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Purist Tour de France 2013
Just tried to sit down and pick a Purist team for the TdF and it's hard!
Lots of high value riders, very few very cheap riders and not many bargains to be had, this is going to be a tough race to get right from a fantasy point of view.
My thinking at the minute is Froome plus 1 high value rider (Sagan/Cavendish or maybe Contador/Voeckler) then some mid and low priced riders but there's not much quality lower down, might have to rethink and go for lots of mid-range guys...
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101 comments
Its tough, right enough. De Gendt and Schleck in the same team is pretty risky! But if the other option includes three guys that are fairly likely to do naff-all, then maybe its worth a punt...
Plus you can't have Pinot, Fischer and Mederel in the same team anyway... EDIT - yes you can, I'm just being dense.
Hmmm, yeah, I don't personally see Fuglsang/Kessiakoff scoring that heavily on their ways to top 15/20 placings. Kessiakoff I guess could go after the KoM but that jersey is such a lottery that it's hard to pick rider with that in mind for a purist team.
Generally I either like to go all out and pick expensive guys and filler or to have a balanced team with no filler. I'm not a fan of half measures really and picking a 'slightly' cheaper expensive guy to pick a slightly more expensive cheap guy doesn't really make sense to me.
At 30 credits its a big chunk of the budget. For a few credits less you have some cracking riders such as Kessiakoff or Fuglsang which would allow you to bump up Bono to say Rasmussen / Quinziato / Tankink....just a thought for you to ponder.
Agreed, Mederel and Fischer (from FDJ) could be break fodder but Bono is a pretty pointless pick as I don't see Lampre doing anything (other than Cunego trying a big break one day).
I like the look of Pinot but I'm worried that he's due a down year this year after doing so well last year. The other option at a similar price would be Rolland who's a little older and more mature and potentially a more solid choice.
My team is picked now with 3 cheap ds's, two white jersey / stage winners, 1 podium guy, 1 breakaway and 2 sprinters with 0.2 credits left over.
I'm not going to change it as its taken me long enough to get to here.
No chance for De Gendt with the GC. As for Schleck, well you hit the nail on the head there, he could win a stage or pack in after stage 3, we just dont know what his head is like.
I, personally, would go with team 1 as its the same as mine other than Pinot. Also Mederel (being French) might get into a break or two to show his sponsor off.
I reckon I've narrowed it down, my choice is either:
1) Pinot, Bono, Fischer, Mederel OR
2) De Gendt, Schleck, Rasmussen, Gutierrez
Under 1 I reckon I'd score heavily with Pinot as he's a GC and White jersey contender plus likely to feature in the mountains but none of the others would score significantly.
Under 2 De Gendt could do well as he's targetting the overall in this race and Schleck... well Schleck could do anything. Rasmussen must be targetting the Team and two Individual time trials and Gutierrez is Movistar so likely to pick up points in the TTT too.
Thoughts?
Ramussen's not riding which means the Barbed Wire King comes into play.....and my team looks way different to most of those hinted at here with no GC guys at all(unless you count Dennis The Menace!!).
I've ended up with 5 sprinters and 3 cheap break guys, leaving me 17 credits for a half-decent all-rounder. Still might switch Cav for Froome - feels wrong to have no GC guys at all...
Ive gone for one of those, but not gonna tell you who.
Basically I have 5 guys from my purist team that should do well. Then 1 who is cheap but if on form should do well. 1 guy for the breaks and then 2 3 credit guys
Just looking over my team and I have a tough choice to make. I want a climber who will either compete for the GC, a stage win and get some other placings or one who'll go after the KoM.
I'm trying to choose between Pinot, Quintana, Costa and De Gendt. If I pick Pinot I need to drop one of my ten credit guys for a cheap option, if I pick Quintana/Costa I can afford a decent last DS or if I go for De Gendt, one of my favourite riders, I can pick a pretty solid last DS.
My head says Pinot is a solid choice as he's also white jersey material, Costa will be backup and Quintana might get to come out and play on one day so Pinot, as a team leader, is an obvious choice but a) it restricts the rest of my team and b) De Gendt is badass.
I have a team of Cav's and Sagan and 7 bargain types, but I am sure my thinking will change before the off.
Notice that Garmin still haven't declared their full team. If Rohan Dennis gets the nod, my team will most likely change to include him.
so in the Dauphine i left Froome out stage 1, and it cost me a place in top 10 (yes i'm still bitter about it).
Do i make the same mistake again??
Or bring in another sprinter? or Sagan?
Started looking and found the same as everyone else... this is gonna be difficult.
Only 9 riders are less than 5 credits... not sure I've seen that before.
I've gone for Sagan as my big money pick; he's done some extremely impressive riding over big climbs recently and is clearly targeting the green jersey - which barring accident I think he'll take ahead of Cav.
Beyond him, I've tried to pin down value. Either Porte or Rogers need to be in there; as super-domestiques for the two favourites one or other could well be on the podium come Paris and I'd expect both to TT well. I've also got my white jersey pick in there and an outsider who could grab a stage win or two in the hills.
Then there are the low-value riders; I've gone for a couple of invitee picks who will hopefully get some breakaway points, a carrot for luck, a lead-out man and an accident-prone fans' favourite (ok, it's Jonny Hoogerland).
Anyone taking a punt on Schleck?
No, and I'll probably regret it!
Yes because he seems to be riding into some form and for 9.2 credits I think he's worth a punt come the high mountains
If nothing else he surely must end up in a break one day even if he drops out of GC contention, and yes, I agree, he seems to coming into form but 9.2 credits is a lot for a 'possible break guy' if that's what he ends up being.
I agree with the possible break guy cost but as a purist pick on past rides and knowing what he's capable of on his day it's a price I'll take a punt on
But that's been my exact reason for picking him in pretty much every purist comp so far - and every time I'd have been better off picking a well-considered domestique choice for less money (especially one from a team like OPQS/Cannondale who are more or less guaranteed to get stage wins). Not doing it again.
This is the most expensive he's been all season though?
As for the Cav/Sagan debate I'll do what I always do and look at the age......incidentally what's happening with the intermediate sprint scoring? Last season it was 15 down to 1 for the first 15 riders at each one.
Agreed, given the lack of 3 credit riders you're effectively working with 5 or 10 less credits because your filler has to be more expensive.
I'm leaning towards changing my tactic and trying to get some quality in my team across the board and go for 9 scoring riders, the problem is picking the guys who'll score well.
Hard is an understatement. I think the fact there is no 3 credit guys to shove in is the worst part, regardless of who they may have been
Well if Sagan wins first week Cav second week, and win same number of stages each I will be doing pretty well with both of them
pretty tough to fill last two places with points left so why not a couple of French guys, to give me three in total.
I've gone all French for my purist
Well I got a purist team picked....
2 KM
2 SP
1 AR
4 DS
Stage I'm most looking forwards to ....huez twice as I'll be there
My basic analysis is:
Week 1 - lumpy unpredicatable stages mixed between GC, breaks and lump sprints. Exciting interesting racing
Week 2 - flat and dull, Cav to win every day and catch up with Sagan in the Green Jersey comp, not a lot else happening
Week 3 - massive mountains, lots of GC action, exciting race again!
Sagan/Cav to win about the same number of stages so it'll come down to how well they do when they don't win for the Green Jersey standings. If OPQS take Meersman it'll be interesting to see him go up against Sagan on the hill days.
Stage I'm most looking forward to? Stage 15, Mont Ventoux on Bastille day into a rest day, expect exciting explosive racing!
Cheers Doc!
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