Volta Ciclista a Catalunya - Stage 5

Got another full house and 123. 28th in the comp after missing a stage. I think I might have to try that more often! I think for these short tours it might not be a bad strategy. Noticeable that mountain points have been significant for the first time, had Salerno in from stage 2! He's earnt a ton of points!

Ive brought in Gesink for Machado. Now trying to decide whether to stick with Meersman and Dumoulin, or bring in Stetina

Snap for Salerno.

All i need tomorrow is for Kohler to be in the break or be in the top 20 at the line and i will earn another badge.

I got it right taking the penalty points bringing in Salerno and Dumoulin

16º 76 KREDER, Michel NED GARMIN SHARP a 03
17º 81 RODRIGUEZ, Joaquin ESP KATUSHA a 03
18º 192 CARDOSO, Manuel POR CAJA RURAL a 03
19º 206 MOLARD, Rudy FRA COFIDIS, SOLUTIONS C a 03
20º 114 HERRADA, José ESP MOVISTAR TEAM a

ended up with 4,7,9,17 plus the usual gc / mountain etc etc.

Provisional GC
1. Daniel Martin (Garmin-Sharp) 22:20:39
2. Joaquim Rodríguez (Katusha) at 14
3. Nairo Quintana (Movistar Team) at 42
4. Bradley Wiggins (Sky) at 46
5. Michele Scarponi (Lampre-Merida) at 47
6. Robert Gesink (Blanco) at 59
7. Przemyslaw Niemiec (Lampre-Merida) at 1:10
8. Peter Stetina (Garmin-Sharp) at 1:17
9. Thibaut Pinot (FDJ) at 1:23
10. Jurgen Van den Broeck (Lotto-Belisol) at 1:25

That bonus second for DanMartin at the last intermediate may be important as his lead on GC is now 11seconds,protecting against a J-Rod stage win 10sec bonus!!

Port D'Ager KOM Point(Cat 2)

Kaisen 6 fantasy pts
Valentin 5 fantasy pts
Salerno 4 fantasy pts
DeGendt 3 fantasy pts
Rujano 2 fantasy pt
unknown 1 fantasy pt

2nd intermediate sprint

Kaisen 6 fantasy pts
Valentin 4 fantasy pts
Martin 2 fantasy pts

1 Parisien
2 Dumoulin
3 Poulhies
4 Ratto
5 Wyss
6 Fenn
7 Meersman
8 Lammertink
9 Martin
10 Damuseau
11 Simon
12 Lancaster
13 Ligthart
14 Gavazzi
15 Paiani

I know but with only 2 transfers each day i will bring back my other 2 gc boys and still be left with a gap for agnoli so better now and at least get 5 back than tomorro is suppose.

Matty Lloyd has quit. Kaisen and Valentin have about 2 minutes on the peloton.

brought in meersman and ratto for my 2 transfers and took a 10 point hit removing agnoli and brought in salerno.

my other riders are all the gc boys so a 1 - 2 today with salerno in the mountains points will do me.

First intermediate sprint:

Pineau 6 fantasy pts
Haedo 4 fantasy pts
Herrada 2 fantasy points

Kenny Elissonde apppears to be a DNS today.

I took the hit in the end, 20 penalty points Dumoulin and Salerno in for Navarro and Majka

Got Meersman for Valverde and Lancaster Meier Wyss for sprint or finish points. Wiggo Purito Quintana for GC and Salerno for mountain points. Good day yesterday with Martin in spite of Valverde crash.

That cat 1 and 2 on stage 6 don't look so bad so my transfers today will probably stick for tomorrow as well.

Martin(in for Valverde)
DuMoulin(in for Domagalski)
Meersman(in for Jeannesson)
Elissonde
J.Rodriguez
Meier
Salerno
Quintana
Nocentini

Gerrans is my big fear today.

Meier is too expensive for my planned transfers of getting in Gesink and Stetina tomorrow (if I go down the penalty route today), as I will want to leave meersman in as a possibility for stage 7

hmmmm I meet hedge my bets, bring in Dumoulin and Salerno, 5 guaranteed points for Salerno and anything above 8th for Dumoulin and ive not lost any points

See I could bring in Simon and Doumoulin for Machado and Navarro, but the 20 penalty points scare me in case it goes wrong

Ive been playing catchup all week, and everything has gone against me, so If I did it I doubt it would come off. As its just a week long race im just trying to hang in and class it as a write off

brought in meersman and one other. It appears to be a sprinters stage as long as no breaks get away.