WORLDS ITT
The most open ITT I can remember with no Wiggins,Cancellara,Froome,Evans etc.
Martin's form not the best and the course is not really the best for him but class is permanent or can Contador recover after his Vuelta exploits?I doubt anyone will have both with the quality DS' involved.
At least 2 and probably 3 of Chavanel,Kessiakoff,Pinotti and Tejay will most likely be in all teams and that may well be where the scoring splits occur.
Velits may be worth a go? Are we getting 5pt team-mate bonuses for trade teams?
Then the plethora of high priced DS' all with good claims to place highly.
Phinney is always a threat
Larsson may find it too lumpy
Westra will like the terrain and have home advantage
Meyer may be t-o-o-o expensive
Grabsch can destroy anyone on his day
Gretsch rounds out a good German team
Tuft took the ENECO ITT
Castroviejo is in ahead of some other decent Spanish TT'ers so must be in form
Plus a couple of real secret weapons with the right research.
Anyone looking at anyone outside of those mentioned?
ive got two teams atm
one with martin and one without
Basically will Martin, Tuft and Chitouri (something like that)
outscore
Velits, Meyer and Gretsch 
Chavanel, Phinney, Larsson and Westra have not been considered for my team, mainly due to cost compared to similar riders that could do just as well based on form etc
Contador is a possibility, I think he will defo be top 10 could be top 5 but how high remains to be seen.
Stumpy
I don't know if there are any +5's in the ITT, for the worlds it is based on nation, not trade team 
As its based on nation rather then team should the 2 person from a team not be replaced with 2 from a nation, or would that be just too difficult and pointless at this late stage.
Its never been a rule for 2 per nation and it would be a little pointless. There is no guaranteed winner, so if you want to fill your team with one national, fire away, no-one will be following you
I dont know, if you filled your team with a certain Iranian i'm sure you would get at least one follower 
Sir Walter might be his name 
Stumpy
Sohrabi not racing the ITT though
Here is the final startlist
http://www.limburg2012.nl/upload/documents/41_ROA_CM2012_Startinglist_TT...
58 riders, So hopefully Dave goes and takes out the extra 16
16 degrees, 4 NW (there is quite a section going in the NW direction) and a 70% chance of rain. Not ideal for flyers like Contador?
Debarrio
16 degrees, 4 NW (there is quite a section going in the NW direction) and a 70% chance of rain. Not ideal for flyers like Contador?
Depends how strong the wind is when they are on the course. The rain is the worrying point for most riders, you can add a canny chunk of time on for when its wet compared to the lads out when its dry.
Its wide open this year and will be good to see a possibly lesser known rider wearing the bands compared to the usuual suspects.
Stumpy
All mine are in by the looks of Gkam's startlist but I'm a bit worried about some of the start-times.....who decides the seedings?
Still aiming at a top 50 overall premium finish and need to make up 8 points to satisfy that.Quite a few 'Forum-ers'in and around the 50th place (RCorbin,OButterwick,DrHeaton and WigBilly) so no mean feat.....although you'll probably al crush me now by telling me they're your purist teams 
The Road.cc startlist has the wrong Bodnar.
The Road.cc startlist has the wrong Bodnar.
It had the wrong Vandewalle too, but dont know if thats changed
why so it does. but not any more.
I'll Name and Shame
Martin
Kessiakoff
VanGarderen
Chavanel
Castroviejo(last minute swap for Kelderman)
Westra
Tuft
Durbridge
Phinney
Looking forward to this!!
Martin
Velits
Contador
Van Garderen
Westra
Kelderman
Durbridge
Leygel
Albos
The first 5 should be right up there. Kelderman & Durbridge were too cheap to ignore. The last two are an attempt to get last man home.
Contador
Van Garderen
Kessiakoff
De Gendt
Meyer
Phinney
Westra
Durbridge
Chtioui
Covering as many bases as possible and I don't think Martin will be competitve. No sure about Phinney and Durbridge, may be too hilly for them.
Kept away from some of the big boys so i could go for some better ds'. My No 1 winning super team looks like this:
Sylvain Chavanel
Tejay van Garderen
Peter Velits
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Jonathan Castroviejo
Cameron Meyer
Taylor Phinney
Ramunas Navardauskas
Luke Durbridge.
Here's hoping
Stumpy
Here is mine
Velits
Contador
Tejay
Kessiakoff
Durbridge
Meyer
Kelderman
Gretsch
Cratrovejo
Wet for the early runners
SO after chopping and changing last night. I settled for this for my main team. Putting my reserves in my other team 
Alberto Contador
Tejay van Garderen
Fredrik Kessiakoff
Marco Pinotti
Taylor Phinney
Svein Tuft
Luke Durbridge
Jonathan Castroviejo
Bert Grabsch
Here are my reserve team
Jakob Fuglsang
Rein Taaramae
Janez Brajkovic
Peter Velits
Vasil Kiryienka
Gustav Erik Larsson
Patrick Gretsch
Jesse Sergent
Wilco Kelderman
You'll not win with that team mate, as its not the same as mine
Stumpy
And neither is your second one !!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stumpy
After only starting after 20 or so stages this season I've decided to gamble on some wildcards in the final few races.
Contador
DeGendt
VanGarderen
Kessiakoff
Meyer
Kelderman
Grivko
Durbridge
Dowsett
I doubt many will have Dowsett,Grivko or DeGendt so hoping they can outscore Tuft,Phinney and Pinotti who were my original options.
Tejay
Velits
Chavenal
Kessiakoff
Meyer
Durbridge
Phinney
Westra
Grabsch
After 11 changes i finally settled with that lot
Not convinced about Martin. seeing how he's supposed to be having an operation closed season
DeGendt poor,Dowsett above par
Ive got this very wrong!
ARGH, Marco 
I surrender....Only Pinotti going well and now he has fell off big time......
stevespro
Martin's caught Contador
Marco is out, busted collarbone
Shit, my indecision is killing me. My reserve team is doing better than my first team and by the end they will be about level
Just a thought. Phinney in the lead by what, 2 minutes?? Martin going to go around the same time.
So Contador can still sneak into the top 5
Or 9th as he comes home behind Dowsett 
1 Martin
2 Phinney
3 Kiryenka
4 TJVG
5 Kessiakof
6 Gruzdev
7 Barta
8 Dowsett
9 Conrador
10 Malori
11 Grivko
12 Tuft
13 Kangert
14 Zoidl
15 Chavanel
16 Meyer
17 Koren
18 Roy
19 Larsson
20 De Gendt
Abit rubbish, 4,5,9,16 and then 21,22,25,27 and who knows here velits came
Last man :- Lengyel
2 DNF, Pinotti and Borgersen
Top 20
Martin
Phinney
Kiryienka
Van Garderen
Kessiakoff
Gruzdev
Barta
Dowsett
Contador
Malori
Grivko
Tuft
Kangert
Zoidl
Chavanel
Meyer
Koren
Roy
Larsson
De Gendt
21+
Durbridge
Castroviejo
Sergent
Vandewalle
Kelderman
Bodnar
Gretsch
Tamouridis
Fisanov
Jurco
Bewley
Oyarsun
I'll Name and ShameMartin
Kessiakoff
VanGarderen
Chavanel
Castroviejo(last minute swap for Kelderman)
Westra
Tuft
Durbridge
PhinneyLooking forward to this!!
1/2/4/5 +minor placings for Tuft and Chavanel
Not bad at all
Roll on Sunday...
1,2,4,5 and 15 for me. I also had 21, 22, 23 
What happened to Westra?! Thought he had a live chance of a podium.
Westra was 38th, Velits was 34th.
Puncture or bear attack then!
So my first team 2,4,5,9,12 +5 for winning country, also had 21,21,DNF and somewhere else
My reserve team was reserve for a reason then 3,19,23,25,27 and NONE of the stars to be seen
Has somebody got Luke Durbridge and Alex Dowsett mixed up? I seem to have 14 points I don't think I should have.
Seems that the above comment is right. Durbridge seems to have all Dowsetts points 
I think so, Durbridge should have nothing
Also, Patrick Gretsch got a bonus for Martin winning, but Bert Grabsch not got the +5 for the winner??
I think so, Durbridge should have nothingAlso, Bert Grabsch not got the +5 for the winner??
Fuglsang's got his points - must have passed him
I think there are a few mistakes.
How can 3 riders have 5 points but two are not German??
Gretsch gets for the winner, Meyer gets for being 16th home. But Fugly should have 0
Jakob Fuglsang RadioShack-Nissan 5
Cameron Meyer Orica GreenEDGE 5
Patrick Gretsch Argos - Shimano 5
Oh dear, my expensive ds' did nowt
Back to the drawing board, need a bloody marvellous road race to get anywhere near top fifty for comp.
Stumpy
I think a big shout out should go to Riccardo Zoidl, just because I like the team he comes from.
RC ARBÖ Gourmetfein catfish
I think there are a few mistakes.How can 3 riders have 5 points but two are not German??
Gretsch gets for the winner, Meyer gets for being 16th home. But Fugly should have 0
Jakob Fuglsang RadioShack-Nissan 5
Cameron Meyer Orica GreenEDGE 5
Patrick Gretsch Argos - Shimano 5
All fixed now - 14 points down
Leagues still need updating
yeah dream team still has Durbridge in with 14!! 
Not convinced about Martin. seeing how he's supposed to be having an operation closed season
How stupid do i feel!! 
My problem was thinking Martin wouldn't win, I thought he'd be 3rd home today, So I chose to leave him out in favour of having a couple of lower value stars and higher value DS's.
It nearly worked if Marco Pinotti had not gone down. Thats where my team failed. He was on for a top 3
Martin has been shite all year so never thought he would get anywhere near top 3 never mind win.
Not that i believe he has been on something but if he is going in for an op everyone else must have been really poor
Stumpy
My problem was thinking Martin wouldn't win, I thought he'd be 3rd home today, So I chose to leave him out in favour of having a couple of lower value stars and higher value DS's.It nearly worked if Marco Pinotti had not gone down. Thats where my team failed. He was on for a top 3
Kept Martin after nearly taking him out for Contador but decided this would be the one he'd be aiming at. Had Pinotti as well (looks like collar bone but let's hope not, nasty crash) but still got 1,2,4,5 + 12 and 5 points for Grabsch (had him in for a place but 5 still useful). Think I was one of the highest of the teams with Pinotti on 149. Lucky some of the other stars around that price didn't do so great; Velits, Chavanal, de Gendt all scoring low. Changed Velits for Kessiakoff fortunately.
Roll on road race. That's going to be very difficult to predict, could be another Amstel Gold with very low scores.
Martin has been shite all year so never thought he would get anywhere near top 3 never mind win.Not that i believe he has been on something but if he is going in for an op everyone else must have been really poor
Did you watch the Olympics?
Yep i did and he was blown away by Wiggo and nearly Froome as well despite them having buried themselves in completing the TdF and the Olympics road race.
There was no Cancellara either. I stick by my opinion he has been poor all season, but well done to him, you can only beat whats in front of you.
Stumpy
I agree he's had a poor year, but he was always going to finish in the top 3 today (especially with no Wiggins/Canc/Froome).
Poor all season??
He won the Tour of Belgium, 2nd ahead of Wiggo at Algarve and 5th behind some big names at the Tour of the Basque Country.
Not bad going, considering in the TdF he broke his wrist and still kept going for 9 stages before retiring to let it heal a bit before the Olympics. Where it was just a factor in his riding as he could not grip well. So I think he's done not bad.
Contador was shocking today though. I take it his meat products have stopped arriving in special packages
Marco Pinotti @marcopinotti
Broken collarbone confirmed and operation required. Off to Herentals, Belgium tomorrow. Lots of time to think from now on.
What happened to Westra?! Thought he had a live chance of a podium.
He thought so too! Apparently, he cannot TT in the rain or in wet conditions. He chickened out in the corners and couldn't find his mojo on the straights. So much for his nickname "the Animal"...
Debarrio
64 comments