[11waterloo]

Are we allowed to start getting a bit excited yet? Looks to be a more varied route than usual with less of the endless nailed on sprint stages that normally dominate the first week or so (though a run of sprint stages does save on the transfers!) I don’t know about the practicality of it, but is there any way of opening the game up using the long lists that most teams already have or just using the full list of riders? It is quite good fun playing about with potential line-ups, especially for the purist game, even knowing that the final roster will probably change. Obviously, if it creates difficulties, I wouldn’t want to add to the burden of running the game but, if it doesn’t, let’s get the TdF party started!   Here are a couple of links to the current state of the start list. https://www.procyclingstats.com/race/tour-de-france/2022/startlist.                                https://firstcycling.com/race.php?r=17&y=2022&k=8  

Topic

[11waterloo]

I agree, they were obsessed

I agree, they were obsessed with the GC group when there wasn’t too much happening there ( Pogacar brief attacks excepted).

[Hirsute]

Disappointed in the coverage
Disappointed in the coverage of the winner today.
Wasn’t even sure they were going to show it.

[11waterloo]

As good a days racing as I

As good a days racing as I can remember. 

[Daniel Norton]

I wish I’d put my money where

I wish I’d put my money where my mouth was.  After the prediction of Bardet and Quintana attacks (below), I changed my mind and picked neither of them. (Went for Woods!!!)  Oooops…

I did think that Pogacar wouldn’t last both stages in yellow having to cover so many probable attacks on his own, but nobody expected that complete implosion.

[Dr Winston]

WOW indeed. Never in a

WOW indeed. Never in a million years did it think we would see Gaudu riding back up to Poacar and going past him… that’s a proper blow up… Pidcock finishing ahead of Roglic is another shocker. The whole thing was just mad.

[Daniel Norton]

WOW!
WOW!

[stevemarks]

Dr Winston wrote:

Anybody else take out Magnus Cort this morning?… No!…just me then…

replaced him with Jungles!

[Dr Winston]

Add Yates to that. If i was a

Add Yates to that. If i was a gambling man i’d be doing a quid on Yates at 40/1.

[Daniel Norton]

Unlucky if you did.  I

Unlucky if you did.  I thought he was likely to save himself for after the Alps too.

I wanted to add bloody Kamna but it mucked up my transfer strategy too much (couple of points off being able to do it with a single transfer).  If I don’t score well with the saved transfers then my own fault….

[Daniel Norton]

TdF proper starts tomorrow. 

TdF proper starts tomorrow.  If you aren’t excited, you should be!

Severely depleted team for Pogacar.  Is he prepared to close every attack?  If not, surely the stage tomorrow is ripe for a Bardet or Quintana attack?

[Dr Winston]

Anybody else take out Magnus

Anybody else take out Magnus Cort this morning?… No!…just me then…

[Dr Winston]

Pffft…. race ruined. 

Pffft…. race ruined. 

[Daniel Norton]

Errr, mystified that teams

Errr, mystified that teams chased but sent a man in the break, so you don’t have to?   Hmmmm….

[Daniel Norton]

According to one of the Jumbo

According to one of the Jumbo team bosses, it was part of a plan.  Apparently, the plan was for WVA to drag a break to the line to take the bonus seconds away from Pogacar.  They were mystified as to why teams who also stood to lose out to the bonus seconds contributed to the chase.  They did chase so surprisingly hard that a hilly stage was the 4th fastest of all time.  Oh, and they also knew that if WVA was not in the break that nobody would help them chase the break, so he might as well go in it or the whole team would have to chase all day.

The answer to that question is maybe because the other teams don’t want WVA/Jumbo to win every stage?  Or perhaps they even believed the likes of Pidcock or Matthews could beat Pog on that finish?

https://www-feltet-dk.translate.goog/nyheder/utilfredshed_hos_jumbo_hvorfor_jagtede_de_van_aert/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en

[Dr Winston]

Kamna and Schachmann were two

Kamna and Schachmann were two real odd ones to let go in the break today. I know Kamna isn’t the GC rider… but i’m pretty sure he’s got potential for a good placing in the top ten.. and Schachmann can cause trouble as well. It’s not the fact that they can win the TDF but rather the fact that letting both those go at only 2-3 mins down meant thy dictated the stage. Pogacar could have had the same result for GC by allowing no hopers to take the stage. I honestly think the peleton just got fed up of waiting for a break to form and didn’t care much who was in it after that long beginning…. i can’t see a repeat of that tomorrow. Agreing a big bunch to go up the road without a fight has been done many times… it could happen tomorrow.

MVDP for the win… but i’m not brave enough to pick him.

[Author]

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