[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

[Daniel Norton]

I think one or two might even

I think one or two might even have thrown another transfer at Cort today.  I didn’t on the basis that he would only likely get at most about 16/17 points more than who he replaced, and it would be one less rider who might finish top 4.  Sometimes better to spread risk…

[11waterloo]

Standard game is fascinating!

Standard game is fascinating! Most of us have 5-6 the same and the other 2-3 have, so far, amounted to roughly the same points (excluding the inspired choice of Cort by Team Greenfield). I would have gone Ewan/Coquard but once Le Coq pulled out, I went Kristoff/Van Poppel assuming (wrongly) that Ewan wouldn’t go for intermediates. Fortunately Ewan’s final sprints have been hampered but I’m not sure I can get away with it for a third stage! 

[Daniel Norton]

With any luck, the rest day

With any luck, the rest day might give riders a chance to heal.  Guerr was climbing really well and knows how to win the climbing jersey. (Hasn’t he won Giro one twice?)

All looks pretty even in the standard game so far for the top 7….  We are a bit behind but have used fewer transfers.

[11waterloo]

Guerreiro is pretty badly

Guerreiro is pretty badly banged up though after crashing on bridge. I have got him in my purist and am worried that the time loss has come at a cost! I have also got Burgaudeau who appears to have crashed hard & is in today’s medical report. Neither of them has had the decency to come last in a stage though! https://twitter.com/domestique___/status/1543513659305037824?s=21&t=ia69SGFjl2Z3_YMf4VxB1Q

[Rendel Harris]

Exactly. Think it was last

Exactly. Think it was last year that Caleb Ewan showed his data for the first two hours of a GT stage where he averaged 85 watts even though the field was spinning along at close to 40 km/h.

[Daniel Norton]

That’s exactly what he has

That’s exactly what he has done.  Many people make the same mistake.  Anyone who has ridden in a large group (not just a chain gang) knows how easy it is to hide in the group.  As soon as you go on the front, you have to push watts.

[Daniel Norton]

I wish I hadn’t dropped

I wish I hadn’t dropped Guerrero for Pinot in Purist.  Pretty sure I did it to accommodate Pidcock who will score well if his team lets him…

[Dr Winston]

Guerreiro at 16 mins down…

Guerreiro at 16 mins down… Pinot at 2.07 down… Pinot doesn’t know what he’s doing…

[Dr Winston]

Tells us something about the

Tells us something about the mindset around cycling at any one time. For me a grand tour is 21 races that provide a winner… and not just one long race to find a GC winner with everything else around that as fluff.

Demare adds so much to grand tours if he can appear alongside Sagan and maybe a couple more. A few dedicated riders to Green. 

[Rendel Harris]

Interesting, not sure about

Interesting, not sure about some of his calculations:

I estimate that a typical Tour de France winner needs to put out an average of about 325 watts over the roughly 80 hours of the race.

Richard Carapaz’s Strava leaderboard-topping time of 1:00:12 on Mont Ventoux is measured from his power meter at 347W, I doubt the Tour winner rides at an average of 22W down on that for 21 days! Another example, when Uran won Stage 9 in 2017, a 181km stage with 4000m+ climb, his average power was 219W. 

I fear, looking at some of his other statements, that he’s modelled it on the basis of what it would take an individual rider to get round the parcours without thinking about the effect of riding in a peleton.

[Sriracha]

Interesting article from a
Interesting article from a tech (not cycling) site:
https://arstechnica.com/science/2022/07/how-many-calories-will-the-tour-de-france-winner-burn/

[11waterloo]

I wish a few more had shown a

I wish a few more teams had shown a bit of interest in the intermediate sprint…. only WvA, Ewan (who I left out because he never goes for intermediate sprints – until today!), Sagan, a half-arsed Jakobsen and a B&B chancer actually went for it. Looks like Alpacin, Trek and Bike-Exchange have given up on green already. 

[Daniel Norton]

He still has WVA to beat, but

He still has WVA to beat, but great to see him back.

If anything happens to Jumbo climbing domestiques, Sagan might be able to go on the attack if they have to lock WVA in…  Stranger things have happenned.  Looks like he might lose too many points in the flat stages, unfortunately.

[Daniel Norton]

*Drier !!!!

*Drier !!!!

[Dr Winston]

Best part of today’s stage,

Best part of today’s stage, for me,  was watching Sagan mixing it up again when it matters.

[Author]

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