TdF Stage 2

I cant afford any of the sprinters, so its gonna be a very low scoring day or me....

Similar position, brought in Kittel and a breakaway guy, Tuesday's even more of a puzzle as I don't know whether to write it off and prepare for the sprint stages or try and get something out of it.

Greipel FTW.

Did you see his train today?

Him or Sagan.

Or Goss, Kittel, Cavendish, Cantwell or Farrar.

Cantwell? Surely he'll be riding for Haedo for the first few days?

Oh yeah, of course sorry, I think I meant JJ

well i may as well tell you my tactic, ive took out gerrans and ll sanchez and bought in Kittel and JJ Haedo. So then i have still got Gilbert for tuesday and can axe him after that

Was planning to drop Cancellara for Greipel, but am tempted to take the GC points and save a transfer. Hmm.

Got rid of Rogers for a cheap sprinter, but not expecting much from the next 2 days...

Gone with
Kittel
Greipel
Sagan
Rogers
Cantwell
Simon
Gallopin
Izzagire
Pineau

Could have put cav instead of kittel after taking out fab

I'm miles off the pace after stupidly getting rid of Cancellara today, so I'm cutting my losses early and going for stage wins from stage 3 onwards, which means a big negative score tomorrow...

Going for potential finishing points tomorrow - star riders = Gilbert, Rojas, Sagan, Oss.

Saved 2 transfers from earlier so put in Cav for EBH and Samuel Dumoulin in for Gerrans and stil got 2 to roll over. Might score big or fail miserably if a break gets away.

Its a tricky one today - I have Cancellara and Chavanel, and so don't really want to get rid of them until at least Weds, but it means I've only really got Sagan with any hope of big points today, whereas some people will have 3-4 star sprinters in. Oh well, hopefully there's some kind of freak result that keeps us in touch!

londonplayer, I agree, Cav to expensive, plus I think Greipel may be stronger and have a team dedicated train to get him home, be a tight finish today though!

It should be a good finish, Greipel and Goss have full trains to deliver them to the finish, Sagan, Cavendish, Renshaw and Farrar have little to no lead out and will have to hop from bike to bike, my monies on Greipel but he's not in my team for today.

I completely agree - Lotto and Greenedge on the front and Greipel for the win, although I don't have him either! Kittel might sneak in there too?

I think Kittel might win it today. Dedicated train and a cool customer who has proven he can beat anyone on a good day. Greipel seems to choke sometimes on important races. I went for Goss/Sagan/Dumoulin with tomorrow's stage in mind.

Kittel has a train but I don't see them being as dominant in the runup to the finish as GreenEdge or Lotto, Hutarovich is another with full team behind him who could do well. Don't forget Rojas either, he's always there or thereabouts.

As long as it comes to a sprint finish I'm happy, my Halfords team is stacked for the sprint today seeing as it's my bonus stage. For this game though I'd prefer a Kittel win with Sagan second and maybe Arashiro making some waves and getting top 10.

I've gone with Greipel and Sagan plus got Gallopin and Hunter(hoping he doesn't break his frame again!!!)
Would be nice if just 1 of DS'S could pick up some points for me........

Hunter's bike, from @millarmind:

Haedo(in for Rogers)
EBH
Spartacus
Hunter
Zabriskie
Albasini
Morkov(in for Gretsch)
Grabsch
Engoulvent

I have the kind of DS (Boeckmans, Engoulvent, Gallopin) that could conceivably pick up points for 10th-20th so hoping a couple of them come through, but tbh I'm not expecting much today. Hopes are with Sagan and maybe van Hummel, and some GC/jersey points for Chavanel and Cancellara.

5th on yesterday's stage and now 11th on the TDF(4th premium).

Looking to consolidate with 2 pinch hitters just for today and more than likely reverse back tomorrow.

Cav(for Cancellara)
Greipel(for Boassen Hagen)
Sagan
Freire
Urtasun
Impey
Boeckmans
Cooke
Cantwell-dark horse today

sacrificing 28 GC points on current standings so just 1 of Cav or Andre to go top 3 pays for itself with any advance on that a bonus really(especially with a daily 15 down to 1 for the first fifteen in the intermediary sprint).

You can tell that the TdF has become popular now a brit can win it, the BBC are doing live text of today's stage:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/cycling/18671755

Morkov, Kern and Roux out in front, had a gap of 8 minutes but reduced to 6'50 now.

Lotto, Argos-Shimano and GreenEdge on the front (as widely expected) reducing the gap.

From some of the quotes it sounds like Farrar will be one of the sprinters train hopping at the end of the stage. This could get very messy...

Morkov takes the Cat1 for five fantasy points and a further 5 as he's guaranteed leader of the KOM tonight.Roux appears to be riding one handed after yesterday's 'chute'.

Apparently its a fairly straightforward finish - no insane corners like the Giro. Plus with only 3 in the break, there will be decent intermediate sprint points on offer shortly. Looks like teams (like mine) with not many sprinters could be losing a little bit of ground today...

Results of the intermediate sprint:
1. Kern (EUC) 20pts
2. Roux (FDJ) 17pts
3. Morkov (STB) 15pts
4. Goss (OGE) 13pts - at 2'00"
5. Renshaw (RAB) 11pts
6. Cavendish (SKY) 10pts
7. Sagan (LIQ) 9pts
8. van Hummel (VCD) 8pts
9. Impey (OGE) 7pts
10. Lancaster (OGE) 6pts
11. Boeckmans (VCD) 5pts
12. Cooke (OGE) 4pts
13. Hondo (LAM) 3pts
14. Petacchi (LAM) 2pts
15. N. Sorensen (STB) 1pt

Obviously fantasy wise it's 15 points down to 1, not 20.

Yesssss DS points!!!(Boeckmans)although dropped lancaster so lost out on some too

Lancaster got me some hoping gallopin goes for the sprint and simon, then ive got haedo, sagan and kittel due to cost and tomorrow in mind too

Not only does Kittel get dropped he has the audacity to finish SECOND TO LAST just to rub it in! What a bastard.

On another note, congrats to Cav and Sky, yet another win.

That could not have gone any worse, i echo your anger at kittel drheaton...

Well what to do with my team now, i am a little annoyed at that

Yeah, that couldn't have gone much worse really. Both transfers scored nothing and I don't know whether to cut my losses with Kittel now or stick with him. Cancellara is a problem as he's so bloody expensive! I may axe him and throw my whole budget at sprinters.

Thats unfortunate, at least haedo finished 8th for me, but apart from that nothing

Well ive sorted a strategy to get either goss or greipel in for stage 4, by axing gallopin meaning all my ds's will be cheap.

But ive made 1 transfer for tomorrow in taking out kittel and keeping JJ haedo in. so i wont be strong for tomorrow but in theory my stars should be strong for stage 4. as i will have haedo, sagan and then 2 from the rest pretty much.

Nicely done.

I got Morkov DS points, but probably loads of people did.

Annoying about

a). Kittel

Inexperience?

b). Sagan

Too much to ask for him to win back to back tour stages.

c). Cav

Where on earth did that come from.

d). Commentary

My Grandad's.

Well that was a bit average for me. Canc and sags got me a few pts. My tips pg tomorrow. Nothing like a nice sweet cuppa. So he,s in for tj.

Well that was a bit average for me. Canc and sags got me a few pts. My tips pg tomorrow. Nothing like a nice sweet cuppa. So he,s in for tj.

Re Kittel: no, upset stomach, so "running on vapors", as one Maverick from Miramar would put it. Should be ok for wednesday/thursday...?

Thanks....my 2 transfers in gained 86pts so definitely happy with thatr

26th on the stage and 3rd in the tour now so going to stick with the plan and reverse yesterday's transfers for GC points.
On an unpredictable stage it's the safest thing to do although every fibre in my body is screaming Chavanel and Hoogerland I don't think they'll let either of them just go off down the road and I reckon there will be minimal time gaps come the finish.