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Pffft…do you think so…for another hard day at the back. He’s so damned flaky, it seems to be all or nothing. I didn’t expect him to win but just somewhere at the lower end of the top ten would have done me nicely.
I think it was his turn to work for the team today, before the stage he said he might be asked to work for the team, I guess he is swapping duties with Ballerini.
I played chess as a youth, but found it too slow and boring. Now I play a form of chess that can take up to 3 weeks per match. Go figure.Stage 5, Minardi, “then????” Yes, I want to know who to pick for ? and ?
Polanc and Frank may do ok. Won’t be enough though I suspect.
My impulsiveness won out yesterday evening and I went with the safe bet – dropping GVA for Kristoff and bringing in Coquard. Once I had made the pick I knew what would happen today 🙂
Given the lack of decent climbers GVA will probably get a top10 tomorrow.
The ??? for the climbers means I am not at all sure. Gesbert ? Doubey ? Polanc ? Cras ?
I don’t see Frank doing anything, will Weening show his face ?
Maybe Cort was saving himself for tomorrow Dr Winston ?
Do any of you guys (particularly Dr Winston and Minardi) play chess (with it’s requirement to think many moves ahead)?Swapped Costa for Colbrelli, which I thought was only a marginal improvement. Hoping Cort and Costa are only so so in stage 4.
Any thoughts on your 5th and 6th climbers for stage 5?
I think there is a new performance enhancing drug out there which is undetectable. I noticed last year various Spanish riders doing uncharteristically well. Lutsenko and Kristoff are both good riders, but they both seem to be at 110%
I am hopeless at chess, far too impulsive. What I do have is quite a bit of spare time, so I go through quite a few permutations before making the wrong decisions.
As for climbers for stage 5, apart from Lutsenko, Pozzovivo, Herrada, Costa, then ????
Astana always seem to start the season with a bang, this season even more so. I suspect their training is aimed at peaking early in the season to get results in the bag. Lutsenko has gone well in Oman since 2017.
Kristoff has always been strong in the early part of the season, so not a great surprise he is doing well this year.
Huge gamble leaving Kristof and Coquard out here but I need two transfers and I just don’t think it’s worth using them up. Colbrelli won this stage in 2017 so I don.t want to take him out, best do nothing and save the transfers.I just discovered I have 2 more transfers than I thought.
Colbrelli finished 2nd behind Kristof in 2017 with Van Avermaet 3rd, but there is a lot more distance between the final climb and the finish this year.
The weather forecast suggests it will be a windy day, so echelons could well play a part.
Coquard has been taking it easy so far, so it is difficult to know if he will be OK over the climbs.
Going well. Up to 4th in the standard game. …and 7th overall (am I going to lose my rank with that reset?)Wasn’t sure whether this was a GC finish or a Rolleur finish so in the end I had a straight choice of Herrada and Pozzovivo or a fudge of Herrada and Gibbons. …went for the latter for Kristoff and Capiot…Gibbons could be the better pick than Pozzovivo today so maybe for the best over the two days.
Another odd looking day today…those three climbs are tough and could see a few sprinters unhappy If the pace is high.
A better day for me. I won the purist stage 🙂
The question for tomorrow is which sprinters will be in touch over the final climb.
Do I drop GVA for Kristoff, or do I abandon Colbrelli ?
Do I bring another spriner in?
Echelons in Stage 3
Echelons in Stage 3
Costa, GVA, Lutsenko, Cort in a group of 13 that has broken away.
Hmm why are we doing algarve and not Ruta del Sol?There was a post about upcoming races asking for peoples’opinions.
Oman, Algarve and then UAE were proposed and nobody suggested anything else.
Feeling sore as I dropped Kristoff for Colbrelli otherwise my standard team would have consecutive full podiums.The bonus of getting last man in both teams doesn’t really reduce the pain much
Given that Kristoff has riden the same stage every year since 2013 and his best result was 17th last year it is a bit of a surprise he made it this year.
Hopefully Colbrelli will do better tomorrow.
Unless he comes last in another stage, those could be your last points with De Decker. Probably more points than I get with my outsider Doubey.
I still don’t have Gibbons. That’s gonna hurt as well….Do you have Gibbons Minardi ?Yes I have Gibbons in both my teams.
I took Haas out and Gibbons in. I got hurt by Haas being ill in Australia and decided I didn’t want to risk him again. That is at least one decision I got right.
Stage 2 not as selective as I
Stage 2 not as selective as I expected. I’m guessing there was a headwind on the final climb.
It was a calculated risk dropping Kristoff for this one and it didn’t pay off. I doubt he will do anything tomorrow but Stage 4 looks good for more Kristoff points.
Hopefully Van Avermaet, Colbrelli, etc. can do something tomorrow.
A tough looking couple of stages coming up for sure. Chances to kill the genuine sprinters even before the finale.Any ideas how I can watch the final stage of the Tour of Colombia?…that’s gonna be a hell of punch up.
I haven’t been watching Tour of Columbia but it should be on here http://tiz-cycling.live/ scroll down to find the Columbia stream.
Menten confesses he doesn’t like a tough stage before a sprint. Looking at the ticker I notice it seems the wind got up and made it quite a hard stage….maybe they decided mid stage on the road that he wasn’t going to do so well.Looking at the top players teams in the standard league I’m surprised so many went with full sprinter teams. At least you have a couple of the climbing sprinters in your team.
Heavy sprinters are unlikely to do anything in the next 2 stages.
I gained some places in the
I gained some places in the standard competition but lost ground on the leaders.
Hopefully my tactic of going for more durable sprinters will pay off over the next few stages.
In the purist competition I lost a lot of ground as I opted for a more GC orientated team.
I didn’t consider Greipel at all. I went with Colbrelli thinking he has a chance in the upcoming stages.
Major relief I dropped Haas, I just read he has been resting since TDU and is nowhere near his best form.
Hopefully, my cheap pick Doubey can do something the next few stages too. He had a reasonable race last year and with a weaker field should go a bit better this time.
I don’t think Capiot has been given the lead role, he was probably in a better postion than Menten and finished higher as a result.
It is always difficult to know with the sprinters from smaller teams, it is pretty much a lottery. The best pick could well be Van Poppel, he has lots of experience and is good at positioning.
So what did we learn from
So what did we learn from Stage1.
Kristoff is consistently good in Arabia which is why he is an expensive choice. Will I regret dropping him from my purist team?
I should have kept Leipins in my team.
Haas lost 34s, I am glad I dropped him from both my teams at the last minute.
Van Poppel is sprinting for Roompot.
Nizzolo has got the nod over Gibbons, unfortunately.
Dillier and Terpstra both lost over a minute. So I guess they are going for the break tomorrow. They would be a very dangerous combination. Weening lost time too but not so much, will he be allowed in the break?
So we could have the break win tomorrow. If not I think it is one for the puncheurs.
Looking like a really good race for us. One or two picks are picking themselves but the pricing means we’re gonna have to be on the ball with one or two unexpected picks as well. I suspect this one will come down to the minows picks in the end.Which sprinters are picked could make the difference too. It is too expensive to pick them all.
Kristoff has a brilliant record in Oman but is very expensive compared to most of the other sprinters.
Do you pick Kristoff & Grosu, or go with Bouhanni & Bonifazio?
Is Greipel going to perfom with his new lead out train?
Who is the best pick Bouhanni or Bonifazio?
Will Gibbons work for Nizzolo or be allowed his own freedom?
Which of the many inexpensive ‘Pro Conti’ sprinters will surprise?
I think these decsions could be critical.
