Le Tour

Condor Andy wrote:

I have one transfer left..... 

How did I bollocks up the last week so badly?

Wow, that is going to be tough. 

I think the rankings can change quite alot from here depending on how many transfers we have held back.

I have 13 and even then I would like a few more and regret wasting some others.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Rumours flying around that QS are not going to help chase today, leaving all the work to Jumbo & Lotto. A few tipsters backing the break.

I'm hoping it ends in a sprint -

SAGAN
VIVIANI
GROENEWEGEN
EWAN
COLBRELLI
MEURISSE
WELLENS
PORTE

The break is definitely a possibility. 

I don't see DQS chasing.  I didn't pick Viviani today (I have Ewan, Groenewegen, Sagan and Colbrelli) to save a transfer, but he has worked so hard in recent days that it is hard to see him beating others who have been able to take it a little easier on those tough mountain stages.

Lotto will chase. Jumbo and Bora have GC contenders too.  Will Bahrain do any work?  Can't see Colbrelli winning though.  Sunweb, same issue whether Matthews or Bol sprints.

I want a sprint too, though I have kept two GC riders for their points and to save transfers for later in the week (Bernal and Pinot). 

Sniffer wrote:

Five in the break. Being kept on a short lead.  Unless anything unusal happens, looks like a sprint.

There will be crosswind later but maybe not strong enough to have an impact.

Interesting to see Viviani is still going for points at the intermediate sprint, I didn't expcet that.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Picking which rider will win from the break is too big a lottery today so gone with safe transfers.

Viviani, Groenewegen & Ewan out - Bernal, Pinot & Kruijswijk in.

SAGAN
BERNAL
PINOT
KRUIJSWIJK
COLBRELLI
MEURISSE
WELLENS
PORTE

With a bot of luck, Meurisse, Sagan and Colbrelli to be in the break.

Hopefully Trentin doesn't do anything.

I went Trentin, I hope Matthews doesn't do anything!

Honestly, it is a gamblers world so I am GC plus Sagan and Colbrelli with one gamble in Trentin.  MIS have really embraced stage hunting since GC hopes faded.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Did as Andy advised, Simon Yates in, plus Landa - team for today.

YATES S.
BERNAL
PINOT
KRUIJSWIJK
LANDA
MEURISSE
WELLENS
PORTE

My bad, I meant Quintana...or Bardet.....or Lutsenko....

That's the last time I convince myself someone with a great chance of the KOM, would let their out of form brother go for a doomed attempt at a stage win.

Dr Winston wrote:

Bardet punt went well....but what about my other breakaway rider,Simon Yates?

I missed the crucial bit...for a while it looked like Simon was trying to get on a break, but then I went out and came home to see Adam in the break instead...what happened?...wasn’t mistaken identity again early on was it..or did Simon just make a balls of it?

Simon will have another go this weekend. They might be GC days though.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Gone all in GC for today

Buchmann, Uran, Irviti in for Wellens, Meurisse and Simon Yates.

BUCHMANN
BERNAL
PINOT
KRUIJSWIJK
LANDA
URAN
IRVITI
PORTE

I was tempted to go for Bardet over Uran but decided to play safe.

 

I believe it will be a GC rider that wins, but I have got Bardet.  He must go for the big KoM points in the break.

stevemarks wrote:

Four in four out for me and negligible return for it. probably done for me,  good job I am travelling abroad the last week and won't be following so closely anyway.......(makes his excuse and hastily retreats)

Off to France for a week tomorrow so I won't be following closely either.

Need to do well to bring my season back on track.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Wellens has to go on the break again tomorrow ...Ciccone obviously set out for KOM but won’t be allowed any slack now that he’s in yellow...so Wellens needs to make hay doesn’t he?...

 

If the sun shines Wellens will struggle to make much hay, he really suffers in hot weather.

The HC climbs will determine who wins the KoM jersey, they are all over 2000m and score double points, 40 pts compared to 10 for a Cat1.

Ciccone seems to be a bit greedy, he wanted all the KoM points and the stage win. Could he have beaten Teuns if he had saved energy?

 

Yeah...I remember you saying he doesn’t like it hot, 

I have no doubt the KOM jersey will be settled in the high mountains but some of these riders and teams/sponsors like to spin out the ownership of jerseys for as long as possible. TDG and Wellens protecting that jersey together was testament to that...maybe...Ciccone may well be a keeper for the second half of the tour.

stevemarks wrote:

teckert wrote:

brought in Matthews for Benoot.....     

Oouch that hurts.

Three sprinters in today. snoozefest until Thursday.

What’s happened?...is he out?

Dr Winston wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

One transfer today out goes Ciccone in comes Mathews 

Pffft....unlucky Steve. 

out goes matthews in comes Ciccone. what could go wrong!

stevemarks wrote:

Sniffer wrote:

Expecting teams could be quite different today.

I was torn last night with guessing who would be in the break - I picked Benoot which may work.

Putting in some GC points - Bernal, Ala and Thomas

Kept Colbrelli as the intermediate sprint was in play

and finally guessing who would be a good TT pick too (probably Thomas).

It might be a stage where you can go up or down the rankings quite a bit.

Decided against putting Wellens back in, that may cost me as a gets maximum points on the first two climbs.

Didn't see the Dennis abandon coming.

I got Benoot too but not a lot more. Briefly thought about S Yates and quickly dismissed the thought as the rant of a madman. Bringing Thomas and WVA in today to add to my GC orientated team, I now have 3 x 3 pointers though which seems excessive. only 14 transfers left which seems too few as will probably need at least 9 for the sprint stages. ho hum I think I've been here before.

On the positive side I am leading the Purist competition. I am only pointing this out as my team is mostly made up of sprinters and I expect to go backwards rapidly from here.

France and Spain From Sunday, at least I will be on my bike in the Pyrenees and not just watching it.

Have a grear summer everyone catch you all for the Vuelta.

Skiddley.

17 transfers left after today and 3 x 3 pointer too. 

This weekend might tell us how many sprinters will be left for next week.  Last year many missed the timecuts in the mountains, particularly on short ones like Saturday.  If it all kicks off GCwise at some point many of them will find it tough.

Condor Andy wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Tony Martin having a total day off.....only question now is will he fit a cafe stop in at some point.

Team orders I hear.

I got in Lampaert instead of Asgreen....fml. I do have Andrerson, Haga, Thomas, Van Aert though.

Only made 2 changes for the ITT.

Brought in Van Aert & Lampaert.

Shame for Van Aert, it looks like his TdF is over, hope it isn't anything more serious.

I did consider bringing in De Gendt for yesterday but decided he would take it easy in the ITT.

BERNAL
THOMAS G.
VAN AERT
KRUIJSWIJK
LAMPAERT
MEURISSE
WELLENS
WURTZ SCHMIDT

stevemarks wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

Something incredible going on in this TdF.

Incredible or unbelieveable?

Incredibly unbelievable.

Sniffer wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

Sacrificed Bernal today, so all you betting guys should be getting on him to win today.

 

 

Kept Bernal, but dropped Alaphilippe. Thought he would crack and was too expensive to gamble on. At least I brought Pinot in.

I have both Bernal and Ala....but....broadly speaking something like Buchmann and Uran could be similar in pts and cost to something like Alaphillipe and Meurisse....and could well be the right way to go after the flatter stages. In other words...to afford Ala at the moment requires a sacrifice somewhere...so he has to be looked at as half of a pair.

Secret_squirrel wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

Looks like this TdF could be all about who is and isn't using ketones.

JumboVisma, LottoSoudal, Quickstep are using them, probabbly some others too.

Of the other teams Sky & Sunweb and other teams have said they are not using them becuase of unknown long term health impact.

The miraculous transformation of Alaphilippe into a world class climber does suggest that something is going on.

 

Hmm if it looks like doping and acts like doping it should be classed as doping.  Let's hope WADA pull their finger out and ban them - particularly as there are no long term health studies of their use.

The problem is, what is the difference between 'drugs' and 'food'?  If I rode having eaten nothing but grilled chicken, and I'm beaten by someone eating only strawberries, is the sugar they contain cheating? There's a chemical in there that helps them go faster/harder.

It was rumoured a few years back that ketones were Team Sky's 'secret' and then it all went quiet - now Ineos are saying they don't use them because of the health impacts?

MinardiM189 wrote:

Sniffer wrote:

Five in the break. Being kept on a short lead.  Unless anything unusal happens, looks like a sprint.

There will be crosswind later but maybe not strong enough to have an impact.

Interesting to see Viviani is still going for points at the intermediate sprint, I didn't expcet that.

 

Neither did I, one of the reasons I didn't pick him.

Condor Andy wrote:

My bad, I meant Quintana...or Bardet.....or Lutsenko....

That's the last time I convince myself someone with a great chance of the KOM, would let their out of form brother go for a doomed attempt at a stage win.

I was already planning to go with Simon Yates, he looked by far the strongest in the break the other day and was the bookies favourite for today.

Not sure what some teams were up to today. Movistar put pressue on on d'Izoard effectively reducing Quintana's lead, then when Bernal has broken free Thomas attacks bringing all the GC candidates closer to Bernal.

Dr Winston wrote:

stevemarks wrote:

teckert wrote:

brought in Matthews for Benoot.....     

Oouch that hurts.

Three sprinters in today. snoozefest until Thursday.

What’s happened?...is he out?

No no, Benoot came 2nd and Matthews didn't feature.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Condor Andy wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Tony Martin having a total day off.....only question now is will he fit a cafe stop in at some point.

Team orders I hear.

I got in Lampaert instead of Asgreen....fml. I do have Andrerson, Haga, Thomas, Van Aert though.

Only made 2 changes for the ITT.

Brought in Van Aert & Lampaert.

Shame for Van Aert, it looks like his TdF is over, hope it isn't anything more serious.

I did consider bringing in De Gendt for yesterday but decided he would take it easy in the ITT.

BERNAL
THOMAS G.
VAN AERT
KRUIJSWIJK
LAMPAERT
MEURISSE
WELLENS
WURTZ SCHMIDT

Just got in what happened to WVA?

stevemarks wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

Condor Andy wrote:

Dr Winston wrote:

Tony Martin having a total day off.....only question now is will he fit a cafe stop in at some point.

Team orders I hear.

I got in Lampaert instead of Asgreen....fml. I do have Andrerson, Haga, Thomas, Van Aert though.

Only made 2 changes for the ITT.

Brought in Van Aert & Lampaert.

Shame for Van Aert, it looks like his TdF is over, hope it isn't anything more serious.

I did consider bringing in De Gendt for yesterday but decided he would take it easy in the ITT.

BERNAL
THOMAS G.
VAN AERT
KRUIJSWIJK
LAMPAERT
MEURISSE
WELLENS
WURTZ SCHMIDT

 

Just got in what happened to WVA?

 

Sorry seen it now, Ouch! of course I took out De Gendt this morning to fit Thomas and WVA. I'm having a bit of a good run at the moment.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Sniffer wrote:

Five in the break. Being kept on a short lead.  Unless anything unusal happens, looks like a sprint.

There will be crosswind later but maybe not strong enough to have an impact.

Interesting to see Viviani is still going for points at the intermediate sprint, I didn't expcet that.

 

Nor did I. No chance of winning the green jersey and beeen really good as a domestic for Alaphillipe in the mountains.....dunno what he or his team have got out of contesting that intermediate. I expected Colbrelli and Sagan with a somewhat confused Matthews wanting the points.

Dr Winston wrote:

Nor did I. No chance of winning the green jersey and beeen really good as a domestic for Alaphillipe in the mountains.....dunno what he or his team have got out of contesting that intermediate. I expected Colbrelli and Sagan with a somewhat confused Matthews wanting the points.

I suppose there is always the chance something happens to Sagan.

The intermediate sprints tomorrow and Thursday are before any serious climbing, so he could go for more points there too. Do I risk keeping him in for that?

Looking at the final sprint again it didn't look like Viviani had much to give at the finish.

Ewan is looking the fastest by far at the moment.

Condor Andy wrote:

96 points scored by todays winner. Did anyone get him it?

My bad, maths was off. 94 points.

JohnnyRemo wrote:

I've had WVA in since stage 1 and decided yesterday that he was riding purely for the team and wasn't going for stages...

St Date                  Rider in                Rider out
10 Jul 15, 08:21 Elia Viviani          Wout Van Aert

Okay - only cost a couple of points but also a transfer I didn't need to lose. This game is *so* frustrating!

Just looked at my brother’s team...he did the same as part of a batch of four transfers... and I would imagine a few others did as well...

Condor Andy wrote:

I have one transfer left..... 

How did I bollocks up the last week so badly?

At least you can't screw many more trqansfers up.

I have 19 remaining before tomorrow's stage. Lots of chances to screw things up.

MinardiM189 wrote:

Hopefully Trentin doesn't do anything.

You were saying?

Condor Andy wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

Hopefully Trentin doesn't do anything.

You were saying?

I knew that was going to happen.

I should really have picked him instead of Kruijswijk, just to cover my bases. I wasted so many transfers chasing the break in the Giro and I have become too cautious.

So who should I pick for tomorrow.

MinardiM189 wrote:

So who should I pick for tomorrow.

Simon Yates

Condor Andy wrote:

MinardiM189 wrote:

So who should I pick for tomorrow.

Simon Yates

Done.