Tour of Oman Open for Business

MinardiM189 wrote:

I brought in Kristoff, Bonifazio, Bouhanni & Van Poppel in for todays stage.

Between them they scored ZERO !!!!

However, with that result I think I may be joint top in the purist.

Well done Minardi...first win of the season...On another day and with a bit of luck you could have done the double.

Dr Winston wrote:

Well done Minardi...first win of the season...On another day and with a bit of luck you could have done the double.

Thanks.

After cocking up on Stage4 I was never going to win the standard competition. At the end of the day I was lucky to stay in the top 10.

I've had that happen before, lots of transfers for the last stage and I lose out. All the riders I bring in mess up and people who had no transfers beat me becuase they have to keep the GC guys.

Looks like the same happened to Tony, really strong sprinters team but they all messed up.

Condor Andy wrote:

Alright, hands up, who went for Nizzolo or Ballerini for today? I already had Colbrelli, but I brought Kristoff and Coquard back in.

Had Colbrelli Kristoff and Coquard with Bouhanni as my other main hope...nowhere to be seen...

Tbh my other options were almost Greipel back instead of Kristoff but he did nothing either...or Visconti for Gibbons. All the options I considered wouldn’t really have left me any better off. Nizzolo was way off my radar.

Condor Andy wrote:

Huge result from young Frenchman Grellier, and well done everyone who scooped up Gesbert, he bagged 5th on the line. He's now 5th on GC and in the young riders jersey.

Yep...well done to them indeed. Did you get him Andy ?

Good races these...i don't know enough about some of these riders so races like this helps.  He could have been left at the bottom of that hill for all i knew.

Dr Winston wrote:

Condor Andy wrote:

Huge result from young Frenchman Grellier, and well done everyone who scooped up Gesbert, he bagged 5th on the line. He's now 5th on GC and in the young riders jersey.

Yep...well done to them indeed. Did you get him Andy ?

Good races these...i don't know enough about some of these riders so races like this helps.  He could have been left at the bottom of that hill for all i knew.

Grellier has no record i can see of performing uphill, how does that happen?

I missed it and was out, was he in the breakaway?

stevemarks wrote:

Grellier has no record i can see of performing uphill, how does that happen?

 

I missed it and was out, was he in the breakaway?

Yes he was in the break.

MinardiM189 wrote:

I went

POZZOVIVO
POLANC
LUTSENKO
GIBBONS
GESBERT
COSTA
HERRADA
COQUARD

with 4 transfers left for tomorrow (for some reason I though there were only 10 transfers so planned the first few stages based on that).

It is forecast to be windy today, so echelons could blow things apart.

Dropping GVA for Kristoff yesterday messed any chances I might have had up, a top10 is the best I can hope for.

Maybe a top3 in purist.

The only reason I ignored those at the lower end of the top 10  on GC , like Gesberg, is because I simply don't know how they ride a hill this steep and long....they have the form on the lesser hills for sure. Frank is the opposite...rubbish form but at least he's done this one before and done ok without ripping up any trees....and Tony may have been less inclined to get him than the form cheapies....Last throw of the dice really.

Dr Winston wrote:

The only reason I ignored those at the lower end of the top 10  on GC , like Gesberg, is because I simply don't know how they ride a hill this steep and long....they have the form on the lesser hills for sure. Frank is the opposite...rubbish form but at least he's done this one before and done ok without ripping up any trees....and Tony may have been less inclined to get him than the form cheapies....Last throw of the dice really.

Frank did come 7th on the same stage in 2017 but his form in the preceding stages was much better than this year. He is also on my black list.

If Gesbert does OK I can see him moving up to 5th on GC and taking the young rider jersey. That would give him at least 11 points in the final stage which is the best you can expect from a cheap sprinter.

I think there is a good chance GVA gets around top10. The field this year is pretty poor.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

The only reason I ignored those at the lower end of the top 10  on GC , like Gesberg, is because I simply don't know how they ride a hill this steep and long....they have the form on the lesser hills for sure. Frank is the opposite...rubbish form but at least he's done this one before and done ok without ripping up any trees....and Tony may have been less inclined to get him than the form cheapies....Last throw of the dice really.

Frank did come 7th on the same stage in 2017 but his form in the preceding stages was much better than this year. He is also on my black list.

If Gesbert does OK I can see him moving up to 5th on GC and taking the young rider jersey. That would give him at least 11 points in the final stage which is the best you can expect from a cheap sprinter.

I think there is a good chance GVA gets around top10. The field this year is pretty poor.

Yes it is poor. No Lopez flying up that hill this year to kill GVA's GC rank. I'm expecting about tenth for Frank maybe, I just don't know enough about Gesbert on a climb like this  to have picked him....and yes....GVA could well place ok today...my hope is he doesn't and Frank exceeds my expectation. My picks are more about trying to close that gap of 44 pts on Tony. GVA and Kristoff can't do that for me and being as it's a "just for fun" game I may as well try.

Dr Winston wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

The only reason I ignored those at the lower end of the top 10  on GC , like Gesberg, is because I simply don't know how they ride a hill this steep and long....they have the form on the lesser hills for sure. Frank is the opposite...rubbish form but at least he's done this one before and done ok without ripping up any trees....and Tony may have been less inclined to get him than the form cheapies....Last throw of the dice really.

Frank did come 7th on the same stage in 2017 but his form in the preceding stages was much better than this year. He is also on my black list.

If Gesbert does OK I can see him moving up to 5th on GC and taking the young rider jersey. That would give him at least 11 points in the final stage which is the best you can expect from a cheap sprinter.

I think there is a good chance GVA gets around top10. The field this year is pretty poor.

Yes it is poor. No Lopez flying up that hill this year to kill GVA's GC rank. I'm expecting about tenth for Frank maybe, I just don't know enough about Gesbert on a climb like this  to have picked him....and yes....GVA could well place ok today...my hope is he doesn't and Frank exceeds my expectation. My picks are more about trying to close that gap of 44 pts on Tony. GVA and Kristoff can't do that for me and being as it's a "just for fun" game I may as well try.

In fact i can word it better than that. At 44 pts behind the only chance i have of winning the tour of Oman is to take GVA out for somebody else and hope Tony keeps him and he bombs up that hill again...and not get Kristoff back in again tomorrow and hope he has a thin day whilst i go for Bouhanni or somebody like that who does well...or wins...I kinda worked out that was my only choice really. I wouldn't do any of it if counted towards GC.

Dr Winston wrote:

In fact i can word it better than that. At 44 pts behind the only chance i have of winning the tour of Oman is to take GVA out for somebody else and hope Tony keeps him and he bombs up that hill again...and not get Kristoff back in again tomorrow and hope he has a thin day whilst i go for Bouhanni or somebody like that who does well...or wins...I kinda worked out that was my only choice really. I wouldn't do any of it if counted towards GC.

Pity I messed up on stage 4.

Quite a good stage 5 for me, although I have no idea why I left Coquard in and dropped Kristoff.

Maybe a Grosu, Greipel, Nizzolo combination can pull off a surprise win.

I think Gibbons will ride for Nizzolo tomorrow.

Is it worth keeping Herrada in, last year he picked up points in the sprint?

Dr Winston wrote:

Followed Minardi and took out GVA in the hope he doesn’t like this summit as much as he didn’t like it for the last two years. 

Went with the 4 main guys plus Frank although I have no faith in him whatsoever. Left Gibbons and Cras and Naesen in. leaves me 3 transfers for tomorrow.

stevemarks wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Followed Minardi and took out GVA in the hope he doesn’t like this summit as much as he didn’t like it for the last two years. 

Went with the 4 main guys plus Frank although I have no faith in him whatsoever. Left Gibbons and Cras and Naesen in. leaves me 3 transfers for tomorrow.

i’m on Frank Polanc Costa Lutsenko Pozzovivo Herrada....Colbrelli and Gibbons...Four transfers for tomorrow.

Like you i’m on hit and hope with Frank. 

stevemarks wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Followed Minardi and took out GVA in the hope he doesn’t like this summit as much as he didn’t like it for the last two years. 

Went with the 4 main guys plus Frank although I have no faith in him whatsoever. Left Gibbons and Cras and Naesen in. leaves me 3 transfers for tomorrow.

i’m on Frank Polanc Costa Lutsenko Pozzovivo Herrada....Colbrelli and Gibbons...Four transfers for tomorrow.

Like you i’m on hit and hope with Frank. 

Dr Winston wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Followed Minardi and took out GVA in the hope he doesn’t like this summit as much as he didn’t like it for the last two years. 

Went with the 4 main guys plus Frank although I have no faith in him whatsoever. Left Gibbons and Cras and Naesen in. leaves me 3 transfers for tomorrow.

 

i’m on Frank Polanc Costa Lutsenko Pozzovivo Herrada....Colbrelli and Gibbons...Four transfers for tomorrow.

Like you i’m on hit and hope with Frank. 

Van Rensberg is my point of difference.  OK, it is a long shot.

Sniffer wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Followed Minardi and took out GVA in the hope he doesn’t like this summit as much as he didn’t like it for the last two years. 

Went with the 4 main guys plus Frank although I have no faith in him whatsoever. Left Gibbons and Cras and Naesen in. leaves me 3 transfers for tomorrow.

 

i’m on Frank Polanc Costa Lutsenko Pozzovivo Herrada....Colbrelli and Gibbons...Four transfers for tomorrow.

Like you i’m on hit and hope with Frank. 

W

Van Rensberg is my point of difference.  OK, it is a long shot.

Did you take out GVA?.....Frank or Van Rensburg was my dither....went with the former.