Vuelta a Espana

Eetvelt was second last yesterday after struggling the last two days.  I suspect he was sick.

I took him out yesterday as he looked to be fading fast. The race could end up like an elimination race at this rate! And I agree with Dr Watson, if you could design a TDG stage, this would be it! Not sure he has the legs any more sadly.

Has he tried to get in the break already ?

The stage today is pretty short, so if the break doesn't form quickly Bora might fancy setting it up for Roglic, although tomorrow is a far better stage for him.

Stage 17 & 18 also possibilities for TDG.

Yes. A lot of 200+ scores for an ITT is rare. I was surprised you went with Strong, saving a transfer ?

The wind dropped at the end and many teams were expecting it. Ineos need to change their meteorologist, Tarling would probably have won if he had gone last for them.

I am happy to have made a good start for a change. After stage 1 in TdF I was 217th and 129th in the Giro and spent the rest of both races struggling to catch up.

Although in the purist I have Landa and Kuss, both will struggle to score many GC points now.

You did exceptionally well. I did OK too but left a sprinter in for today. If truth be told, I would have had Campenaerts if I had gone full TT so I wouldn't have done much better. I had Vacek in my purist until yesterday but switched to Tarling late on to free up some money to upgrade Lafay to Gaudu. Not sure it was the best move.....

Vacek could be an excellent pick for purist, there are a lot of stages where he can do well from the break.

I had Tarling in for a while but he got squeezed out when I decided to try and fit an extra GC rider in. I wasn't sure whether he would finish the race either, although if he had won yesterday he would have justified his inclusion from his score on the first 3 stages.

I was too cautious today, all the predictions that it would be a break put me off making too many changes. My initial intention was to bring in Almeida too.

I see quite a few went for van Eeetvelt, he was very impressive today. Gall, Mas & Riccitello impressed too.

Today was a bit of a preview of who is riding seriously for GC and who is there to make up the numbers. I threw a few at the target and two landed! Wavered over Yates or Almeida and sadly went Yates... 

I was cautious too with all the breakaway predictions. Carapaz was my error.

On the positive side I am well set for tomorrow.

That's the trade off. I've now got to burn transfers to get the sprinters back in. Groves and Van Aert both picked up decent points considering it was a mountain stage so it was probably worth being cautious. 

I went cautious again today, didn't bring any sprinters in and kept Roglic and brought in Tiberi.

It seems like I am trying to give up the Leader's jersey and storing transfers for later.

On reflection Tiberi was a poor choice as it limits my choices in the next few stages and he could lose his position in GC to the break.

What are certain teams doing today?

Visma, Bahrain, Trek, Lotto Dstny, UAE & even Movistar are gifting time to competitive rivals.

Ben O'Connor is an extremely dangerous rider to give so much time to. I can understand a tactical loss of the red jersey but surely make sure it isn't to a GC rider. Someone needs to take responsibility for the chase or he could end up with a defendable lead.

Hopefully it will make it a more interesting race.

I think he can defend 5 minutes. Will be interesting to see how the bookies rate his chances. But yes, it does make the race potentially much more interesting! 

I think it will mean some harder racing going forward, with teams keen to put O'Connor and Decathlon under pressure.

If the top teams really attack they could take the 5 minutes back on stage 9 alone.

Get riders up the road and attack 1st time up 'Alto de Hazallanas'

In theory, yes, but O'Connor is very experienced. He also has a decent team to support him. Gall is in a great position to be a plan B while the rest of the team (De Pestel excepted)  can all climb - and I include Armirail that! Either way it has certainly put some pressure back onto the 'big' teams and, as Sniffer says, there is going to have to be some hard racing. I would imagine that riders like Sivakov, Vlasov and Kruijswijk will not be looking forward to the next mountain stages! 

Would be interested in the view from down under as you wake up to a red jersey.

Absolutely brilliant news. But like all of you, what the heck have the other teams been thinking !!!!    Ozzie Ozzie Ozzie

Jayco must be very happy to have got him signed when they did. His price tag would have gone up a bit after yesterday! 

Precisely. Looking forward to seeing how he goes with Jayco. But, more interested at present to see how he goes for the rest of this race. I am sure there will be surprise attacks during various stages to wittle away his lead.

Yes, his team are going to have to be super vigilant. However, history suggests that the bigger teams find it very hard to cooperate with each other (yesterday being a prime example). 

From an Ozzie point of view I hope you are right. That lead should spark some action from a few teams, which will make it a competion for 2/3 teams from here on in.

Risky move today, I left most sprinters out.

Not the worst decision! Groves scuppered me, was only 20 seconds behind leaders going over top of climb when he fell so could well have got back on.