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Tour down under
Here we go again....and just why is Mr Porte so heavily fancied again?...He was stealing a living last season.
He’s definitely the first issue to think about this season for the purist team...isn’t he?
If you're new please join in and if you have questions pop them below and the forum regulars will answer as best we can.
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I suspect you are right. But no harm in hoping.
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I keep having to remind myself (even after all this time playing) that it's mostly a stage game, even in the purist. There will be (probably) 4 sprints and only 2 GC days, and one of those is a maybe. My big question is, do I take all three expensive boys in the hope they'll finish 1-2-3 every sprint stage?
Good ploy Andy...and a fair assessment. Two quite cheap good outside bets in the game imo for GC.
That stage could easily see somebody like Valgren or Sanchez throw a giant spanner in the works for the GC boys and our plans for our teams. Like you say the gaps on Willunga Hill are quite small whereas a well ridden stage 4 could be more profitable time wise. Given the fact that the likes of Woods and Porte will be favourites for stage 6 then anybody else will surely target that stage 4.
Errrr yeah, stage 4, that one. Here's hoping for late attacks on that one.
The thing is, Impey won last year because of bonus seconds on stages 2 and 4, and then only losing 8 seconds to Porte on Willunga Hill. The GC gaps are never really that huge and Willunga Hill isn't hard enough really. I'm going sprint heavy in the purist with a couple of outside bets.
Who do you fancy as outside bets Andy? I can see quite a few.
I quite fancy Prades to do well after he finished really well last season....having said that this race really rests on nicking just a few seconds here and there so to that end there are very many who could do that. Ulissi, Valgren, Prades,, Sanchez...loads of them could do it. It’s ok with the standard game because you can just let the game unfold but really hard to name the right outsider for the purist game.
Did you mean stage 4 Andy?....That looks like the deciding stage for the game depending upon how it is ridden in real life. It could be that a few GC contenders just look at each other for too long, or a full on battle...or a breakaway from the top of the corkscrew....or maybe they make a pigs ear of it and it ends up a reduced sprint.
It’s a really well placed stage. If we assume that the pretenders know that beating Porte on Willunga Hill may be difficult it could be their best chance to put some time into him.
Yeah it's a good line-up for TDU. Poels, Latour etc. He was a passenger at the Vuelta because he was still recovering from his Tour crash. I guess we'll see if he's fully recovered from it.
I agree though, I don't think he'll have an amazing year, but he should still do well here. The thing I'm thinking of with team selection is, there's only really stage 6 that's GC, maaaaybe stage 5 as well depending on how the final climb is raced. I'm going sprint heavy with the purist team.
@Andy. I didn’t mean that unkindly...he genuinely looked like he was struggling to finish stages at times let alone whole races by the end. He was nothing but a passenger at the Vuelta and beyond and even before his two good races he struggled.
I know this is his race historically but i’m Surprised he’s such a big a favourite as he’s looking at the moment with some stiff competition in this tour and how his season ended...
Porte has been on the podium every year since 2015, and has won the queen stage every year since 2014. so perhaps not *that* surprising he's a favourite...
I'm going to try and make more of an effort this season to actually play the game, rather than just chucking in a team and not making transfers. I basically played both teams as purist last season and the season before since I left the admin side of the game and let others take it on, I sort of lost interest because I wasn't having to log in daily and update anything.
His 'stealing a living' year included winning the Tour de Suisse and 3rd at the Tour de Romandie. 2nd at the TDU too, it was only his TdF that was bollocks. He turns 34 at the end of this month if that sways your opinion at all.
I suppose he always seems to perform in the TDU and will want to make a big impression for his new team. All depends on his pricing for me
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