Tour of Oman Open for Business

dc04dc wrote:

I’m so confused — do these races count toward the overall standard and purist leagues, or not? Totals keep being added every day. If they don’t count, will there be a reset?

Yes...a reset when they fix the glitch. A couple of races they kindly threw in for fun to fill a big gap. 

Dr Winston wrote:

dc04dc wrote:

I’m so confused — do these races count toward the overall standard and purist leagues, or not? Totals keep being added every day. If they don’t count, will there be a reset?

Yes...a reset when they fix the glitch. A couple of races they kindly threw in for fun to fill a big gap. 

To be clear...there was a big gap between the start of the UCI Callander in Australia and the UAE tour as the next one on the UCI Calander....so they did a couple of races just for fun to fill the gap. Nice...but not counted towards the season competition.

TERatcliffe26 wrote:

Im going to get back into posting if debate is going to be this good, this thread feels like the old days.

Ive gone Polanc and 3 transfers for tomorrow

Gibbons
GVA
Pozzovivo
Costa
Herrada
Lutsenko
Polanc
Filosi

How sure of GVA are you Ter?...he’s bombed on this stage two years running. I may risk dropping him in pursuit of a differential.

stevemarks wrote:

Hey gamble paid off quite handsomely. I played Chess as a junior too and Bridge later on but frankly this is far more fun, particularly the 3 week game. Climers? Naeson/ I might leave Gibbons in 12th on Wilunga.

Pleased for you...what was the gamble Steve?

I'm gonna enjoy these "Just for fun" games".

The problem is, to win one, and if you're placed maybe around 4th to 10th, you have to gamble something different to those above you...no good doing the same.

I did exactlty that last year in a few races...it paid off for Catalunya when i won that..but usually it's shooting yourself in the foot.

The top two or maybe three, depending upon points,  can just carry on getting the best picks...it's up to those behind to win it by doing something different.

Dr Winston wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

Hey gamble paid off quite handsomely. I played Chess as a junior too and Bridge later on but frankly this is far more fun, particularly the 3 week game. Climers? Naeson/ I might leave Gibbons in 12th on Wilunga.

Pleased for you...what was the gamble Steve?

I'm gonna enjoy these "Just for fun" games".

The problem is, to win one, and if you're placed maybe around 4th to 10th, you have to gamble something different to those above you...no good doing the same.

I did exactlty that last year in a few races...it paid off for Catalunya when i won that..but usually it's shooting yourself in the foot.

The top two or maybe three, depending upon points,  can just carry on getting the best picks...it's up to those behind to win it by doing something different.

stevemarks wrote:

Huge gamble leaving Kristof and Coquard out here but I need two transfers and I just don't think it's worth using them up. Colbrelli won this stage in 2017 so I don.t want to take him out, best do nothing and save the transfers.

Obviously my subconcious must have blacked out Kristof's name when I looked at the result in 2017 lol I ended up making no transfers leaving GVA and Costa in and Kristof and Coquard out saving two transfers. I am always guilty of making too many transfers too early so its a particularly satisfying feeling for once... 

tony kappler wrote:

I played chess as a youth, but found it too slow and boring. Now I play a form of chess that can take up to 3 weeks per match. Go figure.

Stage 5, Minardi, "then????"  Yes, I want to know who to pick for ? and ?

Polanc and Frank may do ok. Won’t be enough though I suspect. 

Dr Winston wrote:

tony kappler wrote:

I played chess as a youth, but found it too slow and boring. Now I play a form of chess that can take up to 3 weeks per match. Go figure.

Stage 5, Minardi, "then????"  Yes, I want to know who to pick for ? and ?

Polanc and Frank may do ok. Won’t be enough though I suspect. 

My impulsiveness won out yesterday evening and I went with the safe bet - dropping GVA for Kristoff and bringing in Coquard. Once I had made the pick I knew what would happen today

Given the lack of decent climbers GVA will probably get a top10 tomorrow.

The ??? for the climbers means I am not at all sure. Gesbert ? Doubey ? Polanc ? Cras ?

I don't see Frank doing anything, will Weening show his face ?

Maybe Cort was saving himself for tomorrow Dr Winston ?

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

tony kappler wrote:

I played chess as a youth, but found it too slow and boring. Now I play a form of chess that can take up to 3 weeks per match. Go figure.

Stage 5, Minardi, "then????"  Yes, I want to know who to pick for ? and ?

Polanc and Frank may do ok. Won’t be enough though I suspect. 

My impulsiveness won out yesterday evening and I went with the safe bet - dropping GVA for Kristoff and bringing in Coquard. Once I had made the pick I knew what would happen today

Given the lack of decent climbers GVA will probably get a top10 tomorrow.

The ??? for the climbers means I am not at all sure. Gesbert ? Doubey ? Polanc ? Cras ?

I don't see Frank doing anything, will Weening show his face ?

Maybe Cort was saving himself for tomorrow Dr Winston ?

Pffft...do you think so...for another hard day at the back. He’s so damned flaky, it seems to be all or nothing. I didn’t expect him to win but just somewhere at the lower end of the top ten would have done me nicely.

Dr Winston wrote:

Pffft...do you think so...for another hard day at the back. He’s so damned flaky, it seems to be all or nothing. I didn’t expect him to win but just somewhere at the lower end of the top ten would have done me nicely.

I think it was his turn to work for the team today, before the stage he said he might be asked to work for the team, I guess he is swapping duties with Ballerini.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Pffft...do you think so...for another hard day at the back. He’s so damned flaky, it seems to be all or nothing. I didn’t expect him to win but just somewhere at the lower end of the top ten would have done me nicely.

I think it was his turn to work for the team today, before the stage he said he might be asked to work for the team, I guess he is swapping duties with Ballerini.

Wish i'd seen that Minardi...where do you see such quoutes?

Dr Winston wrote:

Wish i'd seen that Minardi...where do you see such quoutes?

It was from a pre-stage interview posted on Twitter but was too late to take into account. I had Cort too.

tony kappler wrote:

Do any of you guys (particularly Dr Winston and Minardi) play chess (with it's requirement to think many moves ahead)?

Swapped Costa for Colbrelli, which I thought was only a marginal improvement. Hoping Cort and Costa are only so so in stage 4.

Any thoughts on your 5th and 6th climbers for stage 5?

I think there is a new performance enhancing drug out there which is undetectable. I noticed last year various Spanish riders doing uncharteristically well. Lutsenko and Kristoff are both good riders, but they both seem to be at 110%

I am hopeless at chess, far too impulsive. What I do have is quite a bit of spare time, so I go through quite a few permutations before making the wrong decisions.

As for climbers for stage 5, apart from Lutsenko, Pozzovivo, Herrada, Costa, then ????

Astana always seem to start the season with a bang, this season even more so. I suspect their training is aimed at peaking  early in the season to get results in the bag. Lutsenko has gone well in Oman since 2017.

Kristoff has always been strong in the early part of the season, so not a great surprise he is doing well this year.

tony kappler wrote:

Do any of you guys (particularly Dr Winston and Minardi) play chess (with it's requirement to think many moves ahead)?

Swapped Costa for Colbrelli, which I thought was only a marginal improvement. Hoping Cort and Costa are only so so in stage 4.

Any thoughts on your 5th and 6th climbers for stage 5?

I think there is a new performance enhancing drug out there which is undetectable. I noticed last year various Spanish riders doing uncharteristically well. Lutsenko and Kristoff are both good riders, but they both seem to be at 110%

Not sure who else to go with yet Tony. As it’s not for OR i’m Just gonna see if a couple of extra transfers can help me....if it was on OR the chances of me being without Kristoff today would be about nil...he’s really strong.

I need Cort and Colbrelli to do well and for one of the GC boys to drag the others into the points.

I should fall several places and then see if I can rise....not many choices though.

stevemarks wrote:

Huge gamble leaving Kristof and Coquard out here but I need two transfers and I just don't think it's worth using them up. Colbrelli won this stage in 2017 so I don.t want to take him out, best do nothing and save the transfers. 

Considering the same gamble of leaving Kristoff out. The gamble is that I could do better with seven remaining transfers for the last two stages. Realliscally I would have to do something like Costa and Cort > Kristoff and 3.0 to get him in and leave me with just 5 transfers for the last two days and no Costa. 

Mmmm...

stevemarks wrote:

Huge gamble leaving Kristof and Coquard out here but I need two transfers and I just don't think it's worth using them up. Colbrelli won this stage in 2017 so I don.t want to take him out, best do nothing and save the transfers. 

I just discovered I have 2 more transfers than I thought.

Colbrelli finished 2nd behind Kristof in 2017 with Van Avermaet 3rd, but there is a lot more distance between the final climb and the finish this year.

The weather forecast suggests it will be a windy day, so echelons could well play a part.

Coquard has been taking it easy so far, so it is difficult to know if he will be OK over the climbs.

Condor Andy wrote:

Yeah, when Dave figures out a fix, we'll rerun the updates to take the scores out of the overall game. Sorry.

doesn't matter...just have to do it again. Will the Algarve game be part of overall or not?

Quite nice to have a few exempt races where we can be far more cavalier with picks to try and win a race. I went for a few differentials last year to try and win races but it's a gamble on our OR's. 

Dr Winston wrote:

Going well. Up to 4th in the standard game. ...and 7th overall (am I going to lose my rank with that reset?)

Wasn't sure whether this was a GC finish or a Rolleur finish so in the end I had a straight choice of Herrada and Pozzovivo or a fudge of Herrada and Gibbons. ...went for the latter for Kristoff and Capiot...Gibbons could be the better pick than Pozzovivo  today so maybe for the best over the two days.

Another odd looking day today...those three climbs are tough and could see a few sprinters unhappy If  the pace is high.

A better day for me. I won the purist stage

The question for tomorrow is which sprinters will be in touch over the final climb.

Do I drop GVA for Kristoff, or do I abandon Colbrelli ?

Do I bring another spriner in?

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Going well. Up to 4th in the standard game. ...and 7th overall (am I going to lose my rank with that reset?)

Wasn't sure whether this was a GC finish or a Rolleur finish so in the end I had a straight choice of Herrada and Pozzovivo or a fudge of Herrada and Gibbons. ...went for the latter for Kristoff and Capiot...Gibbons could be the better pick than Pozzovivo  today so maybe for the best over the two days.

Another odd looking day today...those three climbs are tough and could see a few sprinters unhappy If  the pace is high.

A better day for me. I won the purist stage

The question for tomorrow is which sprinters will be in touch over the final climb.

Do I drop GVA for Kristoff, or do I abandon Colbrelli ?

Do I bring another spriner in?

 

Managed to go up a place to 3rd despite Magnus Corts best efforts at torpedoing my day.. 44 pts behind Tony though so a damned near impossible task. One more transfer than him left and I already have Costa. He’ll surely do Costa, Pozzovivo and one other in.....maybe two....

Mmmm...

Looks like it’s his to lose.

stevemarks wrote:

Hmm why are we doing algarve and not Ruta del Sol?

There was a post about upcoming races asking for peoples'opinions.

Oman, Algarve and then UAE were proposed and nobody suggested anything else.