over long at times. I've noticed this year that successful breakaway's have been quite minimal. I think that may have a lot to do with technology as teams are able to gauge catching any breakaway to a fine art now. Maybe if they shortened a few of the sprint stages then the breakaway may have more of a chance again. 

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Condor Andy replied to Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Dr Winston wrote:

I've noticed this year that successful breakaway's have been quite minimal. I think that may have a lot to do with technology as teams are able to gauge catching any breakaway to a fine art now.

It's not the technology per se, because that's been the same for the last few years.  I think the smaller team sizes have a lot to do with it, fewer opportunities, teams have to work harder for the stage wins.  Most teams can't afford to send a guy out there and hope for the best anymore.  It'll be interesting to see if what we saw in the Giro continues to the Tour.

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Condor Andy | 5 years ago
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It was hard enough for teams to enter a GT with two objectives last year with 9 man rosters, this year it'll be even harder.  See the Giro foe example.  Lotto NL Jumbo are going with two objectives and they've split themselves in half for them. Mitchelton are going for TTT, Yates has two mountains helpers, and I'd imagine Impey has a free role to go for a stage win.

Cav'll be a bit of a wild card, if he can stay upright then he can try for a win or two. QST will almost certainly only take Gaviria and not Viviani, and they're also in for Jungels GC. Kittel's train has been non-existent all year.

Oh, and there are 9 sprint stages this year...ish.

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Yorkshire wallet | 5 years ago
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I know this won't be popular to the spirit of what the tour or tours are as a whole but I hate sprint stages. The TDF ones always seem like 180+kms of sightseeing followed by 10s of fury. 

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MinardiM189 | 5 years ago
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Orica didn't send a sprinter to the TdF last year either.

Looking at the teams for 2018 things don't seem to have changed that much in terms of sprinters.

The main difference due to 8 man teams is probably reduced sprint trains for some.

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Dr Winston | 5 years ago
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Yep he's in line to go for sure. He's in the national championships this weekend as final prep.

Dunno what to make of his chances. He's had no real lead out train to speak of this season as well as his crashes. He's relied on grabbing the wheel of others and has picked badly every time. Twice Kittel sat up with him directly behind him and twice he's gone too early on the wheel of somebody else. 

Ewan out and maybe QSF only taking one of Viviani/Graviria may give him a chance of a stage or two with a abit of luck...don't fancy Kittel much...he's been straight forward poor this season.

What bothers me most about the Ewan situation is whether it's, in part, a direct result of 8 man squads...that's not good for cycling overall if it is...

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CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
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Whispers he's moving to Lotto.  He hasnt had a good season for him in comparison to previous years.  Michelton are going for GC.   Plenty of other sprinters though.  Is Cavendish fit/going to TDF?

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benlawson99 replied to CXR94Di2 | 5 years ago
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who is

CXR94Di2 wrote:

Whispers he's moving to Lotto.  He hasnt had a good season for him in comparison to previous years.  Michelton are going for GC.   Plenty of other sprinters though.  Is Cavendish fit/going to TDF?

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