Paris-Nice: Stage 1
Right, team picked. Five sprinters, three sprinting all-rounders and the current leader's jersey holder. Hoping he remembers his track legs For the final km's after a day on the roads.
Got rid of geniez and larsson...heres hoping for better scores on stage two
Made 4 transfers which will hopefully pay off next 2 days and give me some green arrows??
I had 6 sprinters and 3 TTers for yesterday, so kept Chavanel and brought in 2 more sprinters as the winds don't look like they'll cause problems today. Hoping for a good day - although I'm sure a lot of people will have similar teams...
My French isn't great, but from scanning the rules, I think that the stage winner gets 10 secs bonus, then 6 and 4 - so sprinters that had a good prologue will have their eye on the Yellow Jersey...
You're right, Viviani and Renshaw have the chance of taking the lead at the finish plus there are 3, 2 & 1 seconds available at each of the two intermediate sprints.
My team for today:
Westra
Chavanel
Hivert
Renshaw
Viviani
Kittel
Bouhanni
Hutarovich
Kristoff
You're right, Viviani and Renshaw have the chance of taking the lead at the finish plus there are 3, 2 & 1 seconds available at each of the two intermediate sprints.My team for today:
Westra
Chavanel
Hivert
Renshaw
Viviani
Kittel
Bouhanni
Hutarovich
Kristoff
Mine is as above, except replace Hivert and Westra (incidentally both in my purist team) with Matthews (bit of a shot in the dark) and Gallopin.
My team still not looking great 
I dont even have all the sprinters you guys have, and you guys have GC points too!
Bouhanni
Kristoff
Kittel
Renshaw
Viviani
Hivert
Meersman
Grivko
Tejay
In fairness though my extra sprinter is Hutarovich who is either great, or awful, and could do absolutely nothing today. Having Meersman may put you ahead tomorrow (assuming you keep him) as it's not such an easy finish.
In fairness though my extra sprinter is Hutarovich who is either great, or awful, and could do absolutely nothing today. Having Meersman may put you ahead tomorrow (assuming you keep him) as it's not such an easy finish.
I too have also gambled on the enigma that is `Hutarovich`.....Good....Bad.....and nothing in between...
stevespro
In fairness though my extra sprinter is Hutarovich who is either great, or awful, and could do absolutely nothing today. Having Meersman may put you ahead tomorrow (assuming you keep him) as it's not such an easy finish.
I was thinking he could actually do something on stage 3, same with Hivert.
Actually hoping Grivko goes in the break to try and take the bonus seconds
On the gun, Romain Sicard (EUS), Bertjan Lindeman (VCD) and Yannick Talabardon (SOJ) broke clear. They now lead the bunch by 1:25.
Personally my pick for leader at the end of the day is Viviani, especially given that three have gone up the road so there shouldn't be any bonus seconds available out of the peloton to the likes of Chavanel.
bouhanni
Renshaw
porte
Chav
Kittel
Vivianni
Peraud
kristoff
Westra
Balls out of the bath time for me as well - mine's a sprint-heavy squad.
Couldn't resist tinkering with my squad, which I had picked specifically with saving transfers in mind. Brought in Kelderman and Soupe in the hope they'll finish at the front somewhere and get me GC points (no Viviani though, which seems to run contrary to most others - could be egg on face time come this evening).
Expecting big things from Bouhanni today and tomorrow...
Rui Costa has abandoned.
My purist team has a man down! 
Crash in the peloton
Km 127 - A crash took place in the peloton involving Rui Costa (MOV), Tony Gallopin (RLT), Lucas Haedo (CAN) and Samuel Dumoulin (ALT). They were all quickly back on their bike.
Rui Costa gives up
Rui Costa, the Movistar team leader, has given up with a wrist injury after his crash at kilometre 127.
No kristoff down!!!
lantern rouge........ 
No kristoff down!!!
lantern rouge........
noooo I do need the latern rouge badge and everyone scoring badge
No transfers made and I have:
Kittel
Viviani
Bouhanni
Howard
Tejay
Matthews
Turgot
Kelderman
Gallopin
good chances today
BMC trying to split the peloton, Boonen one of the guys in the second half, Kittel also has a mechanical so may end up dropping into the second group.
If the peloton splits it could play havok with the sprint 
Aye, Kittel is in the second group, BMC clearly trying to split the peloton for TJVGs benefit. Bouhanni appears to be in the front group, no word on Viviani, Kristoff, Hutarovich etc...
I may live to regret my Kristoff for Van Garderen transer at half 8 this morning.
chase group has given up
Sir Velo
Oof! Scrappy. Bouhanni nicks it from Petacchi and Viviani.
Bouhani, Petacchi and Viviani!
Sir Velo
You beat me to it 
Sir Velo
Renshaw bottled it
Top five results
1. Nacer Bouhanni (France, FDJ)
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy, Lampre)
3. Elia Viviani (Italy, Cannondale)
4. Jens Debbuschere (Belgium, Lotto)
5. Heinrich Haussler (Australia, IAM)
1. Nacer Bouhanni (France, FDJ)
2. Alessandro Petacchi (Italy, Lampre)
3. Elia Viviani (Italy, Cannondale)
4. Jens Debbuschere (Belgium, Lotto)
5. Heinrich Haussler (Australia, IAM)
I've got all of the top three! 
Scott Sportster '08 | Cannondale CAAD8 '12
Renshaw bottled it
Totally!
Dammit! Rui Costa's in my purist and my standard!
And not picking Viviani turns out to be a bad call indeed. Hmnph.
Kocjan, Rui Costa and Fedrigo are DNF - Kristoff looks like Lanterne Rouge, coming in 17 mins down...
After 20 pen points i come away with 129
Kristoff last man home!!!!!
What was Renshaw thinking......He is ultra aggressive,especially with his head.....the gap was there and he stopped pedalling.....Very strange.... 
stevespro
livestrongnick wrote:No kristoff down!!!
lantern rouge........noooo
Badge for you TER
About 60 guys got caught out and lost 2 mins - no big GC names, just bubbling-unders like Frank, Geniez, JTL, Taaramae.
Looks like I've got 124 and 4 transfers in the bank.
Game can't that bad can it enrique if you can pull off a stage win!!! 
Yeah. but as a standard player he doesn't get the badge...
I managed a respectable 155 today, my transfer of Howard for Hutarovich didn't pay off, TJVG for Kristoff did though but only because he rolled in 18 minutes down.
Anyone know how badly Kristoff crashed? Is he likely to race tomorrow?
Up 777 places today - probably more attributable to a poor prologue than anything else. A career-high of 33rd in the overall for the season tho!
4th-10th in the Forum's Scorum's league is very tight indeed!
Is there a prize for the most Lantern Rouges? Currently on 4...
Is there a prize for the most Lantern Rouges? Currently on 4...
Me too sure can pick a loser...
TERatcliffe26 wrote:livestrongnick wrote:No kristoff down!!!
lantern rouge........noooo
Badge for you TER
Yup thanks, needed that 
I'm on 6 Lanterne Rouge!
My purist team not looking good... Costa out, Kristoff looking doubtful!
Singletrack MTB mag
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