Milan - San Remo

The Saganator loves Italy in the rain

It was rain caused those crashes on the descent from Le Manie two years ago that split the field. It's going to be a hell of a fight towards the bottom of that climb to get to the front before they hit it (hopefully just after the live TV pictures kick in). Can't wait.

Ditto!

Is there any chance we can get the Rankings page updated for San Remo, or are those 1,463 riders staying on for all the Spring Classics Competititon?

On the other hand:

... this page is showing 694 riders. I suppose these are the riders that are on the game start list right now. Can we have this page modified so that it shows the rider values on it? It might be easier than updating the Rankings page and since we already have the address it would be easy to get to... Would that be easy to do? I'd really like to see all riders and their values on one page. Thanks!

Gallopin out. Says he feels 'empty'.

Thanks!

I'm going for . . .

A 'young' Dutchman but not Boom
An African but not Froome
2 Norsemen, but not EBH
3 Italians, but not Nibali
A cheap frenchman from a catalog shop
And finally the winner, who's not Tschopp

Songezo Jim?
His chances are slim.
Unless he's last over the line,
In which case you're doing fine.

The first time Johann of Zyl is in the start roster I'm picking him like a shot. How cool of a name is that?

I may make my Purists a 'cool names only' for the Classics.

Impey....Boom-a-yeh

Urgh, damn cryptic team descriptions, I thought we'd finished with those...

I'm going to lay it on the line, my team currently includes Sagan

I know, shock choice.

Current working team is based around Sagan, Nibali, Cancellara and one other high-ish priced start (around the 20-25 mark) who I can't decide on just yet, Degenkolb is tempting, as is Impey/Goss (not sure who GreenEdge will work for), Thomas and Gilbert.

Not picking EBH as I see him being overpriced at 30 credits really and not worth it when you can get Gilbert/Degenkolb much cheaper.

Cheaper star wise Hushovd looks good value, as does Iglinsky.

Anyone know what schedule Norhaug is working to? Is he likely to be in any form for MSR?

worked out my team and it came to 200.5 points

Can someone lend me 51 points ????????

My second go worked out much better and no Sagan for me at the mo. His 40 points can get you a mixture of Gilbert / Boonen / Thomas / Pozzato and Iglinsky / Moser / Gasparotto which might be better overall.

Similar plan to mine although im thinking no Nibali

In both standard and purist I have Sagan, Cancellara and Pippo and then they differ from there

Blanco seem to be putting Renshaw and Slagter in pole positions.....unless they're bluffing re Nordhaug.

No, I suspect Nordhaug is looking to peak at a later date so might not be in tip top condition this weekend.

For me, it's all about who's in form or coming into form and who's looking to peak for this race.

The likes of Gerrans are clearly not going to be 100% so I'm avoiding them and looking at those with racing miles in their legs and who are looking good, Nibali, Sagan etc.

Also, if Renshaw wins MSR I'll eat a pair of road.cc socks.

If I told you my star picks
You would just add them to your mix,
So I'll remain one of those hinters
Who'll just pack his squad with sprinters
Last years msr was a one off
This year wont be won by riders like Menchov.
Go for riders like impey and sagan
And forget the likes of gerrans and uran.

Wm Shakespeare. 1578.

1578? Hasn't got his 2K badge yet then!!

As for the purist team, my choices will be,
Aimed quite simply for the one two three.
So sagan and Cav should do the job
Closely followed by Degenkolb.

You guys are amazing! I hate it, but I have to admit it's beautiful...

He can always headbutt everyone out of the way!!

Thinking about two radically different teams for standard and purist. One with expensive guys, like Sagan, Nibali and maybe Goss and the other with medium-priced riders. Hedge my bets.

There again it might not be a sprint,
If thats so, then heres a hint,
Try the champ Phillippe Gilbert,
Or that french star, Tommy Voeckler (french accent needed for that rhyme)
And pick the sky guy Boasson Hagen
But you'll still need Peter Sagan.

Here we go with a Milan-San Remo Rhyme,
Don't pick Sagan but his partner in crime,
Spartacus Hushovd Gilbert or Gee?,
Gatto Pozzato or Nibali?
Which of the Qhubeka guys will be in the break,
Bertie's not riding but having a steak!

Urgh,

I hate bad poetry.

I've revised my teams, my standard is built around Sagan with other potential breakaway companions. For that I'm hoping for a small-medium break on the Poggio that includes Sagan and stays away to the finish.

For my purist team I have no Sagan and have gone more towards a bunch sprint spreading out my credits to give myself more options.

My worry on both counts is that a non-Sagan break goes away and no teams want to work to bring it back just so Sagan or a sprinter like Cavendish wins. If that's the case then I have absolutely no idea who might win.

Ive revised my teams too, both have Sagan and Cancellera then a mish mash of other riders. Its gonna end in tears for one of my teams

Yeah, I figured I'd anchor my standard team to the most likely scenario, a Sagan/Cancellara/Nibali breakaway + a few others, then look at what else might happen, namely a strong bunch sprint with riders like Hushovd involved.

If scenario B happens and Sagan wins it at least I'll have 4 or 5 in the top 20, if scenario A happens I could have 4 or 5 in the top 10.

The problem though is that Sagan is such a favourite that I don't see many teams helping to bring back a break and Cannondale will have to be very tactically astute to make sure Sagan actually gets into a position to win it. Just look at Cav last year, in the wrong place on the first real climb and finds himself completely out of contention. All it takes is for Sagan to get caught out once and he's gone.

Songezo Jim. Now that's a name.

Oh, that was my 300th post.

Just checked the weather forecast for tomorrow. It does not look good with rain all day, light at first but becoming heavier with a wind chill temp at 6c and they reckon at least 14 mill of rain.

Looks like its going to be a breakaway that wins it and not a full sprint.

Snow also predicted for Milan in the morning. Not much but the start will probably hover around zero

There is also a possibility of them hitting snow near Alessandria and heavy rain through Pavia. This race is gonna be fun if your sitting on your sofa just watching.

Following a very similar strategy. Pretty safe for the standard and a good mix of medium priced guys from a variety of teams for my purist. Two riders in common to both teams, both around 10 credits.

Luckily my daughter's football game has been cancelled so I'm going to be able to watch it! Do you wanna come round for some beers!

Love to Alan But 'er indoors family over from Milan and Sardinia. Set a date for Paris-Roubaix though. Unless my lottery numbers come up, if they do I will be there.

It depends on the weather as her game is normally on a Sunday. We'll see what happens nearer the time

Despite what Cav
has just tweeted
about tomorrow,
I have just
transferred out Pete
Sagan and brought
in Nibali,
and some other
good allrounders.
The nearest thing
to a sprinter
in my squad is
Geraint Thomas
but he may not
ride too well if
the welsh get stuffed
by England in
the 6 nations.

oops, sorry, this is not very poetic...#freeverse

Just changed my whole teams again. Thought I would have a laugh as I can Liquidate the whole team tomorrow night and made my whole purist team Italian
It's harder than you might think, as I have still left out a few I fancied. And no Sagan is not an Italian. May have a whole Belgian team for Flanders and French one for Paris Roubaix.

I am sooooo undecided over whether or not to pick Sagan.

Having read some rider interviews today, I'm going to make a couple of swaps, but do I want to spend that many points on the guy who is (justfiably) favourite, at the expense of losing 3 or 4 who can definitely podium if it works out for them...?

Decisions, decisions...

Sagan wise it all comes down to whether you think he can still prevail with pretty much the entire peloton racing against him.

He can certainly climb so he won't get distanced like Cav last year but can he really chase down every break to make sure he's in the right one? And if he gets in the right break who's going to want to work with him?

He's rightly the favourite and definitely the man to beat but I still see it as being a tough ask. That said he's in my teams not just because he's favourite but because even if he's not in a small winning break he'll likely win the subsequent bunch sprint for minor placings like last year.

That will be hard to do without taking penalty points, with only 6 transfers in between them

(between Flanders and Roubaix just to clarify)

Thomas should win then England stuffed (Actually, couldn't care less about rugby)

It's a purist team.......

I have to find 9 belgofrankies then.

Don't think I've ever chopped and changed my team so much... there have been at least 10 big names being switched around for 5 spots in my team in the past 24 hours. Which means a long list of names who could burn me by finishing first in Sanremo tomorrow.

6 Italians,A French and the obligatory Swiss and Slovak and the team colours would make your eyes water with plenty of luminous greens,pinks and yellows!!

Latest on the weather. Start in Milan in heavy rain. A mixture of heavy rain and heavy snow all the way to Genoa, then heavy rain to the finish. Want to reconsider your team again?

I have no "Green PC's" in my team.

Suppose it's time to name the teams? Both of mine have the triumvirate of top descenders Sagan,Cancellara and Nibali plus the best of the cheap DS' Offredo(in my book anyway).With my aim of a high overall finish with my standard team(Overall,London and Forum's Scorums)I took less risks with them than with my purists although I've a sneaky suspicion that my purists could beat the standards with the way the Directeur Sportif's are tipping Hushovd and Ciolek as dark horses.

Standard:
Sagan
Cancellara
Nibali
Moser
Cimolai
Santambrogio
Gatto
Apollonio
Offredo

Purist:
Sagan
Cancellara
Nibali
Ciolek
Hushovd
Santambrogio
Keukeleire
Canola
Offredo

Standard Team:
Andrey Amador (MOV)
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Fabian Cancellara (RSN)
Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Vicenzo Nibali (AST)
Yoann Offredo (FDJ)
Paolo Longho (LIQ)
Gabriel Rasch (SKY)
Massimo Graziato (LAM)

Purist Team:
Jurgen Roelandts (LOT)
Fabian Cancellara (RSN)
Geraint Thomas (SKY)
Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Vicenzo Nibali (AST)
Maciej Bodnar (LIQ)
Yoann Offredo (FDJ)
Vincent Jerome (EUC)
Stefan Denifl (IAM)

I was tempted by Ciolek but when it came to it I didn't feel he was up to 300km, despite form. Bet I'm wrong.

Standard:
Sagan
Moser
Nibali
Cancellara
Iglinsky
Santambrogio
Jerome
Quinziato
Offredo

Purist:
Sagan
Gilbert
Pozzatto
Moser
Hushovd
Santambrogio
Appollonio
Offredo
Denifl

Fantasy DS challenge:
Cancellara
Boonen
Gilbert
Cavendish
Demare
Nordhaug

In the end I gave up on edging my bets for a sprint finish as I expect a break to win. Both teams have Sagan, Moser, Offredo and Santambrogio.

Purist, aiming for 1234 is.

Peter Sagan (LIQ)
Mark Cavendish (OPQ)
Edvald Boasson Hagen (SKY)
John Degenkolb (ARG)
William Bonnet (FDJ)
Gabriel Rasch (SKY)
Paolo Longho (LIQ)
Matthieu Sprick (ARG)
Martin Velits (OPQ)

Standard assumes lots of successful breaks in the peloton due to blizzards, and a rapid descent by Nibali...

Vicenzo Nibali (AST)
Thor Hushovd (BMC)
Philippe Gilbert (BMC)
Bernhard Eisel (SKY)
Gorka Izagirre (EUS)
Geraint Thomas (SKY)
Michal Kwiatkowski (OPQ)
Jens Keukeleire (GRE)
Maciej Bodnar (LIQ)

Standard

Sagan
Cancellara
Hushovd
Santambrogio
Slagter
Chavanel
Iglinsky
Bazana
Jorgensen

Didn't like picking for this race

Purist
Sagan
Cancellara
Nibali
Gilbert
Lovquist
Santambrogio
Tanner
Rasch
Thomson

iglinsky is greyed out now?

Purist:

Peter Sagan
Lars Petter Nordhaug
Geraint Thomas
Giovanni Visconti
Philippe Gilbert
Tom Jelte Slagter
Ian Stannard
Jesse Sergent
Vincent Jerome

standard:

Geraint Thomas
Filippo Pozzato
Mauro Santambrogio
Damiano Caruso
Andrey Amador
Maxim Iglinsky
Niki Terpstra
Thor Hushovd
Ian Stannard

If you mean Maxim then im not sure why he is on every startlist I have seen.

If you mean Valentin then I don't think he is riding now

Stanadrd

Sagan
Cancellara
Pozzato
Nibali
Santambrogio
Hushovd
Kiryenka
Jerome
Offredo

Purist

Sagan
Cancellara
Gilbert
Bardet
Geschke
Ponzi
Bandiera
Stannard
Offredo

Reports of snow and the chance that the Turchino climb or descent may be neutralised.

Not a big deal but comes before La Manie so may help the sprinters to skip a climb.

Break of 6
Matteo Montaguti (AG2R La Mondiale), Diego Rosa (Androni), Filippo Fortin (Bardiani Valvole - CSF Inox), Maxim Belkov (Katusha), Lars Bak (Lotto) and Pablo Lastras (Movistar)

10mins+

Turchino neutralised due to snow on the descent with minibuses transporting the riders from the 117km point to the 163km point.The halfway point falls within the neutralisation so.......what happens to the breakaway points?

My guess is that they would be assessed and credited at the point they get on the shuttle buses as the time differences will be enforced at the restart?

Sounds about right, the break will have about 10 minutes when they get on the shuttle buses so seems fair.

Odd though that they're all getting on buses, wonder how long they'll be off the bike and whether they'll warm up again before carrying on.

Our standard teams are very similar:
I've got

Sagan
Nibali
Gilbert
Pozzato
Florencio
Santambrogio
Bodnar
Offredo
Songezo Jim

Purist is a bit of an experiment with none of the favourites, could do well if there is a crash or mechanicals of a few of the top names, and will keep me interested with so many riders in the mix.

John Degenkolb (ARG)
Geraint Thomas (SKY)
Gerald Ciolek (MTQ)
Luca Paolini (KAT)
Michal Kwiatkowski (OPQ)
Diego Ulissi (LAM)
Thor Hushovd (BMC)
Xavier Florencio (KAT)
Danilo Hondo (RSN)

Yeh i did a similar thing with my purist team changed it up from my standard but couldn't drop Sagan, so hoping at least 1 of my teams does well.

Almost zero thought went in to this. And the purist looks seriously left field.

STD:

Sagan
Cancellara
Thomas
Moser
Hushovd
Kiryienka
Offredo
Schar
Nordhaug

PURE:

EBH
Viviani
Bozic
Haussler
Stannard
Tjallingi
Oss
Flecha
Terpstra

This is going to turn into a MESS. No-one will go in the break, because they are just going to get stopped at 117km to be put on buses for 50km....

A few retirements already

The race will re-start in Arenzano in two hours: 137km from San Remo. Gap between six leaders and bunch is now at 9:15. 10km to Ovada. #msr

Well my standard team has already scored 10

Peter Sagan
Fabian Cancellara
Geraint Thomas
Tom Boonen
Juan Antonio Flecha
Vincent Jerome
Dominik Klemme
Pablo Lastras
Maarten Tjallingii

My Purist should do not to bad either

Peter Sagan
Vicenzo Nibali
Philippe Gilbert
Tom Boonen
Marcel Sieberg
Oscar Gatto
Jonas Aaen Jorgensen
Yoann Offredo
Grega Bole

https://mobile.twitter.com/taylorphinney/status/313261700155592704/photo/1

Tyler the snowman.

Ovada, km 117, the cyclists will be taken up by coach and across the highway, moved up to Arenzano, km 160, where it will be made again at 14.30 the gaps detected before Turchino. At that point they will be 137.2 kilometers to the finish line on the waterfront Italo Calvino. (Google translate with one change).

Just in time for Eurosport coverage we hope. Is this going to help the sprinters? I haven't got Cav this year as do few other teams. This will surely help him and Greipel or will the cold favour other riders?

a mentally tough MSR this year due to weather......Race will re-start at 15:00 and skip Le Manie

My teams are screwed Cav to win?

Actually my tip is Pozzato now

I'm not going to say this lightly, but I think there should be NO scoring today.

The goal posts have been moved and its screwed the race right up.

They have taken out nearly 100km now with some of the major parts of the race being cut. Its totally turned the race upside down....

NO SCORES

Scoring should go ahead regardless.

Its got to be a hard man today.

And they don't come much harder than Cancellara.

My line is its luck of the draw, and also because Le maine has been missed out still doesn't mean it will be a sprint and whoever will win will win. Scoring should go ahead

Organisers have cut Le Maine, and there are now 85K left to race at #msr for a race distance of 202K (down from 298K).

I hope so. He was my second pick after Sagan. Having got burnt in Roma Maxima by not having him I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

I don't agree GKam. Its the luck of the draw....if there is a finish and a winner than so be it....we can't expect sunshine every day. . .
and my standard team has no sprinters and no one in the break, so i am not going to benefit from scoring as usual.

Cipressa is going to be very important now, which it hasn't been recently. Sprinters in with a better chance but the cold and rain don't suit them that much! The favourites are still the favourites, but Cav and Greipel could easily top ten. Degenkolb could do well I hope. If a race isn't cancelled scoring must go ahead. I would have thought Gkam84 would be happy; he's got someone in the break and maybe the unthinkable will happen and the break will stay out.

keep the scores its a fun game and its a bit petty to make it a zero score stage when technically the race is still running and has a winner.

its unfortunate and im sure we are all going to loose points in it but the end of the day its fun.

Boonen abandons

The have cut the heart out and made it like two stages now.

SHITE race now and I think 0 points all round is the fairest way. If I had thought this would happen, make picks would have been totally different

Have to agree, we should still score it, this was unpredictable and to be fair nobody really should gain an advantage unless they specifically picked a team hoping for half the stage to be snowed off. If they did that then fair play to them, that's a hell of a risk to take. If half the field crash we'd score it, this stuff happens.

No one can say how the race will play out, the climbers and strong men will go hell for leather up any climb to drop the sprinters so anything could happen.

Terpstra, Boonen & Vandenbergh all out for OmegaPharma

Zero points is utterly ridiculous! It's a race, if half the peloton woke up this morning and DNS because they didn't fancy it, you wouldn't zero the scores.
Plus with the recent late changes to stages, the game would lose a lot of credibility.

Still 130km to race not 85km

I don't think this race has changed at all, because the pace will be higher now

Scores should stand, a race is a race, if it starts and it finishes, its tough what happens between those two points.
When you pick a team you are not picking a guarantee and that has not changed in anyway. What you thought may happen may have changed, but what you thought may happen may not have happened anyway

I sent a message at 7.37 this morning about the heavy snow. I ignored my own message and assumed it would not be a sprint finish. If it is a sprint finish we've all been burned. Let's live with it.

Absolutely right!!

Try aking the bookies for your money back if you backed Boonen?

You pick your team based on the route given and the startlist.

You don't pick it on 2/3 of a course. Taking out nearly 100km had totally changed the route and which riders should be picked.

totally agree i dont see why it would be zerod when everyone wants it to be scored apart from gkam.

Well if you are all wanting points, then at least this race should be taken out of the pot for winning the Garmin, to make things fair on everyone.

It's the same for everybody. You're flogging a dead horse here.

exactly no one in the right mind would pick it on 2/3 of a course so we should all be in the same boat and it is still all fair.

buy a lamp and lighten up

I make it they only took out about 50km anyway, they rode 120km stopped, then another 130km to the finish

Goss is out, theres one sprinter down

score it. These things happen.

That's cycling , crashes ,weather , unsafe descents , spectator control....all have been reasons to change the course of a race (no pun intended) however calling for no scores due to it in a fun fantasy cycling game smacks of spitting your dummy out.

Suck it up and enjoy the spectacle

Score it, looks like i've lost 2 riders from same team, these things happen.

You're kidding? This is fantastic, still 85k to ride in the rain.

This is history. They will be talking about the 2013 Milan-San Remo in 100 years' time.

actually lol'd

It was a good joke, after his earlier post

You can't go around saying this race counts and this one doesn't, right in the middle of a race.

Stop throwing your toys out of the pram just because you're scared of getting a low score.

Goss and Bodnar out That's one from each of my teams. Just glad I didn't select Boonen.

Not seen yet that anyone is out of either of my teams

This made me

ive lost reimer chavanel and iglinsky

Who cares about loosing a few fantasy cycling points, this is fantastic to watch!

Still got everyone in both my std and pur teams .....surprisingly

Bodnar appears to be still in there Just seen him slipping back down the field

and chav

Chavanel also has not abandoned

But Nibali may have.

Nibali looks like he is out

Anyone got an English link?

Fromsport is only showing snooker

Nibali officially out, Sky forcing the pace, Cav still up near the front.

Nibali out. Two down for my standard with I think Songezo Jim out as well, but only had him in for the history.

Bozic anyone?

Hushovd dropped, its falling apart for my teams. The longer it goes on the more I think Cav is gonna win

Cav looking ok. Rooting for him now.

Thomas crashed, Farrar too. Had Thomas in my purist.

not suprised to see Tyler on the deck!

Surprise Surprise theres a crash and guess whose involved....

Haha as soon as I say im fine my riders decide to drop like flys

Big G in my standard

Ciolek suffering but Pozzato up there. Boasson Hagen out as well. Sky don't have any luck in the classics!

Well, it's an old-fashioned MSR, Cipressa the key, and now Gilbert is attacking!! I've got him! But he's probably gone too early.

Stannard win would be fine for my purist team

Gonna be caught

What a race that was

Top 3:

Ciolek
Sagan
Cancellara

Chavanel, Paolini, Phinney and Stanard make the top 7

3 of those in my purist team 2 in my standard

Ciolek gets the win. Sagan burned too much energy chasing Cancellara down I think.

Haha, I WAS wrong. Good old Gerald.

2,3,4 for me

1.Ciolek
2.Sagan
3.Cancellara
4.Chavanel
5.Paolini
6.Stanard
7.Phinney
9.Kristoff
9.Cavendish
10.Eisel

1,2,3 for my purists

Cracking race fairplay, anyone moaning about that should watch a different sport

2,3 for standard. 1,9 for purist. Could have been better but I'm not going to complain

Booo haha!

2,3,6,17,19 for my purist team

2,3,19 for my standard team

11 Ventoso
12 Colbrelli
13 Haussler
14 Gasparotto
15 Turgot
16 Roelandts
17 Bardet
18 Degenkolb
19 Offredo

Stannard is a BEAST.

11.Ventoso

Gasparotto and others made up 12-16

17.Bardet
18.Degenkolb
19.Offredo

It's just his Stannard Operating Procedure.

Great race! Loved it. Cheering Stannard on for the last hour, and Ciolek in the sprint - finished with 1,2,4 in both fantasy teams too!

So Ciolek won then....

I turned over and watched the Scottish cup final. More entertaining that half a race

Couldn't agree more! Great race!

I'm impressed you guys got up the results of up to No. 19 Offredo so quickly. Wow!

I've only found up to No. 18 at Procclingstats.com! Where did you guys get your info?

I got it when they showed the results on the live coverage

Hell of a ride from Stannard. I don't care about the fantasy points just yet. Seeing him lead over the Poggio made my week.

I thoroughly enjoyed that, the disruption wasnt too bad in the end, by that I mean that we had the sort of race finish that one would expect from MSR. My teams didn't do to badly either;
Standard: 1,2 & 18
Purist: 2,3,4 and two MTN 3.0s

Full results, Isaychev is the Lanterna Rossa.

Gobsmacked that two thirds of the starters finished that.

http://www.gazzetta.it/Speciali/MilanoSanremo/download/2013/OrdineArrivo...

1,2,3,4 for purist

Scores have been updated but Chavanel has 0 did he not finish fourth today?

Good result for Steve Chainel today...

I was just about to ask the same thing. I had him on my team too, and he did finish 4th

We have another problem. Lastras scored me 10 for the break away.....BUT, he didn't finish the race. So shouldn't have anything

Points mean prizes
Can I have my 25 back please

4. 173 FRA19790630 CHAVANEL Sylvain
DNF Steve CHAINEL

there's nothing in the rules to say that. if he was in the break at half distance, he gets the points

Oh I scored the early classics on that, if the rider was in a break at half distance, he'd be marked down for 10 so long as he completed the race.

Pointless if they didn't finish because you cannot get scored if you get a DNF

1 point on my Italian purist team, I give up the (fun) experiments gonna get serious now.