Criterium du Dauphine stage 5

ala out yates in for me...

swing, strike, miss... the summary of my "all in" for today... next race please...

Today's stage summary comes courtesy of Kleenex, helping the Fantasy Cycling community wipe the tears from their face all over the world...

Only 2 teams joined overnight bringing us to a total of 893 teams in the competition.

There were 157 unique scores, exactly the amount of unique scores we had yesterday, too! Hmmm... interesting...

What riders were in the most common team?... Hmmm... I'm guessing Valverde and Froome... But today it's especially hard to tell...

Today's average score was 74.8 points.

As a reference, the average scores for previous stages was:

Stage 1 67.5
Stage 2 82.2
Stage 3 82.2
Stage 4 70.5

Hmmm... Makes me think there are a lot 'abandoned'' teams out there dragging average scores down... Today, for example, there were 94 teams that scored 33 points or less, which means their whole team scored less than what Froome scored all by his lonesome... This means, according to the panel of experts I consult with, that these teams are built for a stage and then 'abandoned' for the rest of the competition... That's roughly 11% of all teams entered...

I guess I could look for the median and the most common score, too...

And what would have been today's 'Perfect' team?... this!:

31.5 Romain Bardet
30.7 Tejay Van Garderen
22.5 Simon Yates
22.1 Benat Intxausti
17.4 Michele Scarponi
16.0 Louis Meintjes
4.5 Daniel Teklehaimanot
3.0 Arnaud Courteille

Notice no Froome. Or Valverde...

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This team would have come in at 147.7 credits, but (!) it would have yielded you a grand total of 221 points. It was better than the best 'Actual' team by 'only' 36 points...

Here's today's winning team, by the way:

Romain Bardet       KM 58
Tejay Van Garderen       KM 40
Simon Yates       AR 29
Michele Scarponi   KM 21
Andrew Talansky       AR 20
Pierre Rolland   KM 12
Robert Kiserlovski       DS 5
Lawson Craddock   DS 0

Hmmm...No Froome or Valverde there either... ... but, before today, who the hell would have ventured to put Benat Intxausti or Louis Mentjies or Scarponi on their teams?... Except you, stumpy... or drdolittle, today's winner...

In contrast, my 'Dream Team' of

40.0 Alejandro Valverde
38.0 Christopher Froome
34.1 Vincenzo Nibali
30.7 Tejay Van Garderen
3.0
3.0
3.0
3.0

154.8 credits

... going over budget by 4.8 credits would have yielded only 77 points...

Tomorrow? God knows... I'm waiting it out...

I hope we get enough rope to hang ourselves, , with a bigger budget and a better valuation of climbers and GC folks for the Tour... This being able to pick 4 stars and 4 riders everyone will pick too is despairing...

But fun to analyze!

Gone all in, no transfers left! At least I can concentrate on TDS.

Not a good day today, my transfers failed other than Froome and Meintjes. Made my last 2 transfers for tomorrow and will see how it goes.

Not a good day today, my transfers failed other than Froome and Meintjes. Made my last 2 transfers for tomorrow and will see how it goes.

Not a good day today, my transfers failed other than Froome and Meintjes. Made my last 2 transfers for tomorrow and will see how it goes.

Nibali and Alaphillipe picks wasted, and I went for the cheap yates.
But got top two.
Still have loadsa xfers lefty.

Oh, and what happened with Nibali. Glad i didn't pick him. Looked like he just quit, he's probably going for stage win on saturday instead of GC.

It seems i have some thinking to do...
Valverde... Alaphilippe...
I think tomorrow would suit both of them, but i am not impressed with their efforts today

13th on stage, might be enough for a stage win on FS

7,12,16,19. Terrible. My Purito instead of Froome gamble did not pay off at all. Big clean out for tomorrow, Valverde, Alaphillipe, Purito definitely gone...

2,3,16,19. Not great. Wholesale changes tonight!

1 Romain BARDET
2 Tejay van GARDEREN
3 Christopher FROOME
4 Beñat INTXAUSTI
5 Simon YATES
6 Louis MEINTJES
7 Andrew TALANSKY
8 Michele SCARPONI
9 Pierre ROLLAND
10 Mathias FRANK
11 Daniel MARTIN
12 Joaquim RODRÍGUEZ
13 Nicolas ROCHE
14 Rafael VALLS
15 Bart De CLERCQ
16 Robert KIŠERLOVSKI
17 Alexis VUILLERMOZ
18 Wilco KELDERMAN
19 Alejandro VALVERDE
20 Peter KENNAUGH

Bah had the winner and that is all, gonna need to use my 3 transfers wisely me thinks...

Valverde out? Bennett out? Alaphillipe out?

1,3,5,16,19

Go Froome!
Alaphilippe, never gonna happen!
Nibali, dont rate him!

Alaphilippe popped with over 30km to go

livestrongnick wrote:

... I might regret dropping Alaphilippe...

_Kasper wrote:

I... decided to keep him in...

Joelsim wrote:

Decided to take Alaphilippe out...

stevemarks wrote:

... kept Alaphillipe and Dennis...

Dennis might fetch you some decent points today... I think it's a good strategy... hopefully!

What a dilemma around Alaphilippe... I can't wait to see how he does!
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backflipbedlem wrote:

... Courteille...

Joelsim wrote:

... ARNAUD COURTEILLE...

Joelsim wrote:

... Arnaud Courteille...

I hate Courteille...
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backflipbedlem wrote:

... looks like most teams will have... Courteille

I don't...

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Joelsim wrote:

... 4 transfers left...

You're playing a picture perfect game so far...

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backflipbedlem wrote:

... What can I say, I just love the guy!!

Love the enthusiasm!

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Joelsim wrote:

botd...

Love the acronym... Took my brain a minute to figure it out...
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stevemarks wrote:

... I... regret not getting a Yates in.

Today might not be their day... hopefully!

Have taken a bit of risk with Purito instead of Froome, this seems his sort of finish (well, it used to be). Have kept Alaphilippe as tomorrow looks good for him. Four changes left if it all goes pear-shaped...

ALEJANDRO VALVERDE (MOV)
JOAQUIN RODRIGUEZ (KAT)
JULIAN ALAPHILIPPE (EQS)
ROHAN DENNIS (BMC)
ROBERT KISERLOVSKI (TSB)
ANDREW TALANSKY (TCG)
JESPER HANSEN (TSB)
DANIEL TEKLEHAIMANOT (MTQ)

Julian Alaphilippe (EQS)
Robert Kiserlovski (TSB)
Michael Schar (BMC)
Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTQ)
Christopher Froome (SKY)
Maxime Bouet (EQS)
Rohan Dennis (BMC)
Alejandro Valverde (MOV)

kept Alaphillipe and Dennis made a tactical decision and decided to wait until tomorrow to make my final choices. I have 5 transfers left so can still make some fairly major adjustments, although I do regret not getting a Yates in.

2 in the break! Woo! But looks like most team will have Teklehaimanot & Courteille

botd: Christophe Riblon (AG2R-La Mondiale), Tim Wellens (Lotto-Soudal), Pieter Serry (Etixx-Quick Step), Romain Sicard (Europcar), Arnaud Courteille (FDJ), Albert Timmer (Giant-Alpecin), Daniel Teklehaimanot (MTN-Qhubeka) 3'40" after 30km